Tete de Morte Triple Red

 

          If I’m being honest, I’ve been staying away from fruit beers for a while because as a critic, I don’t really know how to approach them. When I approach other styles of beer, they tend to have style guidelines that help define that beer. Those style guidelines give you an idea of what to look for when drinking a stout, or an IPA, or whatever. For the most part, that doesn’t seem to be the case when it comes to fruit beer.

I mean, a barleywine will always be a barleywine. A fruit beer can start off as an ale, or a lager, it can be a stout with cherries added, or it can be an IPA literally flavored with grapefruit. You don’t really have the same basis of comparison when drinking fruit beer. When reviewing a fruit beer, you sort of have to review the beer on its own terms in a way you might not have to with other styles. So when I opened my bottle of Tete de Mort and realized I had a fruit beer in front of me, I decided to just raise my glass and dive in to the review. Tete de Mort Triple Red is deep, lush, ruby red in color. Pinpoint streams of CO2 support a rocky, pink head with excellent staying power.

          The aroma is nothing, if not big and fruity. In fact, it’s very dominantly big, fruity, and sweet. I get aromas of cherry, strawberry, and hints of raspberry. All of this is held together by a notable sweetness. It’s not just a sugary sort of sweetness. Rather, it’s a tooth aching cotton candy sort of sweetness. This triple almost smells as though it was fermented on ripe fruit and filtered through the cotton candy on its way to the bottling line.

          Tete de Mort’s flavors are more complex than the aroma led me to expect. In this case, I don’t know if that’s such a good thing. Again, I’m given super sweet flavors of cherry, strawberry, and raspberry. Ripe sweet fruit is supported by more cotton candy sweetness. And this is where the complexity comes in. The flavor has a foundation of earthiness and leather, supported by a gentle spiciness. Normally, I’d find that enjoyable. In this case however, those flavors are somewhat unpleasant. It’s like sucking on a strawberry flavored piece of candy and a piece of leather all in one go.

          Overall, Tete de Mort Triple Red is a 5.75 out of 10. Its aroma is sickly sweet with no complexity and nothing to cut the aroma’s overall sweetness. What flavors come in on the flavor, don’t compliment the beer’s fruit flavors. Rather, earthiness and leather detract from it. If you’re looking for fruit based beer, tripels, or something sour I’d recommend giving this a miss.