Top Tastings 2010
ABV: 9.2%
Origin: Vista, California, USA
Website: www.greenflashbrew.com
Green Flash Le Freak
Founded in 2002 by former pub owners Mike and Lisa Hinkley near San Diego, joined shortly afterwards by head brewer Chuck Silva, Green Flash has established itself as a favoured source of innovative and sometimes extreme beers with the West Coast’s characteristically liberal use of hops. A self-confessed cross between a San Diego-style imperial pale ale and a Belgian tripel, Le Freak is one of the flagship products. I enjoyed a bomber of the stuff courtesy of Argonaut in Denver.
Le Freak is a peachy light amber with an orange-tinged light beige head. The aroma is flowery and herbal with fruity pale malt and a very Belgian coriander whiff. Strawberry and peach fruit offsets big resinous herbal hops on palate, with a definite perfumed tripel note. The finish is complex with grapefruit, pepper, more peach and flowery perfume and some herbal hints, very long, quite warming and finally very dry. A huge beer that achieves just what it set out to do by fusing the two styles successfully.
The brewery’s name, incidentally, refers to a meteorological phenomenon where part of the sun appears to flash a different colour, usually green, at sunrise and sunset in certain coastal areas.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/green-flash-le-freak/70945/
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