Abita – Louisianan Spiced Ale & Triple Haze – A First Sampling

We brought you an early peek at Abita Louisiana Spiced Ale and after reading the label, I’ll admit to being a little curious about how it would taste.  WIth all the spice flavors on board, I wasn’t really sure how it would work.  But thanks to the folks at Abita, I’m excited to bring you an early tasting and the answer to that question.

Louisiana Spiced Ale was created to celebrate Crawfish Boiling Season in Louisiana, and as you’ll see it has a lot in common with it’s spicy-shellfish counterpart.  The beer pours a deep golden color and the aroma is spicy with a little bite of citrus.  Based on the description I was expecting a spice-bomb, but it was much more subtle than that.  Yes I tasted cayenne and paprika and the saltiness of celery; and yes it was followed by some savory bay leaf flavors, but if finishes really well.  The balance created by the lemony and citrusy Cascade hops and the slightly sweeter malt made for a really easy drinking beer.  At 5.2%-ABV and 22 IBU, I think this will be a really sessionable beer even if you’re not working your way through a pile of Crawfish.

We did pair Louisiana Spiced Ale with some spicy cauliflower-based vegetarian wings and it worked really well.  The sweetness of the beer and the citrus bite really made for a good pairing with the spicy food and it really highlighted the play of spice and savory in the beer. 

Louisiana SpIced Ale will be available in 12oz bottles in six-packs so be sure to try it for your self.  And when you do, as always, be sure to let us know what YOU think.

As a bonus, Abita sent along some of their Triple Haze for us to sample with desert.  This is another beer we gave you a peek at back in Sept 2015, so it was a lot of fun to sample one for myself.  Triple Haze is a new take on Abita’s classic Purple Haze and it is brewed with a partial wheat malt and German Perle hops.  After filtration, Triple Haze gets a dose of raspberry puree, and you can’t miss that tartness in the nose.  The color is a really pretty purple and the beer has some really nice tart and light hop flavors.  Triple Haze finishes slightly sweet and at 8%-AbV you can’t help but notice the slightly boozy ending. 

Triple Haze is available in 22oz bottles and on draft so once again be sure to try it and let us know what YOU think.