As if you hadn’t had enough Legend for one week.

A couple nights ago I met up with Ed, who had a great story about angering a ferry boat captain in the English Channel in his younger days. At any rate, we were there to sample the Legend 15th Anniversary Quadruple they’ve just recently tapped. But first, the Tripel.

Now, it may be an unfair stereotype, but I personally detest a majority of the Tripels brewed in America. There, I said it. I feel they’re often over-sweet, over-hopped, or just over-hyped. Balance and complexity often seems to be a mystery to these New World Belgians, making them something I normally shy away from.

But Legend actually has a pretty decent Tripel available on tap at the moment. Granted, things change from batch to batch and from keg to bottle, but being able to sit down with a draft version of this one made me re-evaluate my take on American Tripels. Sure, I’m aware that there are some good ones out there, and I’d say Legend did a pretty good job, with this year’s batch anyway. Crisp and balanced, with a rounded character in the body, I was glad I let my preconceived notions go for a minute.

But how was the 15th Anniversary Quad, you ask? I’d say just as good. Some dark fruit notes and an almost earthy kind of spice underneath. Didn’t really take notes, but it was a solid beer nonetheless. I think I’m naturally more inclined toward Dubbels and Quadruples anyway, but this one was still tasty and worthy of being a celebratory anniversary release.

As for the Chocolate Porter, I can’t say I really liked it all that much. When I gave it a whiff, I got a lot of bitterness in the nose, very dark-chocolatey. After taking a few sips, I wasn’t all that pleased with the way that dark chocolate bitterness showed up at the end, because it seemed to ruin an otherwise okay beer. Turns out, the waiter explained, that they use a chocolate/cocoa concentrate in the filtering stage. This seems to throw off the balance and work against the nature of the hops involved, so all in all I can’t say I’m a big fan.

If you head over to Legend, I recommend the Tripel and the Quad, but I’d steer clear of the Chocolate Porter if you know what’s good for you. Unless cocoa concentrate is your thing.