Abbey Monk’s Tripel Ale Reserve

Abbey Beverage Company
Brewed at Sierra Blanca Brewing Co
Style: Abbey Tripel
Santa Fe, New Mexico USA

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip

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Nice orange pour with a big white head. Sweet grain, sugar, and fruit notes. Overripe pear, some apple, and a light tropical note. Alcohol, some green apple, and grass. Not terribly pleasant. Cloyingly sweet on the palate. Tons of sugar, grain, caramel, and fruit. Pear, apple, maybe banana, and some hints of tropical fruit. Quite boozy. Syrupy feel on the tongue.

A vigorous pour produces a one finger thick, pale head. The beer is a clear, bright gold color. The nose is a mix of grainy, and fruity notes with a finish of stale, left overnight beer. Specific notes of apple, pear, and something like starfruit.

Fairly sweet tasting up front, and finishes up with an acetaldehyde laden, stale beer note; really reminds me of beer left out over night at a college kegger. A touch metallic, definitely a bit grassy, apple like, perhaps some melon notes, and a light bitterness in the finish. The beer is fairly light bodied, it has some texture to it, and is about exactly what you want in an Tripel. Some bubblegum notes are here, as well as some clove like notes, but these are at times hard to notice underneath the acetaldehyde.

Not really all that great, the off flavors are a bit overwhelming and are too distracting for me.

Crystal clear golden orange with a one-finger bright white head, little retention or lace. Aromas of pear, apricot, peach, mint, bread dough and yeast. Bright fruit flavors above a biscuity malt base with a barely detectable alcohol burn. Medium body, lively carbonation, wonderful creamy smooth mouthfeel, and a crisp finish.

750 ml. swing top bottle. Pours a medium, tiny bubbled, well retained white head, with some lacing, over a clear dark yellow (SRM 4) body.....nose is light fruits (pear, apple), light floral honey tones....taste is light pear, apple, hints of apricot, light candi sugar sweetness with hints of honey finishing with a moderately sharp peppery spice bitterness.....mouth feel light of medium, moderate alcohol burn, carbonation high making a foamy sensation. This falls well within the style, but the esters are not as prominent in aroma or flavor as the best. The lingering spice/hop bitterness is unpleasant and not refreshing or cleansing as in other iterations. Perhaps a higher fermentation temperature would help. Rating to style, BJCP 7/3/14/4/7

From the February 2013 3R6P tasting. +++ Sampled from a 750 ml brown bottle this beer poured a pale yellow color with a medium sized foamy white head that left a bit of lacing. The aroma was dryish pear, table sugar and bread. The flavor was dryish, bready and tangy with notes of candied pears and yeast. Medium length finish of tangy yeast and pear. Moderately full bodied. Ok.

19/I/13 - 75cl bottle @ RBBWG 2013 - BB: n/a (2013-47) Thanks to Travlr for sharing the bottle!

Clear blond beer, small aery head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: sugary, sweet ripe summer fruits, bit of citrus. MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: bit sugary, bitter hops, bit fruity. Aftertaste: sugary, somewhat hoppy, alcohol, little fruity, citrus, bit grassy. Not bad, but pretty straight forward.

Golden colour, white head. Aroma of bubblegum, candy, sugar, biscuit and malts. Sweet flavour, malts, candy sugar, green banana. Sweet malty finish, candy sugar.
I was curious to a beer from these monks. It seems a nice initiative.
(From 75cL bottle @ RBBWG II, Wilrijk 2013. Courtesy of Travlr. Thanks for sharing, Gene!!)

Bottle. Clear pale yellow color, scant white head. Aroma of rising biscuit dough. Taste is sweet, malty, yeasty.

Thanks to Travlr for sharing this one. 75 cl. swingtop (slightly odd) bottle. Are the Benedictine monk’s brewing now or is their output still brewed @ Sierra Nevada? It seems like they are but I am not certain. It is nice that they are doing this. They appear to be quite passionate and committed to the whole thing. Remember a story about one of their monks who was supposed to be involved in the brewing, going to tastings in order to try different beers and see what they are like, get ideas, etc. It is neat. The label is bit unfortunately like the most cheese, kitsch-riddled thing they could have possibly come up with but oh well… Golden with a white head. Nose has sweet banana, fruitiness, white sugar in it, malty with light spices,… getting some German-like notes in here with the banana and the sweetness, bit different from expected. Taste is sweet Belgian yeast with herbs coupled with light banana, floral, sweet spices, caramel,… Medium bodied. Bit tame for my personal preference. It is not bad but bit safe & thus not fully pleasing really. Still I wish the with all my hearth, the best of luck. I am certain that God will grant them the necessary income for things are often not too easy for men of God in this day and age. If they are brewing this is a nice beginning that can be build from.

75cl bottle sample @ RBBWG 2013, courtesy of Travlr. 9.2% abv and Reserve version. Dorée claire-orangée, trouble, col blanc. Arôme fruité, typique pour le style tirant vers un côté ester fruité, et ce bouquet bien belge dans la levure pour le style abbaye avec un léger bouquet épice. Palais est malté, léger, côté houblonné belge, ester avec un léger fruité sur la fin et une levure en ligne avec le profil attendu de cette interprétation belge du style. Pas mauvaise, et bien exécutée.