Affligem Tripel

Brewed by Brouwerij Affligem / De Smedt (Heineken)
Style: Abbey Tripel
Opwijk, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip

Bottle, 33 cl @ De Zolder. Blond-golden beer with a medium white head that lasts and has some lacing. Aroma of grains, fruits and malts, giving a rather specific aroma to the beer. Taste is grainy, light fruity, malty and light sweet, a hoppy touch in the finish. Taste makes me think of the Tripel Karmeliet, which isn’t a bad reference at all. Very nice tripel to drink, which can easily stand next to the formerly mentionned Tripel Karmeliet.

Bottle, Blarney Stone, Menorca. Very pale, full-bodied beer. Has a strong, warming alcohol flavour, quite sharp in both aroma and finish. Spiky, bittersweet and one to be treated with respect.

Sample at De Heeren van Liedekerke. Pours a cloudy yellow with a large white head. The aroma is spicy hops, rich malty and light. The flavor is very nice; smooth and fluffy mouthfeel, spicy, some pear, dry Belgian malts. Nice.

Almost no head. Good, sugary, smell without much hops. Very nice palate, smooth and slick. Aroma is mostly sweet, not sugary but more like honey. It’s really difficult to taste how strong this is. What a brilliant beer.

Clear bright orange with a white coat. Aroma of light sugars, spices, dough and bubblegum. Sweet with complex fruity malt. Dry finish has mild spices (coriander, white pepper). Quite yeasty - cheese rinds as well as dough - but it’s a bit obscured by the heavily (excessively) carbonated mouthfeel. As it sat for a while it degassed but alcohol and sugary malts became more prominent while the nice yeast didn’t. Still, a solid tripel.

Very good - enjoyed this one with Rolf and Tom G. on the back deck on a beautiful summer evening. Aroma is fruity and hoppy, like the flavor more than some other tripels, as it has pale ale characteristics.

Poured from a 25.4 ounce bomber into a Leffe chalice. Pours a medium straw with no discernible cloud. Head is towering and rocky and leaves little lace around the glass(strange). Active carbonation climbs all around the bowl and not just in the center. Aroma is of sweet, sweet grain. Candy sugar and vanilla with a touch of spice. Funky yeast melds with phenolic alcohol to give a strange sour aroma. No hops come out in the finish. Flavor is sweet grain and sugar. Yeasty funk and band-aid phenolics. Bubble gum and banana creep in. The finish is overpowered by alcohol warmth. The booziness is very apparent here with a touch of hotness. Finishes sweet and spicy, with coriander and clove flavors. Mouthfeel is creamy and medium bodied. Good for the style, the carbonation bites at the tongue and gives a good sense of what you’re drinking. Drinkability suffers because of the alcohol hotness. That being said, this is a decent tasting beer, just not up to snuff with some other tripels I know and love. A mediocre Belgian, I have had stellar examples and this pales. Reviewed on: 05-08-2010

Clear straw pour, big head and lace. Bready vanilla aroma. Nice high carb, with a slightly bitter sodalike CO2 bite. Some light vanilla and banana, with an alcoholic bite in the aftertaste. Light on the tripel flavor but an excellent brew.