Affligem Tripel

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

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip

75cl bottle from Vinmonopolet. Best before 2011-04-16. It poured a slightly pale orange colour with a massive creamy head. To describe it as an amber golden colour would only be correct in a badly lit room. Aroma is a tad bitter. Lots of grass, yeast, apples and some citrus. Some bread perhaps. Flavour is classic belgian. Lots of yeast, bananas and malts, but also hints of malt and hops. Alcohol is present, but in a subtle way. Short aftertaste.

330 ml bottle a golden yellow colored beer with a white head aroma malts fruits and hops taste malts citrus fruits spices and hops

Pours a very hazy gold with a fine white head. Carbonation is sufficient to keep a thin film of bubbles clinging to the surface of the beer. Aroma is of yeast, apricot, honey. Flavor is the same with more of a clean hop bitterness apparent in the aftertaste that blends well with a relatively minute phenolic flavor (especially when one compares this to the blond ale which has much more phenols apparent). Very Enjoyable.

Bottle: Small (off) white foamy head on top of an orange colored beer. Smell fruit, apple, yeast, malt and a hint of cardboard. Taste is bitter, bit sweet, malts, fruit, apple, peach. Medium body, medium carbo and bit soft spicy mouthfeel.

I bought this beer almost exactly 4 years ago and never got around to drinking it until now. Pours an orange color with a small khaki head. Aroma is buttery, indicating diacetyl, but we later decided that it was probably oxidative effects. Caramel butterscotch flavor, not really much classic tripel ester character. It has a bit of that sweet sherry taste that some oxidated beers get. Sorta oversweet and flabby. Not a great candidate for aging, apparently.

Very soft floral hop aroma. Also note some pleasant warm apple cider character. Color of burnished brass and shiny clear until you get to the sediment. Thick bubbly Duvel-like head. Decidedly sweet in a good way. Flavor suggests white grapes, honey and vanilla. Again some tart apple character. Very creamy texture. Delicious.

Appearance: hazy golds and oranges under a voluminous head. Slow steady stream of carbonation keeps the head in play even after settling into a decently chunky blanket. Lace clings to sides of glass in stubborn clumps.
Nose: yeasty, doughy, tropical, sweet, and spiced. Tropical fruits steeped in booze and spices. Skins add bitterness and tannins. Pineapple and coconut shavings. Golden grains, dry and dusty.
Palate: sweet, smooth, and mouthcoating. Bright and vivacious atop the tongue with mangos, nectarines, and pineapple. Tingles long after each quaff. Bitterness and tannins in the back, tropical fruit skins especially. Orange skin oils. Balance is exquisite and obviously time-honored. Growing dryness atop tongue is all orange skin, dry straw, and dusty white woods.
Final Thoughts: juicy and sweet with just enough dryness, bitterness, and tannins to balance. Like yin and yang and feng shui, there is a grace to the Tripel from Affligem which bespeaks the grace of time and all that she offers.

2011 - 01 - 30 330ml bottle. golden colour. white head. not as sharp in taste as some other tripels. alcohol a bit present.