Bornem Triple

Brewed by Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Style: Abbey Tripel
Ertvelde, Belgium

An approachable version of the style, and Van Steenberge’s best beer.

Pale yellow, with a big fluffy lasting head. Aroma kinda reminds me of Duvel. Lightly flowery, with some subtle yeast. Mouthfeel is quite soft, and a bit rounder and fuller than the their dubbel. A bit fizzy, and perhaps a little thin and uncomplex, but its quite drinkable.

33 cl bottle. Pale hazy translucent gold, with a medium quick-diminishing head...intriguing buttermint nose develops a sweet spiciness, nutmeg-pepper-alcohol...soft, highly carbonated mouthfeel, fairly boring flavor overall...light lemon-spiciness, ok, quaffable, but the moderate sweetness, moderate sourness leaves me with...dullness.

Not as good as the dubbel, decent body & balance, dry & hoppy aftertaste

330 ml bottle. Rather mild aromas of yeast spice, malt, and perhaps coriander and a touch of burnt candi. Orange tinged gold color with an impressive white head that diminishes but hangs around. A bit thin bodied with rather coarse carbonation. Heat is noticeable. Flavors are malt, again perhaps coriander, and some floral and/or grassy bitter. It smooths out in the finish, becoming dry and mildly bitter. For hop I will guess grassy. A bit of fruit seems to come out with time.

Champagne beer. Sweet aroma reminiscent of caramel candy. Sugary in the mid and at the end. Did not notice the purported hoppy finish. Was not as dry as expected. Good only as a dessert brew.

Tasted in Toronto from LCBO. Cloudy golden yellow colour. Fairly opaque. Light fluffy and stable white head. Very similar in appearance to La Fin du Monde or Duvel. Somewhat strong alcohol aroma - light spicy scent also. Taste is smoother than the scent. Crisp, light and dry. Slight hint of citrus, slightly bitter with a warm finish.

I’ve never had a beer that smelled like this. After looking at about a dozen other ratings, I think Irishboy summed it up best: "spiced apple and some tartness". There’s also a funkiness that’s hard to describe. It’s a mix between stale leather, stone smoke and sweaty socks. Hazy gold with a huge frothy, white head. Artistic lace. As cbkschubert said, couldn’t pour the whole bottle into the glass because the head was so big. Dried apple profile. Very dry for a 9% tripel. Not flawed, however. Would make for a good summer refresher, but at 9%, you’d only want one! Not a bad brew. Has some unique qualities, but just doesn’t cut it when there are so many better tripels out there. Loses key points for aroma. Simply not overly flavorful.