Captain Lawrence Xtra Gold

Style and Glass: Abbey Tripel; Trappist glass, tulip ABV, Volume & Calories: 10 % in 25.4 fl oz. estimated at 400 C Purchased at: Canal’s Burlington, NJ for $13.29 after discount. Aroma: very nice, fruit, spices, hops, burn, alcohol. 10 out of 10. Visuals: okay label design, golden, bright, hazy, thin white head, great lace. 5 out of 5. Taste: well balanced, high malt, medium hops, great strength, master craft. 10 out of 10. Palate: high quality, smooth texture, long easy finish. 4 out of 5. Overall: An absolutely delicious beer, easy to drink despite the ABV. I would get it again, but it’s so damn expensive, I doubt I will. Expertly crafted. 18 out of 20.

I sampled this beer at the Lazy Boy Saloon and I enjoyed it so much that I stopped sampling other beers and started to order pints of the Xtra Gold. I would recommend this beer to people who enjoy Stella Artois

In short: Excellent classic Belgian Tripel foundation with an American Hops twist. Fantastic.
How: Bottles from many batches. Rating slightly improving with each new batch (from 4.1 to 4.5)
The look: Cloudy golden-yellow body with a medium white head.
In long: Lots of tropical fruits is the dominant flavour, namely litchis, kiwis, grapefruits and many more. Very nice complex fruity flavour but never aggressive and no acidity/tartness usually associated with those fruity flavours. The fruity salad is then wrapped in some honey and aromatised with some soft hops essence. Moderately sweet. Up to this point it would “only” be an excellent Tripel. But the hopping really makes it stand out. Skilful and successful mix of noble European hops that one expect to find in a classic Tripel and citrusy American hops. Excellent. Captain Lawrence Extra Good.

hazy yellow pour, big thick white head. Aroma of apples, pears, oranges, and yeast. Flavour is yeasty, and quite hoppy. Lots of citrus, and apples. Very very crisp finish, nice lingering bitterness. Excellent tripel.

750 ml in Westmalle glass. Gold with lasting head and lace. Sweet and citrus lemon danish pastry aroma. Sweet fruity marshmallow peach melon with spicy fresh hop floral finish. I just love Amarillo for dry hopping. This is almost as good as Chouffe Houblon. Friggin delicious.

Deep golden colour. Lots of sparkle but the head doesn’t hold. Fruity, diverse aroma (plum, pear, pomegranate, guava, pineapple and on it goes). Bready malts, light alcohol in there as well. Great concept - the "American-style" ramped-up hops add so much complexity to that fruitiness in the aroma and to a lesser extent on the palate. Nice bitterness - after the number of cloying American (and Canadian) tripels this is really nice to see. Grapefruit, lots of bready malt and a kiss of late alcohol. Just enough yeastiness that you don’t forget it’s a tripel. Cool shit.

75cL bottle courtesy of Lukin013 at Pittsburgh gathering on 1/27/08. Hazy golden yellow with huge rocky foam, great retention. Aroma is big and estery, a good bit of green skinned apples with a noticeable sharp hoppiness. Big and fruity flavor at first, leads to some nice hop bitterness and finishes with very dry with more apple in the finish. Alcohol is very well hidden, a fantastic US brewed triple.

Notes from last night, tap at Hop Devil Grill. Goblet pour, small head, golden color, cannot see through the beer. Aroma is present tropical fruits and sweetness from hops. The hops are not over the top but definitely with other sweet aspects. Taste has a hop presence with Belgian sweetness, some very nice mango and apricot flavors. Low bitterness with a medium body. Very nice.

Rerate 12/12/06 from 750ml bottle. Bought it at the brewery 2 weeks ago, sat in the fridge till now. The main difference is the hops are more assertive in both nose and flavor. A bit more piney and aggressive. Also, leads to a more spiky mouthfeel. I prefer the tap version.

Rerate: 8/20/07, comparison of Batch 1 (10 months old) and Batch 2 (4 months old) in 750ml bottles. Only slight differences, 2nd batch is a clearer beer with less particles and a strong visible vortex carbonation. Batch 1 has a stronger Belgian yeasty flavors and less astringent hoppiness with softer carbonation and a slightly thicker body. The 1st batch is nicer now than when it was fresh out of the brewery. It’s also more like the original keg rating. The 2nd batch bottled is least interesting of any of the samples, hopefully time will right it more. 8/4/7/3/15

Re-rate: Batch 1 (22 months), bottle leaked in transport a little bit so I opened up tonight, had no choice. Fortunately, no ill effects and it tastes amazing. Cellar aged since I bought it. Pours with a beautiful thick head that never goes away. A thick shining golden color. Aroma is beautifil sweet with yeasty beglian dough then a a sweet citric orange peel aspect thats very original. Taste is marmalade cookie with a long yeasty sweetnes that just lingers forever. Feel slike the hops have turned into a beautiful accompaniment to the yeast of the beer. This is truely amazing right now and much better than it has ever been in its history. Mouthfeel is a pillow thickness beautifully rolling off your cheeks. And after you swallow there is a rush of sweet citric cookie rusing back from your throught to your cheeks. My rating jumps now and I am saving this as the true rating. 9/5/9/4/17