Corsendonk Agnus (Abbey Pale Ale)

12 oz bottle into pseudo-trappist glass. Yellow/orange/golden pour with a nice white head that lasts pretty long - looks refreshing. Aroma includes typical Belgian sugar candi with additional hints of orange and coriander and maybe some clove. Flavor is the exact same but more potent. Smooth finish with just a very faint hop bitterness drag. Light and fizzy on the palate with a champaign-like fine but active carbonation. Overall: refreshing and highly drinkable brew. Great for these hot summer days and nights.

750ml bottle, at home with renffisch, 17th June 2008. Pours a very lively straw yellow with a white head. Beautiful aroma of coriander, cardamon, apples and honey. Soft and velvety on the tongue with a honeyed character (but not too sweet) balanced by some bitterness coming through late in the sip. The alcohol is well hidden and this is a very drinkable tripel.

Decent, not at all what I expected. I knew from the start it was not a pale ale, but It tasted more like a very strong pilsner to me. Slightly grassy hoppy and spicy taste. Lots of head and carbonation. Nice balance of sweetness and bitterness.

Bottle and tap. Liquid gold in a bottle! Odd to call it a "pale ale’. A bomb will go off across the palate as you enjoy a very unadulterated and elegant triple. A must!

Corsendonk wooes me again, this time with its iteration of a Pale Ale which, despite its name, acts much more like a trippel. A thick pluming head rushes from the glass from the very start of the pour, though thins considerably once it settles (like a man, har har!) The head is cream colored with strange orange splotches, reminding me of a delicious tangerine gelato I had recently. The aroma is where I begin to suspect that Corsendonk has bottled me a trippel instead of a pale ale. First note the strange absence of hops. I mean, I’m surprised there’s no nose hair burning hops, but there isn’t even subtle hops notes. Rejoice! Instead I find butter, white grapes, orange, lemon, wet moss, crushed black pepper, olive oil, truffles and even a little watermelon to sweeten the whole lot up. Really, I’m an awe - this is a luscious, tasty smell, and I’m ready to dive into the beer with swimming trunks and a snorkle. Corsendonk has done it again with their Pale Ale’s palate, which is soft but not spritzy, making the perfect conduit for the assertive but genteel flavors within. A bitter wheat element announces itself early on, but even its raspy demagoguery is silenced by the musk melon, orange, white wine, cotton candy and carrot cake flavors. Although there is certainly the danger that the beer could be oversweetened by all these fruit n’ pastry tastes, Corsendonk has demonstrated their skill in the Pale Ale’s toothsome but not irksome sugars. Bravo!