De Proef Lunatique (Cuvee Diabolique)

Brewed by De Proefbrouwerij
Style: Abbey Tripel
Lochristi, Belgium

Hazed golden, billowing white head with near perfect lacing. The nose held soft tones of warm lemon bread, honey,spiced pear, and faint tones of pepper. Spicy hops, and peppery fruit flavors follow through to the end. Medium bodied, medium carbonation, drying, semi-bitter finish. A very nice surprise. Tripels are not my thing, but this works well due to trace amounts of sweetness....

Birthday gift from my numbawansan: Hazy pale yellow with a huge fluffy white head. Aroma is spicy, yeasty and fruity. Flavor starts lightly sweet and fruity (apricot and pear) becoming lightly tart (lemon) and finishing kinda dry and peppery. Medium bodied and velvety with lively carbonation. Yum.

Pours a hazy golden orange with a medium bubbly/creamy white head that left some lacing. Some floaties in the beer. Aroma of various fruits, very fruity actually, some orange and other citrus qualities, Belgian yeast, a sweeter Pilsner type maltiness, some clove and other Belgian type spices in there also. Flavor is also sweet and fruity. The yeast comes through along with the lighter maltiness. some earthy/spicy hop profile coming through in the bitterness. A pretty well done Tripel...wasn’t expecting a whole lot from this beer but it turned out to be better than my expectations which is always a nice thing.

Big rocky white lasting head, average lacing. Lightly cloudy light yellow body. Light malt with straw, clove and grain aromas. Alcoholic with a lively carbed medium body mineral taste. Better than I expected.

Bottle on 12/20/2008 from Once Upon A Vine - South. Labeled Lunatique. Very slightly hazy golden body with a large rocky white head. Sweet toasty malt aroma with some fruity notes and some candi sugar and spice. Candi sugar flavor with toasty malt, more fruity notes and a bit of light spice. Medium full body with moderate carbonation and a fairly dry finish. 7/3/8/3/15 - 3.6 08/20/2006 - Hazy light blonde color with a large creamy white head. Sweet yeasty aroma with some spice and fruit in the end. Sweet fruity flavor, with a nice spice in the end. 8/3/8/3/15 - 3.7

Pours with a lightly hazy, straw-tinged, yet full gold color that is topped by a frothy, largish bubbled, initially three-finger thick, off-white colored head. The aroma is pleasantly fruity; a mix of tart plum, green apple, fragrant flowers and even a touch of musty earthiness. Citrus like aromatic notes make me think of lemon and orange zest; in fact the orange aromatics are quite present.

The beer has a zesty carbonation to it that provides an immediate prickly sensation as soon as it hits my mouth. It has a certain fullness to it, yet is definitely pretty light, and definitely easy drinking. Sweet grain notes accentuate an orange peel flavor that makes itself known throughout the flavor profile, though it does not linger on in the finish. Spicy notes of white pepper, and perhaps a note of astringent ginger mix with the carbonation to provide a sharp counter point to the malt and citrus notes. The beer finishes with a nice bitterness and a continued herbaceous astringency.

This beer is quite nice, I had written off this series of beers after trying the Angelique, but this has certainly restored my faith in these brews. Someone mentioned that there was a touch of Brettanomyces beer used in making this. I am not entirely sure this is the case yet, but this does have a touch of musty, lightly funky character that adds to the overall complexity of this brew. This is a really nice brew, selling for a great price at my local Trader Joe’s; I just may have to pick up a couple more.

HWOH brought by Dorwart. THanks Jason. I had never seen or heard of this before, but since it was from DeProef, I knew I would like it. Pours a hazy yellow with nice lively carbonation and a pure white head. Aroma is zesty with spice, citrus, yeast and peppery phenols. Light fruity flavor with some sweet malt, more yeast, citrus, orange and a bit of lemon. Herbal hop bitterness in the end. Decent tripel but nothing makes it stand out.

Pours it a bit on the warm side, very cloudy light orange color with a fluffy white head. Aroma of fruit, slight pineapple/citrus. Slightly sweet at first, finishes dry with lemon zest and spice.