Elysian Bête Blanche Belgian Tripel (2000 - 2010)

Formerly brewed at Elysian Brewing Co.
Style: Abbey Tripel
Seattle, Washington USA

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip

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I opened this beer with the mistaken assumption that it would be just another tripel... how wrong I was. Poured a lovely peach orange with a creamy head, at first pour loose and bubbly and uncontrollable, and then when I finished the bottle thick and creamy and lovely. Amazing lacing. Aroma is mandarin orange, mulling spice, I could sniff this thing all night. I was completely unprepared for the flavour my wife thought that I hated it because I was so surprised. This is perhaps the most charismatic tripel I have ever tasted - strong alcohol, hops galore - hoppy finish more like a Saison than a tripel. Lots of fruit - peach, apple, even carrot & cinnamon. Body is creamy and perfectly carbonated. Alcohol kick is brutally euphoric. Lots of residual yeast in the bottom. What a treat - I wish I had another bottle to share with friends. This Saison-like Tripel is second to none.

On tap at Elysian, Seattle. Cloudy orange/gold colour with lasting off white head. Lemon/wheat Belgian yeast wit aroma. Lots of fruit in mouth, tangerine/lemon, good intense fruit balanced by hop and cereal. Very zesty. Belgian wit and tripel collide. Excellent flavours especially the zesty citrus fruits.

HAzy golden color, fruity nose with hints of noble hops. Easy to drink, be carfeul. Moderate bitter and aroma, musky and fruity. try one today!

(22oz bottle) Purchased from Spinnakers Wine Merchants in Victoria. Pours a lasting, very lofty white foamy white head with a cloudy, yellow-orange body. Nose is incredibly yeasty and peppery. Fruity nose mixes with subtle vanilla and spiced tones. Flavour is deeply fruity and touches on a range of good hops and malt balance. Very spiced and sweet. Malts are well used. Oranges and flowers in the hops. Good beer.

22oz bottle, purchased at the brewery April 2007; Sampled August 2007
I have had this beer a couple times and. as usual, the beer is quite over carbonated. The beer sits in my glass with a lightly hazy, orangish tinged, copper color. A multitude of mad rivulets of carbonation stream up through the beer. This produces a full, four-finger thick, pale tan colored head that slowly recedes with a crag-mired surface and all the while leaving lacing patterns on the sides of the glass. A sharp, spicy aroma greets my nose with notes of ginger, tart citrus, earthy coriander and a nice honey-like note. A solid, clean malt character is found in the nose too, with notes of biscuit-like malt, fresh crushed malt, soda crackers and even some sweet malt aromatics. The aroma on this beer is quite nice & I certainly am enjoying smelling this beer.

The beer is fairly sweet tasting (though in no way overly so), which gives this a solid herbal-varietals-honey like flavor. The beer is quite well carbonated still, despite it being almost 10 minutes since I poured this brew. The carbonation adds a zesty, prickly sensation and certainly helps to clean the sweet honey flavors from the palate, though it never entirely banishes it. The finish has a herbal astringency (almost basil like, sort of menthol like), a solid hop bitterness and a dry malt character to it. Flavors of orange zest, white pepper, young ginger, soda crackers, fresh cut sharp tasting herbs (a mix of arugula/rocket, dandelion, nettle and green tea), sweet malt, perhaps a hint of earthy coriander, honeysuckle and even some notes akin to penny royal.

Quite a nice example of a Tripel. Despite the perceived sweetness, this beer still captures a lightness and quaffability that I like to see in my strong, pale, Belgian-inspired ales (even though many examples from Belgium don’t have this). I think that this beer is not nearly as sweet as my focus on it has been; a large part of this is due to the distinct honey note that I find here. I must say that I really like the hop character here, it adds a herbal, zesty edge to the flavor and plays quite a role in the flavor profile. This beer is really impressing me at this moment in time; in fact it is almost exactly what I want in a beer at this moment in time (yesterday or tomorrow I might not have appreciated it nearly as much). This is certainly one of the better beers I have had from this good brewery.

Bottle. Large white head with a yeasty aroma. Orange opaque appearance. Spices and a little apple flavor. The carbonation creates a tingling sensation on the tongue with a fairly clean aftertaste. This beer is amazing and a great price compared to most of the expensive imported Belgium beers.

Bottle- I enjoy the company of this beer. I cant wait to introduce it to mom and dad.

Draft at the Abbaye. Barback must have dropped the keg down the stairs as Anders spent hours pouring off foam. Finally convinced him to leave me a glass, and oh what a delight. Orange ale thick with yeast - another energy beer. More of a superduper Wit than a Tripel - great apricot and peach flavors. Not at all boozy. Going back for more tomorrow.

Pours a hazy golden orange with a large foamy white head that left lacing and sustained. A very nice looking beer. Aroma of candy sugar, pineapple, citrus and yeast. Flavor of yeast, Belgian spices, banana, candy sugar, light roast and slight alcohol as it warmed.

Yeast, orange pez, and cherries in the aroma. Hazy light amber body with a voluminous white head. Wonderfully complex aroma. The flavor starts with a spicy burst of pepper, clove, banana and wraps up with taffy-sweet malt. My style of Tripel, it’s much more flavorful than most.