La Rulles Triple

Bottle. Again a deliciously hopped rulles. Fruit, apricot, yeast, bitter finish. More please.

If I hadn’t opened the bottle myself, I would have thought this to be a light Belgian golden. The 8.4% abv is well disguised, too. It pours a hazy, cloudy golden body alive with the swirly bits, yeast all over the place. The foamy head does has good retention and does some masterful lacing. The aroma is a stright-arrow citric smell, perhaps tangerine, with a touch of floral hops. The taste is sharp and acidic, some malt, to be sure, but predominantly a tart citric flavor. The finish is sour and a bit sticky. Strange tripel.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp?PlaceID=3984>Sam’s Wine & Spirits, Downers Grove, IL<font size=-1>

750ml bottle served in my NB worthy glass:

Hazed golden hue with a nice frothy head and very good lace. The aroma is quite different than expected with lots of spicy notes of coriander, anise, and herbs. Some fruity, barnyard, and phenolic esters as well. The taste is equally strange and not what I would expect in a tripel. Sure there is a sweet malt and candi sugar base, but there is also a moderate acidic and flowery nature than seems not to fit the style. I get some phenols on the palate as well. The finish sort of peters out and only leaves some lingering pepper and just a touch of orange rind to remind you of what you just finished. That said, I do enjoy the flavor of this offering as a whole. The feel is fizzy and lively but not really refreshing either, once again not very Tripel like. There are some alcohol notes as well well into the bottle tasting. It is more Biere de Garde or even a winter Saison than Tripel in my opinion. In the end, it is an good brew to try and next time I will approach it more like the styles I wrote above and not expect a abbey beer.

Bottle. Large white head that was mostly lasting and contained fine-small sized bubbles, excellent lacing, yeasty, cloudy, carbonated, and a yellow gold hue. Aroma was malty, sweet and spices. Flavor was malty and spicy. Mouthfeel was tingly. Medium body. Nicely done and well worth a try IMMHO.

75 cl Bottle. Golden unclear colour with a nice creamy head. Good aroma of spices and hints of yeast. Wonderful flavour of spice and ends up with a good mouthful and a great aftertaste of some alcohol and hops.

Pours a hazy golden with a light sticky head. Aroma is heavily spiced with nutmeg and coriander being very prevelant. The flavor is equally heavy with spice and adds some yeastiness, and minor band-aid flavors. The body is med. The finih is short with the exception of some of the spices coating the tongue. Remember, if you can pick it out, you’ve used too much.

Cloudy orange, nice head that faded away slowly. Built up quite a head in the bottle also. Aroma was sweet candy and apricots. Bit of nuttiness emerged as it warmed. Flavors matched overall, although as it warmed a faint trace of moldy hay emerged as well. Not bad by any means, but just didn’t do anything for me. Probably better than my numbers indicate, but I just couldn’t justify raising any of them.

Labelled tripel, but kinda saisonish. Cloudy golden, large foaming head. Enticing aroma, one that invites repeated sniffing. Perhaps some coriander or others spice, honeyed malts, light phenols, overall fairly complex nose. Somewhat sweet up front, giving way to a light banana-ish phenolic middle. Finish is herbal and spicy, with lingering notes of possible black pepper or coriander. Semi-dry to dry. Smooth and quite drinkable.