Southern Tier Tripel

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Tripel
Lakewood, New York USA

Bottle shared with blankboy, jerc, HogTownHarry & tupalev - courtesy of tupalev. Bright, clear golden with a small white head. Floral hop aroma - nice, but not really what I expect from a tripel. Flavour is warm, fruity, with a bit of spice and vanilla. Finish is short and a bit on the sweet side. OK, but a bit of a let down from these guys.

WTF. A filtered, non-bottle conditioned tripel, and a pretty dark one to boot. Bad start. The aroma is floral and unassuming, though slightly lagery and chocolately. Pours with no head. Flavor is high in alcohol, a little coriander, sweetish malts (munich?), and more booze. Light european hops.

This was a pretty strong Tripel, even if it isn’t an out-and-out sock-knocker-offer. Clear medium pale gold with a large, off-white, frothy, mostly diminishing head.<P>Aroma overall is spicy, vinous, hoppy/dry and warm: malty with moderate notes of toasted grain, cookie; hoppy with moderate notes of resin/pine, herb; yeasty with moderate notes of bread dough and a trace note of soap; miscellaneous notes of moderate coriander, orange zest, brown sugar, spicy alcohol, light notes of pear and banana, clove. <P>The flavor is moderately-to-heavily bitter, moderately sweet with a very long, moderately-to-heavily bitter, slightly hot finish.<P>The body was medium, the texture was velvety and the carbonation was lively.

Head is initially small, frothy, white, mostly diminishing. Body is clear medium to dark yellow. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain), lightly hoppy (herbs, flowers), lightly yeasty (cobwebs, wet cement), with light notes of pepper, clove, and bubble gum. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, velvety/watery texture, lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic. Surprisingly uninspiring; can’t believe it’s not bottle conditioned either. Too simple and easy-going. Pleasant in what *is* there, but missing too much to score well from me. Just a Belgian strong ale, not a tripel in how I see it.

This tripel poured an ultra clear gold with a fastly disappearing head. Aroma was extremely spicey malt, pepper, and a bit of hops too. Flavor is similar...surprisingly spicey and hoppy for a tripel. Not very sweet or yeasty. Well balanced and interesting, but not the flavor I was hoping for. Mouthfeel was extremely crisp, but not as dry as the flavor would have suggested.

12 oz bottle: Deep golden body w/a short live whilte, thin head. Grainy malt dominates, but seems to be missing the estery and spicy yeasts and alcohol. Some light corn sugar and fruity esters come through as it warms, but most grainy malt. Very light hints of floral hops and some green apple fruitiness. A little bit of ginger spiciness pops in as it warms. Well balanced flavor, if a bit on the sweet malty side for most of it, but has a hint of bitterness in the finish & aftertaste. The finish is a bit on the semi sweet side until the bitterness hits. A bit more fruity on the palate than in the nose for sure. Grainy malt and some green apple fruitiness in the flavor like in the nose. There seems to be a bit of a smoky phenolic in the aftertaste along with a lingering, pronounced bitterness. Lighter medium body, medium carbonation, well hidden alcohol. This is an average beer, but a well below average tripel. No real phenolics from yeast, and the fruitiness is green apples. I wouldn’t go out of my way to find this one again, but would drink another one if presented with it.

Tom hooked us up with this last night, and came from jfurycat. Pours a deep gold, crystal clear and a thin white head. Aroma is fruity and yeasty with some golden apple hints, and light phenols, but for the most part this was very clean for a tripel. Sweet flavor with more fruit, yeast and some clove. FInishes too sweet, not dry enough, and lower carbonation than most belgian tripels.

12oz bottle shared courtesy of TomDecapolis. Poured a medium and clear golden color with a small sizeed white head. Aromas of fruity apples, citrus, light bubblegum and some yeast and spices. Tastes of fruits, citrus, and spices. Light alcohol in the finish.