Val-Dieu Triple

Brewed by Brasserie de l’Abbaye du Val-Dieu
Style: Abbey Tripel
Aubel, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip

750 ml bottle with a predominantly red and yellow label says "Abbaye-Abdij Val Dieu" and Triple is in a gold scroll at the bottom. A short description of the brew is on the back along with the government warning. In very small print it says serve between 52-55 degrees (do it). Also it shows a picture of a snifter and a crossed out picture of a pint glass. <!-- cool --> On the cork is the date 03/07 Appearance - Val Dieu Triple poured up a very clear medium gold color into my snifter. There was an inch worth of a thick white head that was very slow to dissipate. About a 1/16 of an inch remains throughout the drinking process and there is nice lacing all over the glass. (Just finished my first glass and the lacing goes all the way to the bottom.) Very nice! Smell - Fruity, caramel aromas attempt to mask the underlying alcohol and due a fair job of it unless you cram your snoz into the glass. The warmer the brew get the more pronounced the alcohol. Taste - I can taste the fruits and some sweetness, but then Bam! Then there is a sharp bitter bite. The hops? I don’t mind this as it helps to leave the palate clean. I never got a hint of the alcohol in the taste, but I haven’t finished my second glass and I feel the alcohol! <!-- good! --> Mouthfeel - Val Dieu feels very light on the palate to me. The carbonation that supports that wonderful head helps to impart a creamy feel to this triple as well. Light and creamy, then is the mouthfeel to me. Drinkability - Bring it on! This goes on my buy more of this list. 2 750 ml bottles of this and I’d be good for a long evening in front of the fireplace, fire or no fire. Notes: On my third and final glass from this 750 ml bottle I poured in the yeast that had been sitting on the bottom. The only thing that changed was that the appearance went to being cloudy.

6 litre bottle. Orange colour, with white mediumsized head. Aroma is smooth fruity with caramel and malts. Flavour is very smooth malts, fruits, some yeast and passionfruit. The passionfruit stays in the aftertaste, which also contains hints of earthyness, malts and some mouldy. Very pleasantly balanced.

Tarnished and pale hay yellow, yeast pour turns it opaque at the the end of the 750ml pour. No head was ever produced nor was any lacing ever evident. A poor quality appearance for a Belgian in my book. Perhaps a bad bottle as it didn’t seem to have much pop with the cork twist. Aroma is dull and yeasty dry with a smurfed in, super lagging citrus rind squeeze and a partial mustyness staying true to the overall. Flavors are unimpressive with not much complexity going on within its taste as it nearly mirrors the dull aroma with mostly a yeasty dryness and a floating citrus rind fruity flatness. It has no real finishing qualities as it just kinda sits there making no change, nor does it attempt to. A slight tug of warmth in an ethonal-like surge makes a throat coarsing texture within the yeatsy dryness. Other than that... its borderline boring in taste for a Tripel. Feel is soggy and flat in carbonation among a smooth, unexcited mediumish body. Very pale, quite dull, and underwhelming. Only thing likable is the warmth that does have a nudge of complexity in spice nearer the fade across the finish late. "Disappointed..."

Gee thanks to Vintage cellar for this widely avail. brew. Screwballs. Nose is very spicey and fruity but this is either old or just not very tasty.The spice and fruit nose does not carry over to the taste. Looks very nice with a monster white foamy head. Ripe bananas and pears.

Bottle. pale wheat gold looks w/ off white frothy head. Bit of a coriander, light sugar, saffron aroma. Dry, tastes very much like spiced grain, bready. Palate may be messed up by that last nonsense I drank. There’s definitely a bit much coriander here, they didn’t go too overboard on the sugar, though it is a bit sweet, not a whole lot to make this beer exciting or exemplary though it’s passable enough.

To quote Notting Hill "Not bad at all". Long lasting white head. Nice aroma with citrus, coriander, grass. Colour yellow and a little unclear. Taste sweet and spicy even though you can sense the alcohol

On tap at Mr. Dunderbocks in Tampa. Poured golden orange with a white head. Aroma was banana bread and spices. Flavor is yeast and gerber banana flavored baby food. This was hugely malted. The spices really brought out the character in this one.

After visiting the brewery in Val Dieu I really like this beer.Nice balance between sweet and bitter. Drink it cold!