Westmalle Tripel

Brewed by Brouwerij der Trappisten van Westmalle
Style: Abbey Tripel
Malle, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip

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Bottle 330 ml. Hazy golden/orange beer with a small long lasting white head. Nice lacing. Aroma of citrus (lemon), spices (coriander?) and yeast. Taste is medium sweet with lemon/orange peel, spices and malts notes. Mouthfeel is impressive. Big body with a really nice balance of warming alcohol and bitterness that leave the palate dry. If you search an abbey tripel, it’s exactly what you get here. Perfect example of the style.

Smells a bit funky. Kind of old smelling. Taste is great though. Rich and bold yet smooth. Nice spice. Lemon pepper. Coriander. Dry spice. Delicious. Not sure if it isn’t surpassed by some of the new wave trippels like golden monkey and la fin du monde amongst others. Still a great beer.

In bottiglia. Color giallo carico con una soffice schiuma bianca piuttosto spessa. Al naso è speziata con sentori di limone e una parvenza di amaro; il gusto è mediamente amaro e luppolato con deboli note fruttate e maltose. L’alcool è ben percepibile, ma non soverchiante, ed irrobustisce parecchio il sapore; al palato è bella consistente ma il retrogusto amaro lascia la bocca pulita. Sinceramente me la ricordavo molto meglio, più profumata e più intensa nei sapori (alla spina in Belgio era spettacolare), probabilmente le due bottiglie in questione (trovate al supermercato) non sono state trattate a dovere e il prodotto si è rovinato. Da riprovare per conferma.

Opaque mustard gold. Pineapple nose. Subtle fruits blend with high carbonation to make a food friendly, yet complex drink. Clean and fresh mouthfeel and a dry finish.

From the 11.3 oz. bottle stamped: 14/06/13-3-003325. It pours a cloudy looking pale yellow with a small fizzy head. The aroma is of yeast, pale malts, spice, and tart fruits akin to pineapple. The body is medium to bold. The taste is both tart and sour with a spiced, dry hopped ending. This is something that you need to be in the mood for.

Aug 2008: Normal brown 33cl bottle. This one has been hanging around my garage for a couple of years or so. It had been left with a few other goodies boxed up waiting for me to break open when my regular beer stock began to shrink a bit. Best before 30th Oct 2008, so fairly old I guess and ready to go! Poured into my Westmalle Trappist Challice (what else would you use, if you had one?). I tried to pour it without getting any sediment into the glass, but I got excited and the whole bottle ended up within the challice. A few bits floated around in a golden hazy cloud of beer. On top sat a thin covering of white bubbles, which were forever being replenished by a rising torrent of other bubbles. The aroma is all about degrees of sourness and how your nose picks it out. Fruit smells range from Gooseberries to Grapefruit through the spectrum of fruity colours available to man. The taste is a explosion of flavours, fizzy and different. A bitter sweet mix of the best Belgium has to offer in a glass of Tripel. The alcohol is evident throughout, but it doesn’t detract from the overal complexity and pleasure this beer seems to exude. A very, very good beer. I have loved it for years and forgot about my little pack of Belgian beers stashed away, some more crackers to come!

Appearance is large white head with hazy orange. Aroma is a sweet citrus. Taste is lots of wheat with some sweet citrus and alcohol kick. Overall very solid.

Pours a murky golden orange, with a two finger head. Aroma is peach, apple, grass, citrus, spice, alcohol, bread, banana, yeast - nice and complex. Carbonation leads the attack on the palate but immediately gives way to an exquiste balance of medium sweetness and bitterness, very complex and pleasant with a long finish and a wonderful medium bodied oily mouthfeel probably due to the high alcohol content, which is exceptionally well blended and hidden. Absolutely loved this one, what a fantastic beer! I thought I was a dubbel man, but I’m now re-thinking...

Wow ... this might be a perfect beer! I wrote some notes down while tasting half of the bottle, and then looked at some of the reviews -- and I think that I am not alone in loving this beer. I picked this beer up on the recommendation of the woman at a bottle shop in Belgium (store description and location, below). This woman is a saint! What a great recommendation. Appearance: (5.0) The tulip glass looked amazing with the gold color of the beer and eggshell head from the Triple. Smell: (5.0) Hints of citrus, a little pepper and some apple. As the beer warmed, the smell became more pronounced. Taste: (5.0) A good spice came through ... very nice. A small amount of alcohol. Mothfeel (5.0) Good malt with slight carbination. Overall (5.0) This must be the gold standard for all Belgian beers. *** Le Moine Austère *** Just up the road from us in Beligum, is a wonderful bottle shop called the Austere Monk (I’ll review it after BA adds it: Le Moine Austère, Rue Dorez 8, Tournai, Belgium) (a review: http://www.monnuage.fr/point-d-interet/le-moine-au My wife and kids found the shop while touring the Grand Place and visiting the Christmas village. The family was excited to bring me to the store and even sent a few photos of the wall of bottles. As I looked at the selection, I instantly wished that I knew more about Belgium beers. I understand a little French and shopkeeper was willing to bring to me some of the local beers and the traditional favorites. (Side note: it is *very* helpful to have a wife that speaks and understands French!) She pointed out which beers were still made by monks (down to five, she said), and those breweries which tend to create craft beers. She loves to make gift baskets, filled with beers, glasses and other treats. I can’t wait to return! Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 12-30-2011 00:36:59

UPDATED: MAY 12, 2012 Floral aroma that leans to nailpolish, spicey, vanilla, cloves with a very fruity taste. Apple, ginger and peaches. Bitterness has a dry finess.