Chili Tripel
Midtfyns Bryghus

Copenhagen 9/4 2016. 50 cl bottle from Netto. Chili red label with fine little chili pepper masquerading as "I" in "Tripel".

Pours hazy orange with a white head. Disappears quite fast leaving only a small patch of foam behind.

Aroma has some sweetness and a little pepper going on. Not very distinctive.

Soft carbonation and suprisingly watery palate.

The flavor is a fairly weird experience as it combines a distinct sweetness with a burning sensation.

You are not in doubt that you are drinking something chili flavored - but I do not think that it should be added to something quite sugary. On the positive side you do not notice the healthy amount of alcohol in this beer.

 

500 ml bottle, from Vinmonopolet, bestillingsutvalget. ABV is 9.2%. Hazy brownish amber colour, big to moderate white (or slightly off-white) head. Strong sweetish aroma of candy, syrup, Belgian ale yeast and chili, hints of honey. The flavour has sweet notes of malts and Belgian ale yeast, hints of honey and syrup, minimal hops. Not much chili flavour while the beer is in your mouth, but there’s a distinct chili burn in the aftertaste. A bit weird, but well worth sampling.

From a 500ml bottle served almost straight from the fridge at 10 degrees Celsius into a chalice. Best before date: 11.07.2016 – more than a year ago – ha! This beer has been aging for so long that I've forgotten when I got it. Definitely 24+ months.

Look: The beer pours a brilliant deep amber/light copper with no head hence no cap and no lacing and no retention and just a bunch of nope. Obviously a result from aging the beer for so long. Having said that, the colour is just gorgeous.

Smell: Strong and sweet. Sugary sweet malts with DMS and metallic notes developed over time. Honey, berries, and faint alcohol. All the hops have faded. Reminiscent of a barley wine which kind of boggles the mind.

Taste: Strong and sweet just like the aroma. Honey-like maltiness up front with strong chili hitting you mid-palate and carrying through to the finish which is long, strong, and sweet (thanks to the spicy heat!). No hops, definitely stale, and yet with many layers.

Feel: Medium-full body with moderate carbonation. Round and heavy with restrained alcohol and considerable chili spiciness.

Overall: After aging a beer for so long (and a year past its best before date), I didn't know what to expect – I'm not even sure I should be drinking this – haha! What has emerged is something super interesting and a drinking experience like no other. There are obvious off-flavours from DMS to metallic notes, but it seems like the potent chili has taken over and ends up masking so much of that. The brew is malty-sweet with considerable bite from the chili along with sherry-like notes. I really want to try one fresh right now... probably not going to happen though :) I struggled with assigning numbers to be beer since so much has gone off because of the aging. I ended up with a solid “try it” (4) because it's just so dang interesting. I don't know if that's the case with a fresh sample.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

500 mL bottle from the LCBO; best before July 11 2016. A chile tripel? The combo was just too strange to not want to try. Served slightly chilled.

Pours a mostly-clear orange-amber hue. Visible flecks of stuff slowly flow throughout the liquid, which is capped off with one finger of dense-looking, creamy off-white head. It soon reverts to a frothy cap and collar, leaving behind some scant smudges of lace as it recedes. Mediocre-looking by tripel standards, but pretty good for a chile beer. Fortunately, I'm grading it as the latter. There is a detectable amount of earthy, peppery chile spice on the nose, but I would not call the bouquet very spicy at all, really. Instead, the aroma is dominated mostly by an overripe, fruity plum/prune sweetness, with a pretty big dose of caramelized sugar, too. Pretty neutral for such a bold-sounding brew, really; neither off-putting nor particularly enticing.

It took me a few sips to get the hang of this one. The malt bill takes the reigns right off the bat - a bit bready, with lots of brown sugar and caramel, soon being joined by ripe, dark stone fruit flavour. I'm also getting a hint of banana, with the chile remaining hidden until you near the finish. At that point, things get a bit more interesting -earthier, and a bit more peppery than true spiciness/heat - with a boozy, butterscotch sweetness joining in once you reach the aftertaste. Still, the heat on your tongue and in the back of your throat that builds with each sip is clearly chile-derived, and not from the burly alcohol content. Medium-full in body, with moderate carbonation levels that prickle the palate confidently, synergizing nicely with the mildly spicy flavour profile. More drinkable than something like this really should be, but still very much a sipper at heart.

Final Grade: 3.91, a B+. Chile beers are always a bit tricky, and it's very easy to understand why the grades for this one seem to be so polarized. Once I get past the fact that it's not a good example of a tripel, I'd still consider Midtfyns Chili Tripel to very much be a well-made chile beer. In fact, I might even purchase it again. But it's not the sort of brew I'd have much interest in drinking more than say, once a year, and it's definitely not the sort of stuff I'd put effort into tracking down. A neat novelty; if it sounds interesting to you and you happen to bump into it, then why not?

Honey/copper hued body; thick, foamy head that soon fades to a thin wisp of large bubbles. Grass and green chili aroma; faint pepper and spice notes. Almost cloying sugary malt flavor; some astringency; occasional appearances of chili pepper heat. Medium body; somewhat coarse on the palate; semi-sweet finish.

Malt sweetness dominates things, a little too much. What's really missing is any significant chili pepper heat or flavor. What does appear is so faint and so far into the background as to be nearly invisible. The beer comes across rather one-dimensional and lacks balance, depth, and complexity.

 

 

 

 

 

Tripels are typically yellow or gold but this one is a definite orange - if that's the influence of the chili peppers then I'm a little intimidated. It's also conventional for tripels to have a big, rocky head but, as we just covered, Midtfyns Chili Tripel is far from conventional. Clarity is in tact for now; sediment was stirred up from the first pour and looks ready to make its move.

Fermented with yeast strains naturally endowed with floral, fruity, and even spicy qualities, this is a style that needs no support in the aromatics department. Again, however, this is not your typical tripel; this aroma isn't perfumy or effervescent or surprisingly even spicy. Instead, it smells bready and caramelized, with dried and candied fruits in place of orchard or citrus ones.

I now know the culprit behind the amber colour: amber malts. Tripels are customarily made almost exclusively from pilsner malt. This different approach results in entirely different flavours: butterscotch, pear compote, and fruitcake are not taste descriptors I've ever used with the style before.

For better or for worse, the presence of the chilies is so restrained as to go virtually unnoticed; heck, I've had spicier tripels than this that weren't brewed with peppers! There is a small stinging sensation in the back of the throat but only from large mouthfuls (take small sips and you're fine). This mild and mellow caramelly character is fine in other beers but seems ill-fitted here.

My initial impression to this beer was "a chili tripel? What? Really? Why?". After having tried it a couple of times, that continues to be my opinion on it. Interesting idea - and one that could work provided the right food pairing - but overall it's simply a regrettable offering. The departure from stylistic guidelines doesn't bother me; fact is this recipe just plain isn't very good.