Atonement
Selkirk Abbey Brewing Company

Bottle from HomeBrewStuff. Medium golden with a light haze. Lacking the fluffy head of the Belgian original. Then it gets better, nice sweet, grainy, floral aroma, some savory spicy notes. Taste is more of the same, cardamom , clove, pepper, grass, butter. Very slick and slippery.

22oz bottle, courtesy Woemad, poured into 12oz tulip. Poured a hazy-cloudy medium honey-gold color, but lacked the pillowey white head that I expect in the style. Thusly, there was no lacing. The aroma had most of the features one looks for, yeasty spice, grain, and a bit of floral notes. It did smell sweeter than I prefer in what is likely my favorite style.

The flavor profile was pretty similar, the yeast and grain dominated, but it just seemed not what it could have been. The body was fairly typical, maybe a wee touch more full than I enjoy, but the finish was too sweet for me. Overall, a pleasant enough brew. This is the first SA brew I've been somewhat dissapointed in. Still worth trying if you see it, but not among the upper echelon of the style.

 

Poured into a Gulden Draak tulip. Pours a medium golden amber with only slight visible carbonation that dissipates quickly. Classic tripel aroma of apple and light stone fruit, light caramel, light clove and Selkirk's fruity yeast. Flavor follows with light caramel and bready malt, phenolic stone and apple juice, clove and peppery spice, a little fruit esters on the finish with lingering spiciness. Medium bodied with light creaminess and good carbonation that belies the stillness of the pour. A very nicely made and traditional tripel. Another excellent Belgian style ale from Selkirk that is true to the style. Maybe a little bit more fruit notes in the finish, but that is typical of Selkirk's yeast, which I really like.

Poured from 22oz bomber into a tulip.

Appearance: medium gold with a moderate haze and a thin layer of white foam that bubbled off quickly. I like the color, but the head could have some better retention.

Smell: sweet malt, a fair bit of alcohol heat, and a bit of a phenolic element. It's OK, but there are some characteristics here that I find a bit messy in a tripel.

Taste: sweet and orchardy, with a good apple & pear quality. it's very good up front, but the finish has that strong alcohol and phenol quality that just seems a little messy to me. So, it's good, but could be cleaned up.

Mouthfeel: medium-rich body, but with a lower carbonation than I like in the style. Like with 10% more carbonation, this really could be outstanding.

Overall: as it warms a little, and the more I drink it, the more complex this beer becomes. The very beginning of the palate is very good indeed, although the phenolic element takes away a bit from it. A lot of American tripels fall into a high-alcohol trap, with a lot of heat and imperfection, and this beer avoids a lot of that, but the big phenolic character shouldn't be quite as forward in a tripel. So: good, but not outstanding.