Abbaye D'Aulne Triple Blonde 9°
Brasserie Val De Sambre

 

 

 

 

Slightly hazy orange color with a one finger head with medium retention and leaving some laces.
Aroma of Belgian yeast, oranges, mint, candied sugar and bread.
Spicy flavor with notes of mint, herbal hops, oranges, hay, green apples, pears and finishing with dry white wine. Dry, bitter and spicy aftertaste.
Medium body with effervescent carbonation. Alcohol of 8% abv is harmonic with the overall beer.
Average Tripel. It leans towards the Belgian Strong Pale Ale side. Their best qualities are the spicy notes and how well it hides the high abv content.

 

 

 

 

Gold opaque. Nose smelling the hops and alcohol. Mouth easily, without great folly, in the style tripel of medium quality. That is to say, strong alcohol in the mouth, a little bitterness in the aftertaste and we revert to the fruit flavors and floral hops usually present in this type of beer.

750ml corked and caged brown bottle.

It pours a honeyish color with a fizzy white head that leaves no lacing.

The smell is nice, lots of orange and citrus.

The flavor is a bit weaker. It is a dry tripel with some orange notes and light malt. It is a bit water flavored.

A decent tripel.

Been hanging onto this for a fey years. Picked it up in a trade from buckeyesox. After his passing I found I didnt have the heart to drink it.
After having it for years, I just now noticed somone went over the best before ate with a marker. I managed to remove the marker ink and see it says best before 3/10/07. Properly cellared, should be just fine.

Poured from the corked and caged 750 producing a clear pale straw color. Last pour brought some haze, but first pour was great.
Producing a bit over an inch of creamy white froth. Receding to leave asolid creamy cap of retention. Resembling a nitro pour head. Lace is thick leaving full coverage, also resembling a nitro pour.
Aroma is dry with hay, cereal grains, pils malt, lemon zest, touch of bready funk.

Taste is a bit strange, very juice like, bordering unfermented apple juice, sweet, but still tasty. Breadyness, tart, but overly wet and too much unfermented fruit flavors.
Mouthfeel provides terrific smooth velvety texture.

Thank you Dave!

Thanks to Greg for sharing a bottle of this beer.

A: The pour is a nice golden color with perhaps a touch of haze to it and a fluffy white head.

S: This one starts off with a sweet bready malt nose and some candi sugar. Lots of yeast esters give this a sweet citrus, tropical fruits, lemon zest, and pears. Some mild spice notes are present as well.

T: A nice mix of yeast flavors along with a strong citrus component. Lemon zest, sweet oranges, and perhaps even tangerine. Pretty nice bread and malt character, with just a touch of bitterness to it. Again, a touch of spice ester flavor.

M: The body is medium with a nice lively carbonation that is typical of Belgian beers.

D: You never quite know what you're going to get with these "random" Belgian beers, but I really quite liked this one.

Purchased from a discount grocery store for 3.99. The beer pours a golden straw topped with a pillowy white head. Smells sweet, and bubblegum-yeasty.
Fairly high level of carbonation. Tastes, by and large, of a typical Triple. A little bit too sweet, which I think overpowers other potential flavors. Not a bad beer all told.

Poured from a 750 mL bottle into a tulip glass.

A- Pours a hazy, dingy golden color. Produced three fingers width of white head after an aggressive pour. Great head retention. Left nice lace work as the beer was consumed.

S- Definitely getting a mix of ingredients here. Some fruit in the form of apples, oranges and a touch of lemon. Also getting some notes of yeast, along with herbal spices.

T- The fruit noticed in the nose definitely is the first to come out here. Once again, apples and oranges with a nice zing from lemon zest. After this coriander and yeast come forward. Beer finishes with a rather fruity, apple juice like quality.

M- Well carbonated, medium bodied.

D- Pretty easy drinking.

Overall, a little more on the fruity side than I had hoped for. Liked the ingredients, but they weren't as cohesive as I would have liked. Still, a solid beer.

Wife brought this home from a discount wine/beer grocery shop, where she picked it up for $3.99. They had a two others bottles from Abbaye D'Aulne at the same price, she went with the highest alcohol option. surprise!

750 ml bottle poured into large Duvel tulip glass.

a - pale golden color, slightly cloudy with thick two finger head, dissipating after a minute or two, leaving some light lacing

s - inviting, slightly yeasty nose with lemony/citrus notes

t - the taste matches right up with the expectations from the nose - nice yeasty, slightly piquant taste, initial lemony notes really jump out in mid palate. pleasant lingering finish, a little doughy, the citrus still dancing a bit on the edges of my tongue

m - fair mouth feel, not too thin, a little lighter than what I would expect from a triple

d - very drinkable, the higher alcohol doesn't seem to show up at all. I let the wife have a few sips before I was forced to finish the bottle across a few more glasses. And that's when I found the alcohol...

Great beer for the price. I'd be disappointed if I paid $10-15 for the bottle.

A - A large fluffy pillow like pure white head... Foam clings to the sides of the glass as the head fades... Stellar retention that leads to a full creamy lacing... A pale orange honey color... Slightly hazy... Cyclone of rapid carbonation rises in the center... Faint traces of dark sediment fall to the bottom of the glass...

S - White raisins... Lemon zest... Pear... Apple... Yeast... A faint spiciness, namely in the form of coriander...

T - Sweet maltiness takes the form of butterscotch and light caramel... Hints of honey... Bosc pear... Banana... Apricot... Candied dried fruits...

M - Medium bodied... Creamy and rich... Smooth and lush... Highly refreshing...

D - A wonderful Belgian experience... Whether a Tripel or a Strong Pale Ale, it's a worthy brew... Hides the 9% ABV rather well... In my opinion, this is criminally underrated based on the reviewed I've read...

Appearance: Pours a pale, mostly clear gold into a goblet. One-finger head doesn't linger long. After re-reading my review, I suppose the pale color and quickly disappearing head are part of the theme.

Smell: Sweet flavors are immediately apparent as soon as the cork comes out. Dried fruit leads, with a bit of bubblegum.

Taste: The fruit in the nose comes through very strong in the mouth. There's also pepper and a smallish hop backbone that tries to keep things balanced, but it's mostly in vain. It's ok, although there's nothing particularly innovative going on here, and I've had better examples of the style.

Mouthfeel: About right - not terribly zippy. More carbonation might improve it, but might not.

Drinkability: Decent, but it wouldn't be my first choice for this style if I had other choices. On the bright side, the ABV is pretty well hidden. You wouldn't want to drink these all night, I think, but there's certainly no problem in carefully sipping a few.

Poured from 750 mL bottle into snifter. Cork reads #144302 (best before 3/10/07 stamped on bottle).
A: Very nice orangish yellow color with slight cloud. Excellent 2 inch thick billowy white head that lasts forever. Excellent lacing.
S: Pear, lemon, and lighter citrus notes. Mostly pear though.
T: A bit weak here. Honestly very minimal taste...did this beer suffer going past the Oct. 3, 2007 date? I would be surprised if it did, so perhaps this is it. Light pear and citrus notes. Not as much as you would like from a belgian beer.
M: Light body, doesn't linger much.
D: A nice looking beer, but the taste is only average. I would not drink this one alone...pair it with some stronger food. It's a decent thirst quencher and the ABV is well hidden.

A - The cork is packed pretty tight into the 750ml bottle. Upon opening, it was a little bit of a gusher - a lazy geyser of foam would have overtopped the bottle had I not poured it into my Chimay chalice. Bottle #144302, per cork. It does indeed pour with a good deal of foam. Standard tripel body - gold with active carbonation. Very good thin lace - pretty beer.

S - As soon as I popped the cork, it hit me - this is one fruity tripel. Pear, especially - holy crap, what a pear bomb in the aroma. You might as well mash up some Bartlett pears and bury your nose in. That's what this smells like...strong, strong pear. Some other fruits, but mostly pear and some vanilla wafers.

T/F - I definitely get the pear that was in the aroma, but not a whole lot else. Hops seem to be somewhat lacking, and there's only a light spicy/peppery character. A little sweet in the finish, with soft carbonation. Aftertaste of pear nectar. Feel-wise, I like my triples to be a little more flinty in feel. After the incredibly promising start, I have to deduct points.

D - A mixed bag. Certainly a good beer, but when you call yourself a Tripel, you have to bring it, when you have titans like Westmalle, St. Bernardus, Allagash, La Fin Du Monde, and Chimay Cinq Cents in your style category. The intense pear can get wearisome after a while....though with the right pairing (pun intended) or cheese, this could be pretty special.