Belgian National Day Ale (Dry Hopped Tripel)
Brewery Ommegang

12oz bottle from Toby. Dark golden pour, cloudy, skin of head. Aroma is heady, Belgian yeast. Taste is smooth, malty, yeasty, sweet, buttery and floral.

Presentation: 12 oz. brown bottle with no dates. Served in a Rastal Harmony glass.

Appearance: The fluffy, two finger head stays around for a while and eventually goes down into a thin foam ring that stays until the end and a lot of thick, patchy lacing. It's a beautiful, clear bright gold color. 

Smell: It's a spicy aroma of anise, white pepper and coriander. There's also orange peel and tangerine in there.

Taste: There's the distinct, belgian tripel white pepper and coriander spice at first but then some obviously hoppy fruit notes show up of orange and grapefruit. It's an interesting flavor profile with a lot of variety.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and quite creamy with medium carbonation. 

Overall: An interesting take on a Belgian tripel. The fruity, citrus hop notes go along very well with what you traditionally expect from the style. A job well done by Ommegang.

Look: It pours dark gold with a white head. Head retention is low.

Smell: There are cherries in the aroma with citrus and medium spices. There are some medium low earthly elements in the background with very low banana.

Taste: There are flavors of dough, earth, cherries, spice, citrus, and orange. There are low banana elements and bread.

Feel: It has a medium body with a dry finish.

Overall, it has a complex element of aromas and flavors.

 

 

Brewery Ommegang "Belgian National Day Ale"
12 fl. oz. brown glass bottle, seemingly without production codes or freshness dating.
$3.29 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: It's poured a slightly hazy orange colored body beneath an inch or so of slightly off-white foam. The head appears to be holding well, no doubt bolstered by the bubbles rising quickly from below. The aroma is sweetish, and perhaps even honey-like. It's floral, orange-like, and a touch spicy. The taste delivers everything that the aroma suggests and more. The orange comes through clearly, as does the spiciness, over a bready lightly caramelish maltiness. It's a little like orange marmalade. There's also some apple-like fruitiness, and some of the same floral notes found in the aroma. There's a touch of tartness that works well with the orange, and along with a solid bitterness, it finishes dry with a lingering earthy, and perhaps piney, spiciness. I suspect that spiciness is due to a combination of hops and alcohol (it is 8.9%) although the alcohol remains mostly hidden upfront. It's medium to medium-full in body, and fairly crisp - that must also help to balance it. It's interesting, sweetish, honey-like and fruity but then spicy and dry.
Review #7,065

 

The beer pours a nice white and creamy head that dissipates fairly quickly but leaves some nice fringe around the inside of the glass. The beer itself is a clear, metallic and golden amber that looks very nice. It has shades of brown, yellow, and orange.

The smell is pretty good. It has strong, bitter, and herbal grapefruit note mixed with a bready yeast note and honey malt note.

The taste is pretty good. It has a strong herbal and bitter orange peel hop note that comes off like a decent tea. There is also a strong bready malt note with a light honey to it. The weird thing is that notes tend to rotate in and out as to which is the strongest.

The feel is good. It has medium body with a tingling carbonation to it. It finishes really dry.

Overall, this is a pretty good beer and is actually a bit more complex than described. Recommended.

Medium golden body with a thin white head that never fully vanishes. It's not exactly clear, but it's not an eyesore, either; just has a little yeast or whatever swimming about. There's a lot going on with the nose: sweet candy malt, bready grains, Belgian spice and some citrus hop character. Tastes exactly as advertised: a dry-hopped Belgian tripel. Medium-bodied with very active carbonation and relatively low bitterness. This is an interesting and worthy experiment, but can't really deliver on the promise of the nose.

Body is at least medium with about medium carbonation.
Aroma is piney, bitter citrus peel, earthy bitter hops.
Taste is bitter grapefruit fruit and peel, pine, a little malt. The bitterness lingered in the aftertaste for some time.
This was more complex than I am describing it. Flavorful and well made and totally worth giving it a try.

kind of an old belgium meets america thing, a tripel at its base, but liberally hopped, a weird fusion of styles it seems, but a cohesive and tasty beer nevertheless. its got a little more color to it than many tripel types, brassy bronze looking with a tall belgian head, white and wispy and lasting. it smells like pine, pineapple, and minerals, with an estery belgian yeast alongside the hops, subtle banana, bubblegum, and white pepper, green pear too maybe, floral elements in the mix, some bitterness, and faint metallics, appealing but different for a tripel. the hops are really bold in the taste, especially on the back end, and its a lot more than just bitterness, although that aspect is certainly present. its fruity like lime and papaya, but its also drying and earthy, like a not quite ripe nectarine or something too, herbal and just a little harsh, but its a nice balance to the malt sweetness of the beer, and there are nice proportions here overall, once i settle into the idea of this being something not really traditional at all despite the way it presents itself. great carbonation, warms up favorably too, and hides its alcohol extremely well. ultimately this is a little aggressive on the hops by most standards, but the flavors are unique in a style that doesnt often see a ton of innovation, and i appreciate what they did here. always good to drink the belgian stuff from these guys, it really is what they do best in my opinion, always has been...

 

Clear, burnt orange color. Creamy white head. Good retention.

Smells like honey, vanilla, cooked apple, and spices.

The taste is sweet biscuit malt, honey, vanilla, cooked apple and pear, candied orange, big clove.

Medium feel, moderately carbonated, slick and oily. Could use more carb, if I'm being honest.

Overall, a decent tripel. It tastes pretty good, but could use more carbonation and a dryer finish. Also, I don't detect much hop character at all.

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a Dogfish head tulip

L: Slightly hazed light golden pour with big fluffy white head. Great lacing.

S: Grassy... yeast and hops.

T.F: Sweet up front... toasted malts and faint Belgian sugar. Yeast... very grassy. Light lemon, tea, and herbal hops. Milder yeast esters... less than expected for a tripel. Only a bit of spice with a bit of hop bitterness/bite. Medium bodied. Smooth carbonation. More hops at the finish.

O: An interesting tripel... lacks some of the expected flavors, but adds a good bit of hops and some bite. I enjoyed trying it... not what I thought it would be.

Marigold in color is a bright yellow hue, a soapy head that does not persist and medium low clarity

Lots of floral, spicy and subtle citrus-y hop aroma, bready and slightly grainy aroma from the malt along with peppery phenols and some booze

Up front is similar to the nose, lots of herbal, spicy, floral and citrus flavor from the hops, in the middle the is a bready flavor from the malt with, peppery, clove and almost peachy phenols. The finish is a bit boozy but not overwhelming. Beer is very well attenuated

Moderate carbonation with a medium-full mouthfeel. Definite alcohol warmth but not off-putting. Leave a dry sensation on the palate

Ommegang makes Belgians the right way and this one is no exception, however it could be slightly less bitter despite the fact it is dry hopped and the level of booziness could be tones down a little. A tripel should have significant phenolics and esters but the peppery phenols can be a little overwhelming as you get closer to finishing the beer. Furthermore, I'm a bit disappointed with the head retention. All that said, this is a still a well made beer from a world class brewery, but they could have done a little better

 

Let warm to 40F , +/-, as per suggestion on bottle.

Lightly hazy deep gold, with large 3-finger+ head. Leaves a ring, slight lacing, and a complete surface covering of foam.

Smell is lightly fruity (candied citrus + dried stone fruit + applesauce ; = sort of like fruitcake, but better & fresher) , with some spicy/herbal/floral hop aroma, a bit of bready malt, and a bit of piney/solventy alcohol.

Taste is dried orange rind, a hint of lime, barely-sweet herbal + floral (hop) spiciness, slight pine, a hint of bread crust, & a touch of (the typical Ommegang) yeast. Light, but noticeable bitterness.

Feel is smooth, and slightly creamy, with moderate, very,very fine carbonation tingle/bite. The front of the tongue ends up blasted & numb, from sensory exhaustion. (In a pleasant way. ;) )

Overall, very enjoyable, and easy-drinking. Could drink this all day. (If it weren't 8.9% . ;) ) Different enough from their regular fare, to be worth a try. "Tripel"? Hmmm??? Seems more DIPA x Saison (Nirvana met Hennepin, & had a really cute kid? :) ) In any event, it works, & turned out to be a worthwhile effort.

A - Medium to dark gold in color with small floaties but otherwise very nice clarity with strong and steady carbonation and a one fingered dense layer of creamy foam on top.

S - Light spiciness, light citrus dank, some breadiness, and yeast.

T - Citrus, light malt, peppery spice, grains of paradise, faint coriander. Some light booziness surfaces on the backside.

M - Thick and soft on the palate.

O - Not what I think of in a Tripel but glad to have tried this. Too thick and too wet.

 

hmm, a peculiar one. i will try to do its first review justice...

poured at fridge temp into a taster tulip with minimal head, lovely & lucid bronze golden. Belgian yeast funk and some booziness on the nose. Very hoppy in taste, but does do a tongue twister upon the arrival of yeasty counterpunch. Some hints of clove perhaps? Peppery... Does seem to grow in complexity as it comes to warm in the dewy glass, and fresh intoxication starts to settle in. Swallow again, hop-bitter, piney, grapefruity, but that inherent Belgium-ness returns to assert itself again at the finish.