Achel Extra Blond
Brouwerij der St. Benedictusabdij de Achelse

Poured from 750mL bottle into my BeerAdvocate teku. Bottled 1/31/22. This one has been on my "wants" list for 10 years and I finally came across a bottle!

Appearance: medium golden hue with a clear body and a good effervescence. Head is three fingers of frothy eggshell foam that leave a beautiful lace on the glass. Pretty indeed!

Smell: quite subtle, actually, with a sweet malt and light pear aromas. There's no hint of booziness, which I really like. I'd love the volume on the pear to be turned up a little, but still, this is great!

Taste: rich malt, just a little spiciness, and definitely some alcohol heat: pretty much to be expected at 9.5%. Some of the nice orchardiness remains. This is a good beer, but I like tripels that hide their heat a little bit better.

Mouthfeel: medium body with an exceedingly good carbonation and creaminess. Love, love it!

Overall: I like a lot about this tripel. It's not perfect -- the booze comes through a bit too strongly for my taste -- but still definitely worth checking out.

best before july/23.

yellow-gold, some haze. very foamy with some lacing. Yeasty.
Smells of citrus, grass, some spices. very fresh.
Herbal, citrus, spices.
Dry, sweet.

I personally did not taste the banana flavor that was obvious on the 8° version.
To me it's not as great as the extra bruin one. Still a great beer though.

More a story of drinking Achel than a review:

Purchased at the Achel brewery (monastery store) and consumed onboard a five-star river cruise. That may have something to do with my positive memory. :-). This was a few years ago.

Arguably one of the best beers I have ever had. Everything an ale should be, and something the American palate will find most pleasant as it was clean and smooth, even with a bit of crispness, if that's not a contradiction, with the beer all but screaming quality and flavor. I was quite surprised to see such a high ABV as I would've guessed 2% lower. I bought several bottles of Achel bier/biere at the source, the monastery store that straddles the Belgium and Netherlands border. It is by far and away the most impressive beer store I have ever visited (other impressive beer stores in Brussels, as well), with large beer and cheese selections, and particularly beer glasses, in fact, the glass selection was overwhelming, missing only, of course, Westvleteren.

I arrived in Brussels a week early for the river cruise in order to rent a car and visit the six Trappist monasteries in Belgium that brew their world-famous beer, throwing in Cantillon (twice) for good measure as a friend, who forgets more about beer in one night of drinking than I will ever know, swears it is Mecca (I can't believe people pay money for lambics; yeech). As most Beer Advocate readers would know or suspect, the Westvleteren beers were truly other-worldly but this was my favorite. Poured from a large bottle (IIRC, a750ml bottle; it was several years ago), I'm sure the fact that it had not traveled great distances and going through multiple hot-cold cycles and fighting light pollution had something to do with it.

I apologize for not writing this review, if you can call it that, while drinking this beer so I could give all the particulars but, if you're in southeastern Netherlands or northeastern Belgium, make the detour to Achel. If you're driving from Trappist monastery to Trappist monastery on the same quest as I made, please spend the time to pay a visit to Wereth and the shrine to the Wereth 11; it was sobering (please forgive the most unfortunate pun).

Surprisingly inexpensive to rent a car and stay at smaller hostels and visit the six Trappists monasteries. Truly a bucket list for anyone who appreciates the art of brewing, and the pleasure of consuming, outstanding beer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grassy and leafy blond tripel, with some clove, banana, belgian spices and yeast, malt sweetness and some black pepper for a kick. Not overly heavy, but body has a bubbly character to it while not losing the darker elements. Little boozy on the nose, but none whatsoever in the taste. Wife love it too!

 

 

 

 

 

No idea on a date, there's a date code or something on the side, 4 J 19? Doesn't mean anything to me.

A: Pours a hazy golden pour with an enormous effervescent white head. Head is soapy and thin, fades slowly however and with sparse bits of lacing.

S: A little bit grassy and a lot of wheat. Very doughy, like a sweet dough.

T: Yup, some grassy hops up front. Some white pepper to spice it up, maybe some allspice too? Doughy malt, like uncooked bread. Herbal on the back end, combined with that peppery spiciness. Fairly dry and crisp finish.

M: Medium bodied, smooth and dry.

O: Interesting tripel. On the very dry side for a tripel, in my opinion. Hoppiness is a bit high as well. It's almost like a tripel/BSPA hybrid in my mind. Tasty nonetheless.

 

 

Trade with BenBreeg. In Teku glass. Reading CSHTP6 Ch20 + playing Tomb Raider 2015. Foamy but doesnt affect feeling. Dry, with some sweetness and a remarkable herbal hoppyness. Improves as it warms up.