Gulden Draak a Dark Tripel? C'mon!

A quick google search doesn't yield anything, but I recall reading once upon a time that tripels used to all be dark, but Westmalle (I believe) was lighter and became the example of the style that everyone followed afterwards.

 

no, enjoying beer is the culture. Not nit picking over minutiae

 

Westmalle was the first 'tripel', and since it has been called a tripel it has not been dark. Tripels, as we now know them, have never been dark, though paler beer became fashionable at some point. Even Duvel used to be dark.

As I said, the brewery did call Gulden Draak a barley wine, which seems perfect for the beer.

 

Any sources or other proof for that statement? Dark Duvel.......the idea alone fascinates me.

 

Was Duvel not similar to a scotch ale? Hence it using a scottish ale yeast. They kept the yeast but changed the malts

edit: here's michael jackson on it

http://beerhunter.com/documents/19133-000020.html

 

Witkap Pater was the first Tripel. Ron Patinson corrected me before.

 

See below...

 

I think I first heard about this from a Michael Jackson book...

 

Probably nothing like a scotch ale since he isolated one yeast (maybe the same used today) out of multiple strains.

From the article you linked to
"At the time, Scotch Ales were fashionable in Belgium. McEwans were exporting a bottle-conditioned ale. De Clerck decided to "take apart" this ale, by examining its yeast.

This turned out to comprise somewhat between 10 and 20 strains. De Clerck took out the strains he considered most useful, cultured them up, and used them to ferment an experimental dark ale at the brewery in Breendonk."

 

Really! That is interesting. Was LordCrabapple incorrect?

“Witkap Tripel is a fruity, honeyish, winey, and more assertive beer (6w; 7.6v). These beers were inherited from the long gone brewery of Brasschaat, in the province of Antwerp, and I believe, this was the first golden Tripel, before the style was taken up by Westmalle.“ Michael Jackson

 

Well the first brewery to label something a "quadruple" just made that shit up too!

 

styles don't matter as much in belgium. like, they don't matter at all.

 

LordCrabapple doesn't talk about La Trappe Quadrupel any more. Doctor's orders.

 

It's a great beer but I don't see it as a tripple.

 

I love Gulden Draak so much I dream about drinking it. No really, I had a dream last night that I was at a place with 60+ taps of all terrible things, but then I found Gulden Draak buried in the tap list and got happy. Don't know what that says about me...

 

Says you like Gulden Draak and there is nothing wrong with that...

 

The idea that tripel meant 3x anything is largely considered a myth. Historians will not agree, but it's generally thought that it's just an indication of increasing strength.

Whatever uniformity is here today, it's a relatively recent thing. Others' product is pretty much patterned after the Westmalle range that developed in the 1900s.

 

Belgians notoriously do not conform to style guidelines. That's ok. We all know its a Belgian Strong Dark. Or is it a Quad?

 

Inspired by this thread I'm drinking my first Gulden Draak right now. And my last.

Eugh! Never had anything like it.