Tripel Tasting Thread (March 25-27, 2022)

My first contribution to the tasting is one of my favorite local brews and favorite Tripels...Red Rocks Marvella. Rated #48 on BA's Tripel list. Brewed with Belgian candi sugar it's a little sweet and really effervescent. At 11% its stronger than most typical tripels but really smooth drinking. A really nice brew

 

Trying a local-ish offering now:

Definitely suffers in comparison to the Westmalle from earlier. Aromas are not as distinct, there’s a strong baking spice note, along with a noticeable mustiness. Minimal head retention, prickly carbonation, and a thin body. On the palate, I’m picking up candied orange, spices, and some underlying sweetness. The finish is bitter and short/clipped. There’s not much finesse in this beer and it’s oddly filling. Ultimately, it’s OK, but I’m not exactly thrilled about getting through the rest of the sixer.

 

Rodenbach Red Tripel

I really enjoy these tasting threads, and I also enjoy using them to question ideas of styles. It's a nice opportunity for exploration in my eyes.

Sometimes I’ve expressed the opinion that a Belgian tripel doesn’t have to be blond… it’s just that they almost always are thanks to Westmalle. Tripel is an indication of strength... not necessarily color. This idea seems to rub people the wrong way though.

This is the 200th anniversary beer for Rodenbach. This beer was made by blending a typical Rodenbach beer that was aged for 2 years in oak casks with an unaged tripel. This beer is 8.2% ABV - which is an unusually high ABV for Rodenbach, but I imagine the unaged tripel in the blend is influencing this.

This beer is a beautiful auburn color with a nice frothy head (that doesn't last too long) from fermentation in the bottle. The taste is instantly unlike any other Rodenbach beer. There’s much less acidity than expected. The unaged beer in the blend is having a major influence. I’m surprised by this, but very pleased since the result is very unique for the brewer. The beer is quite dry and stoney. There’s a berry and cherry quality that shows the hand of the maker, but there’s a breadiness and bitterness that reveals the visiting guest. These elements do not clash. This would feel like a seamless blend if it didn’t have the cultural and historic baggage of the recipe. The Rodenbach-ish elements feel like something from an earlier time that is still present in the DNA of this strong beer. This is delicious. I couldn’t be more pleased… except that it is disappearing from my glass too quickly. The body is light and the drinkability is so high… it’s very dangerous.

I would love to try this beer alongside Liefmans Goudenband to look for similarities.

This beer is listed as a “Flanders red” on BA and a “tripel” on Untappd. I would bet the brewer considers both accurate, but they certainly refer to this beer as a tripel (even without the “red” qualifier). Is Rodenbach wrong? I don’t think so. The reviews of the beer on BA are a bit negative due to the concept and execution… but I think it’s a wonderful beer. I thought this beer would be a real oddball in the beers I gathered for this tasting, but at the moment I think this first beer will be the unexpected highlight.

Cheers!

 

I sense a foreshadowing that your next beer in this thread might be Gulden Draak....

 

With the second trippel I've tried, acquired by luck a couple days ago before I even knew the trippel tasting was happening this weekend, I have La Fin Du Monde.

A few comments about this beer before I get into the tasting.

1. The bottle doesn't actually imply it's Canadian origin other than what I now realize is actually a picture of a map of the northern peninsula of Quebec (which I did not recognize) and the French name made me think it was Belgian beer. I get it you're slick. You speak French and Belgians speak French but it would've still been nice to know it was Canadian before I bought it. This had also happened to me with some Stella I got not realizing they moved production stateside but I should've known better with that one.
2. Why the screw off cap? I don't understand the pros and cons of screw offs, I just thought they were for cheap beers so it was more convenient for the "on the go consumer" like hunting and tailgating and whatnot. Eh whatever its still good beer.

Onto the tasting
I know its in a boring old shaker pint, but I just moved and haven't busted out my Spieglau glasses yet, and I actually don't own a goblet or a chalice quite yet.
Nice and hazy unlike the New Belgium trippel, which is the other trippel I've had. So I still haven't had an "authentic" Belgian trippel yet. Anyways, on the pour the head explodes as i wasn't gentle enough and actually starts leaking over the sides of the glass. The image was taken approximately 5ish minutes after the pour.

The aroma is bright with some sweet malts that are mostly covered by a blast of yeasty notes of largely banana some spice, and an almost citrusy brightness. There is a slight offness to the aroma, like a cheap lager, presumably from the yeast but fortunately there's a lot going on here so it's not overpowering. Bottle has a best by date of June 2nd 2024, so I'm assuming it's not an old bottle, but I'm unsure how long these are dated out, weather 3 or 4 years or even longer. This bottle isn't as off as the bottle i cracked open last night though so I think it isn't usually this way.

Taste loses the fermentation off note, and the banana flavors from the yeast are much more present and spicy notes sort of ride in the back. there is some decent bitterness, but as you drink more, it becomes less noticeable. Still quite citrusy but it mingles more with the malts than in the aroma and is actually quite complex. I'm not sure what the traditional spices used in a trippel are.

Feel is not too chewy despite the ABV but definitely not watery I'd say this is a fantastic spring to summer beer. very refreshing and apart from a slight warming in the chest the alcohol really isn't detectable.

Overall for this being my second trippel ever tasted it seems more traditional than the new belgium beer, but I really couldnt tell you. I'd like to know what spices are used in a trippel as I believe the New belgium trippel was "brewed with spices" as well.

 

I have not, but have seen it for the first time recently, and look forward to picking up and trying it, hopefully later this year. I hope you are able to get to your side by side this weekend, would really like to hear your take.

I bought both from the same store within the past few weeks. They store beers in their own basement cellar, but not sure how long the older one was sitting there. The newer beer was dropped by the distributor within a few days of purchase (it's how I knew they had a fresher bottle available). I thought about asking for an exchanged, but decided to pursue science.

Very nice, I remember you tried the Rochefort Trippel there last year, sadly I still haven't made it back since 2019.

I still remember one of my first beer reviews ever, of Rigor Mortus there, really a great place to hit for locals or people in town who are near or in downtown.

Will hopefully get to bed soon, and be ready for returning tomorrow afternoon for the side by side!

 

I went out of my normal beaten path/territory and bought a single 12oz can of WarPigs :The Apparition.

I am not going to rate it since I don't think I'm qualified to put numbers on it. It's not a style I drink very often since I don't care for the flavor profile. I find it odd only 2 people have rated it on BA.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/62052/590509/
Initially I didn't care for it, but as it warmed I liked more. The slight sweet smooth malt is nice. The earthy yeast is not for me. Some clove and banana.
I can drink it.

 

This is certainly not one of my favorite styles. But, I really enjoy threads like this because they encourage me to explore parts of the beer world that I would not normally tread upon.

This morning, I am enjoying this non-traditional tripel as a weekend breakfast beer (just one, for sure). I really enjoy the marriage of the coffee and bourbon notes. Plus, this is insanely drinkable for a double-digit abv brew.

 

I really enjoy the Allagash trifecta of Tripel, Curieux and Barrel and Bean.

 

New as in New Belgium

Why the New Belgium brewery chose to spell this brand with two p’s (Trippel) is a linguistic mystery to me. A Flemish vs. Dutch thing?

Below is how this beer is described by New Belgium:

“Brewed since 1992, this golden beer opens with a bold blast of spicy Noble hops, courtesy of Saaz and Hallertau Mittelfruh, and gives way to fruity aromas from our traditional Belgian yeast. Brewed with Pilsner and Munich malts, Trippel is classically smooth and complex. It also sings with a high-note of sweet citrus before delivering a pleasantly dry finish with a warm, strong boozy bite. But don't just take our word for it: it also won a gold medal for best Belgian-Style Tripel at the 2021 Great American Beer Festival.”

https://www.newbelgium.com/beer/trippel

Another detail on the bottle’s label: “Bottle Conditioned”.

Served in my Tripel Karmeliet chalice:

Appearance:

Light golden colored with a white head.

Aroma:

The aroma is a combination of spiciness and fruitiness.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with the combination of spicy flavors and fruity flavors but the spiciness is more prominent. There is noticeable impression of sweetness. A Low-medium bitterness. The alcohol level is well hidden.

Mouthfeel:

A medium body with an off-dry finish.

Overall:

This beer is pretty good. I enjoyed the flavor profile of spicy/fruity (albeit not in balance) but the aspect of sweetness was a tad too high for my personal preference for this beer style.

Cheers!

 

Nice review!

You should not be upset that you didn't realize this beer was Canadian. Unibroue is one of the best (if not THE best) brewers in Canada, and La Fin Du Monde is the best Belgian-style tripel brewed in North America. It is ranked as the #2 tripel in the world on this site.

I'll be posting my comments on La Fin Du Monde later today.

Also, don't worry about glassware. We're not glassware snobs here (well, most of us aren't, anyway! ).

 

Since @mvogt mentioned me and having a Fin as his next tripel, I'll return the favor with his Allagash

Allagash is one of my favorite breweries. I don't know how long they've been making a tripel (my bottle 11/17/21) but it just showed up here a couple of months ago and is new to me.


There is a lot of sediment on the bottom of the bottle and a slowish pour results in a translucent honey gold with continuous little bubbles and a thin head that quickly becomes a long lasting film.

This is a sweet tripel with just over ripe bananas, a touch of honey, and a bit of tropical fruit over some mild clove. Balanced, but not complex. The carbonation keeps it from being cloying and it all results in a satisfying, easy drinking 9%.

4.18/5 rDev +1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

 

Missed the edit time

My Allagash warmed up to room temperature (70°F) and now I'm getting the slight peppery bite at the end. I also pour in the sediment when I had about 1/4 cup of beer left in my glass. This has taken the edge off of the sweetness and added a pleasant almost pithy bitter to the aftertaste.

This a tripel where temperature and aggressiveness of pour makes a noticeable difference.

 

This will be the outlier of my sampling this weekend, as it's an English company making gluten free beers in Belgium? That's what I get anyway. I've never purchased a Greens beer before not knowing what to expect, but while mail ordering tripels for a tasting, I loaded every one on the site that I hadn't previously reviewed.


500mL bottle bb 13/04/26 poured into a chalice at 44° Fahrenheit 8.5% ABV. Bottle conditioned and made from buckwheat, millet, sorghum & brown rice. The beer pours mostly bright medium amber with off white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and single layer of varied sized bubbles. Sticky web-like lacing. The aroma is faint with a hint of clovey yeast and light "malt" sweetness. The taste is semisweet with orchard fruit, mild clove and earthy medium plus bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with lively, above average carbonation and a semi dry finish. No trace of the alcohol in the aroma or taste.

I'm most shocked by the appearance of this beer. I expected no head or lacing, but they've done it with no barley. I enjoy the taste more because of the increased bitterness that other reviewers seem to have used as a reason to deduct points. The next time I order, I'll probably pick up the dubbel and possibly more.

Glad this tasting provided me with the opportunity to sample a beer I would have never purchased otherwise. Cheers all!

 

Been a while since I had one of these. New Belgium Trippel. This was probably my first experience with the style, about 20 years ago or so, now. I remember going to school at Southern Illinois, and driving over to Missouri to pick some up ha. Their Belgian styles were my "gateway" to the Trappist breweries, and the New Belgian Goblet was probably the first branded glassware I was able to get, and started an obsession I thought it only fitting this be my first one for this online tasting.

Anyway, initial pour is a bit hazy, gold/yellow, but that clears up a lot as this warms. A two finger white head forms with good retention.

More of a bubblegum like yeasty character. Not a ton of fruity esters, though plenty of peppery spice. Cracker like malts as well. Beautiful carbonation, crisp and effervescent and being perfectly full bodied at the same time, without being overly heavy or viscous. Glad I picked up some more of this after all these years. It holds up to my good memories, and is still a really good American example of the style.



Next up is probably my favorite example of the style, the classic Westmalle.

Pours with a light chilled haze that clears up a bit. Again, a golden/yellow color. A dense rocky, white head forms and fills the glass.

A nuanced yeast character. Plenty of fruity esters. Banana and pears to be specific. With a wonderful peppery and clove like spice. Doughy, and malty. Just a touch of sweetness. A full body, with very good carbonation as you would expect. Though also, ultra smooth. This is like silk. Which makes me want to keep coming back, and now I need to get more bottles ASAP.



Great to start this lazy afternoon off with these two Triples, and a new, to me, novel. With the always odd and intriguing philosophizing of Walter Percy (I just finished the Moviegoer for the second time, and love it as always, and now exploring more from him).

 

Okay, it's time for a comparison, foreshadowed in a few posts above. I will be pairing the highly respected La Fin du Monde (LFdM) with something that's not it. Seriously, Ce n'est pas La Fin du Monde (CNP). Unibroue is not quite claiming this is a tripel (it says Belgian IPA on the label), but it is playing off their classic tripel's name and their own website says, "This deliciously hoppy golden ale combines the complexity of a Belgian tripel with the power of New World IPAs. It’s cultural fusion at its best."

What do I think?


First note is that LFdM has a body more in line with what we've come to expect in a tripel, as @zid mentioned - golden with maybe a hint of amber in it. The CNP is more of an orange amber, and has a perfectly diffuse haze to it. I am temporarily transfixed by the bubbles I see rising in the glass holding LFdM. Both sport a strong, seemingly sticky head.

LFdM has a sweeter nose than I recall from Allagash's beer last night, but has some of the banana with a nice amount of spice. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it smells "soft" to me. CNP is living up to its name even more in the nose, with a mix of caramel and piney hops mixing in a way reminding me of old school PNW IPAs. Looking at the hop bill, this maybe shouldn't be very surprising.

LFdM has a prickly carbonation betraying the "soft"ness the nose implied to me. A mix of light grain, orchard fruit, and banana great me on first sip. The banana suprisingly disappears in the second. A balance is struck after that, with a bit of a light acidic tang finishing the brew. Compared to the Allagash last night, a more mild sweetness, much less spice, and a dry, but not as dry, finish.

Comparatively, CNP resembles its older cousin in the opening for but a brief moment. It's a tad more caramel in its sweetness, and the hops show themselves early enough to prevent continued matching of taste. The carbonation is similar, maybe a tad lighter than LFdM.

Sipping together, I wonder if I am forcing it or not, but it seems the same spice from LFdM might show up in CNP, dancing with the hops in a way that nearly hides them. As it warms, I am starting to get a little apple in the back end of CNP.

I am searching for similarities, and I am finding some. My searching may be a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it took some time with each to find them (rising temperatures probably helped). I definitely wouldn't claim these can be ordered interchangeably. Ce n'est pas La Fin du Monde is a slightly sweet DIPA with Belgain roots, and regular ol' La Fin du Monde is a nice Belgian style beer.

 

@sulldaddy - The L20 - 540 stamp refers to the 540th batch they brewed in 2020. Not very helpful for consumers, as we can only hazard a guess as to how many batches they brew in a year to guestimate the month / season it was brewed.

@JZH1000 - Unibroue is a Canadian brewery, the reverse of the bottle states it is a product of Canada / brewed and bottled in Canada. Thanks for pointing out the twist off aspect, I'll have to try it next time.

I arrive this afternoon with a side by side, to compare beers estimated to be 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 years apart. I reviewed the fresh beer in the New Beer Weekend thread, and will conduct the side by side here. Since Chimay recommends up to two years for their tripels, I decided to purchase a fresher bottle dropped by their distributor after picking up the older one about a week earlier. The uncontrolled variable would be storage conditions at the shop for the older version, as I purchased the fresh version within a few days of the distributor drop.

Chimay Cinq 2021 (Batch 219) Left vs. Chimay Cinq 2019 (Batch 705) Right



Appearance: The 2019 is a bit darker, more bronze than orange. There is a clear difference in the head, poured in the same manner but far less creamy or sustained, though the lacing appears consistent in both. 4.0 (4.5 Fresh)

Aroma: This is even fainter than the lighter aroma found in the fresh beer, less distinct flavors picked out. 3.0 (3.5 Fresh)

Taste/Mouthfeel: Stronger alcohol feel, more of a bland taste profile. Hops have degraded in both bitterness and flavor. Clove and banana predominant, but weakened by the ravages of Father Time. Far less creamy, more chalky. Getting a stronger alcohol presence in the older version, though without the taste. Carbonation about the same. Enjoying the beer, but there is a substantial difference between the two versions, and I would never pick the older one if given the option. 3.25 / 3.5 (4.25 / 4.5 Fresh)

Overall: Freshness matters, even with beers you can age over a couple of years. I really enjoyed the fresh version of this beer, and only had a lukewarm appreciation of the "past it's best date" beer. Nice to flesh this out in real time, and I will be even more diligent in cracking European date codes before plopping down my cash for a bottle. No matter how good a beer is/can be, time will eventually erode the taste and quality. The Rolling Stones are wrong as usual, Time is Not on My Side. Drink fresh, or drink disappointed. 3.25 (4.5 Fresh)

Historically, I've performed "side by side" comparisons over two days, as I try to keep to one beer a day for home drinking (will have a few more at a bar or brewery visit), but this was a good exercise to focus on the distinct differences. I am open to exploring more true side by side comparisons based on what I learned today.

I'll return with two more new to me beers, one brewed a few miles away and the other across the Atlantic.

 

My first for today, my third for the tasting, my final of the tripels I have reviewed before, and my highest-rated tripel prior to this tasting (I'll see how the ranking stands at the end of the weekend, when I will have added 4 more to my tally).

Unibroue La Fin Du Monde - Tripel #2 - BOF #70
ABV: 9.0%
IBU: 19

A loud gushing sound when I popped the cap, so I started out with a fairly gentle pour. However, the large head foretold by the opening sound never materialized, so I went more down the middle with the final part of the pour. (As an aside, looking at my pic of this beer from 3 years ago as well as others pics in this thread, the head is disappointing. I did knock down the "look" rating because of it. Perhaps it is a result of the twist-off caps @JZH1000 noted; I had not noticed that before, either.). Somewhat murky yellow-orange body, heavily carbonated, unexpectedly short, but creamy, white head with decent retention.

The aroma is fruity and spicy. Pears, ripe pears, banana. Sweet, bubblegum like an old baseball card (yeah, all you Millennials, we used to get baseball cards in packs of bubblegum, not from ebay! )

The flavor is everything noted in the aroma and more. The banana is a bit stronger, but still not dominant, and the sweet bubblegum is mitigated by some slight bitterness and a bit of funk. The multiple fruit flavors blend nicely - pear, banana, and nicely floral in the mix as well. The spices come through more in the flavor than in the aroma as well, pepper, clove, and coriander. The spicy floral mix lingers into the aftertaste with a finish that is semi-sweet. The flavor complexity in this tripel is just superb.

The beer has a moderate body with a slight acidic tartness and tingling from the carbonation.

Overall, an excellent, excellent tripel. Semi-sweet, fruity, floral, and spicy.

L: 3.75 | S: 4.25 | T: 4.75 | F: 4.25 | O: 4.5 | Rating: 4.47


Next, I'll be sampling this beer's wheaty brother. (Note to @Todd ... we need more beer glassware variety in our emojis! )

 

Thanks @FBarber for all your work on this weekends tasting.
Starting out with Westmalle Tripel
Bottle dated 11/5/2020 - 11/5/2022

Pours a sunny, semi clear forsythia color.
Strong carbonation is unrelenting feeding a pillowy white cap. Tight knit froth lasts the entire experience.
Smells is a bit dusty, ripe cheese rime, with white pepper and a hint of clove.
Taste is basically the same, one aspect is when allowed to warm a bit, The spicy element is stronger.
Body is medium in heft, delightfully dry, linger has a bit of fruitiness. Again dry with no hint of the 9.5%
A classic for a reason, there should be a reserve of this in everyones fridge.
Cheers all