About a month ago I picked up a bottle of Straffe Hendrick Tripel which I heard was very loyal to the style. When I had it though I found it to be too ester forward, with very faint notes of white pepper and no clove whatsoever. I was wondering if this could be a storage issue, but from what I heard phenols last longer than esters. I heard a youtuber saying this is the reason old hefeweizen tend to taste bad. So I'm inclined to believe the bottle wasn't bad, but I'm still curious if this could be some weird edge case. Is looking for a fresher bottle worth it or should I just accept I'm not the biggest fan of this beer? Thanks
I have homebrewed a lot of Belgian Trappist/Abbey style ales (e.g., Dubbels, Tripels, Quads, etc.) and those beer tend to hold up well over time (especially the Quads. FWIW it has been my consistent experience in that as the beer 'evolves' with cellaring the esters (e.g., fruity flavors) tend to diminish more quickly than the phenols (e.g., spicy flavors). Depending on the specific beer style I tend to prefer some of these ales fresher vs. aged. For example I enjoy my homebrewed Dubbels fresher with a complex combination of esters and phenols; the cellared Dubbels tend to be more one dimensional for my palate. In contrast I prefer to drink my Quads with several years of age but for completeness that is because they develop complex flavors from oxidation. I suppose I should caveat that in my homebrewery I prefer to use the Westmalle yeast strain (e.g., Wyeast 3787) and create fermentation conditions to foster the development of esters (e.g., higher fermentation temperatures). I have no personal experience drinking Straffe Hendrick Tripel beers and I am unfamiliar with their yeast strain/fermentation conditions. If you are willing to cellar this beer (e.g., a year in the cellar) maybe this beer will evolve to better suit your palate/preferences? Cheers! P.S. On a related note earlier today I placed a bottle of a recent batch (bottled about a month ago) of my homebrewed Dubbel to enjoy later today (Happy Hour).
@Beersnake , since you are a very experienced Belgian beer drinker (your review of Straffe Hendrik Tripel copied below for completeness) I figured you might have some insight here. Have you cellared a bottle(s) of Straffe Hendrik Tripel? If so, how did the flavor profile of this beer evolve with time? I noted that in your review you observed "slight spice" so it would appear that the bottle you reviewed had only a light touch of phenols. Cheers! "Poured from a 750m bottle at fridge temp. Pours a nice opaque orange with an abundance of slightly off-white head. The nose is refreshing and smooth. Pears, orange, vanilla, banana bread, and a slight spice. The taste is so smooth. Caramel, apple, banana, slight oaky leather note, raisins, and malty greatness. Definitely a floral note coming through over a bit of time. Mouthfeel is light to medium, and somewhat dry. The aftertaste is fruit and malts."
One thing’s for sure, Esters will ugly up your beer! https://www.facebook.com/1000898271...unt-esther-hilarious-scene-/1276318863451960/
I have not had an aged bottle of Straffe Hendrik Tripel, unfortunately. Aging tripels is a weird idea for me. The phenolic and ester contributions are obviously important for a tripel, but their contributions certainly vary with breweries. The peppery and clove notes are more dominant in some. Westmalle Tripel and Tripel Karmeliet are relatively different in profile. Whether the spice fades with age is not clear. Would be a fun test!
FWIW I have not specifically noticed this in my homebrewed Belgian Trappist/Abbey style beers but I have noticed that esters do diminish with time in the bottle. IMO, you da man here! Cheers!
I'm not a big fan of Belgian beers because the esters/phenols can be too strong for my tastes, so I'll admit that I'm no expert here. However, I'll mention that 8 years ago my wife and I toured the de Halve Maan brewery in Brugge https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/268/ and at the end of the tour we were able to taste each of their main beer offerings (plus others). I really liked each of them, and mostly because I thought the esters/phenols were very subdued. I don't know what yeast the brewery uses, but maybe it's one that produces minimal Belgian-y character in their beers. So it's possible that the reduced taste experience that @katecincinnati had may be a characteristic of all of the beers produced here, and not a reflection of the age of the beers.
Yes, yeast strain selection is a factor but fermentation conditions (e.g., temperature, pitch rate, etc.) is an important factor as well. I discussed above my preference for the Westmalle yeast strain (Wyeast 3787) and early in my homebrewing 'career' I once brewed a batch of Dubbel where the brewing environment (my cellar) was on the cooler side, near wintertime. That batch was fermented around 66-68 degrees F and the esters & phenols in that batch was relatively subdued. A bit of a disappointment for me but likely closer to your sweet spot. And I have limited experience in my homebrewing via varying the pitch rate but for commercial brewers who conduct yeast counts this is another knob they can tweak as well. So, even if using the same yeast strain but fermenting a bit cooler and using a large(r) pitch rate they could create a beer with a diminished Belgiany character. And there are other fermentation variables as well. Cheers!
