Brouwerij De Glazen Toren is found in the small village of Aalst, located between Ghent and Brussels. The brewery was started by three friends from nearby villages who had either retired or semi-retired from their professions.
Heading up the team is renowned brewer, teacher, author and general good beer fellow Jef Van Den Steen. I met Jef many years ago and have always remembered his take on beer’s place in the world.
I asked him why all his beers were only available in 750ml bottles. The answer was: “beer is made to be enjoyed in good company, to be shared with friends, not to be drunk sitting on one’s own.” I would very much agree.
Well it seems the brewery has bowed to public pressure and their two best beers are now available in smaller formats. Good news for the beer club!
Our first offering is this traditional Belgian Tripel. Of course it is a great beer, soft, fruity, slightly spicy and with a lingering bitterness in the finish. In fact it is the official beer of the town of Aalst.
by Brasserie de l'Abbaye des Rocs
A tasty Belgian style blond ale from the always reliable Abbaye des Rocs
by Brasserie de l'Abbaye des Rocs
A dark tripel, full of fruit and malt sweetness, and enough hop bitterness to match
by Brouwerij der Trappistenabdij de Achelse Kluis
A smooth, full-flavoured classic triple style beer from the Achel Trappist monastery
A Belgian tripel with coriander, candi sugar and curacao
A brewery label which has done the rounds of Belgium, this is their classic Belgian Tripel
A Farmhouse Tripel is one of the new offerings from Alvinne, but it isn't exactly traditional
A little sweet, a little sour, lots of body and complexity
A very drinkable tripel style Grand Cru from Van Steenberge
A Belgian tripel made at Brouwerij Huyghe for this lambic brewery
The spring seasonal beer from Kerkom, a lot like a sweet saison/tripel mash-up featuring honey and pear
by Brouwerij Palm (Swinkels Family Brewers)
A tripel known as 'The Beer of Bruges'; though no longer brewed within the city walls.
An organic tripel, which also is gluten free thanks to an enzyme which removes the gluten during the brewing process
Is it a Blonde or is it a Tripel? Either way, it is big and tasty!
This beer screams Belgium - from the squat bottle to the monastic label, and the quintessential Belgian tripel style ale inside
by Brouwerij Corsendonk (at Brasserie Du Bocq)
A full-bodied blonde tripel, a lively beer with a herbal bouquet and hoppy aftertaste.
This beer is the Petrus Tripel, with Amarillo and Cascade added, plus 15% foederbier
The 'Mad Bitch' is an insanely good tripel from De Dolle Brouwers
A beer slightly out of the box, somwehere between a big Belgian blond and a tripel style. And it's sugar free!
The 'Tripel of Antwerp' is a quintessential Belgian Tripel
This beer is known as the most bitter Tripel style beer in all of Belgium!
An old-style Belgian tripel with early fruit and malt sweetness, giving way to a sustained dry, herbal bitterness
The iconic pink elephants adorn this delicious tripel which utilises three different years in a triple fermentation process
De Molen's take on a Belgian Tripel style - lots of sweet malt and generous hop bitterness
A fantastic rich and creamy triple style ale, made from three grains - wheat, barley and rye
A Belgian tripel that is tasty, well balanced and easy drinking
A special Tripel brewed by Van Steenberge for an annual gourmet degustation
One of our favourite Belgian triples from Brouwerij Het Anker
A Guten Free, Organic beer that sits somewhere between a tripel and farmhouse ale
A brilliant variation to the normal tripel style; a crisp, dry delicious ale with a strong hop aroma and flavour.
A big strong tripel style ale, with a sweet malt body, peppery spice and a big alcohol kick
A self-styled Baltic Tripel from this crafty German brewery
This tripel from the Kasteel brewery is big, rich, sweet and a little savoury.
by Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven
Traditional tripel style beer from the famous La Trappe Trappist Monastery in The Netherlands
The biggest and best beer of the Leffe range - a 9% tripel style ale.
A big Belgian Tripel from one of Belgium's big family brewer groups in Duvel-Moortgat
by Mokke Bier
Quite an interesting beer from Mokke that we'll nominally label as a red tripel style
A typical Belgian tripel from one of Belgium's Traditional Family Brewers
The Postel Tripel is a stock-standard Belgian style Tripel brewed at the Affligem Brewery, for the Heineken-owned Alken-Maes group
The first new beer from Rochefort in over 60 years is this delightful Tripel
Rochefort's first light coloured beer in almost a century is this beautiful tripel
The Hobby Brewers have taken their successful Tripel recipe and upsized it for this Grand Cru...then left it lying about in some Cognac barrels for a while
This is the annual winter (rum barrel aged for 2020) version of Het Nest's signature tripel
A classic tripel from one of our favourite little breweries in Belgium
An Abbey Ale in the classic Trappist tripel style - a perfect balance between bitter and sweet.
A classic Belgian Tripel, often held out as an example of the style
An abbey style Belgian Tripel from Bruges De Halve Maan brewery
The Strafe Hendrik Tripel is refermented with a wild Brettanomyces yeast
The Straffe Hendrik Tripel which has been refermented with a wild Brettanomyces yeast strain
Once a year the Straffe Hendrik Tripel is bottle fermented with a wild Brettanomyces yeast strain
A Tripel style beer brewed by Brouwerij Haacht under the Tongerlo label
The world-renowned three-grain tripel, still brewed to a centuries-old recipe.
by Brouwerij Omer Vander Ghinste (Bockor)
A true to style Belgian Tripel which was awarded World's Best Tripel at the 2018 World Beer Cup
The 2022 Magma variant is finished with a wine yeast
A tasty beer that is somewhere between a Belgian Tripel and Strong Pale Ale
An uncomplicated but delicious tripel using only two hops and one malt
The 'second' tripel from the St Bernardus brewery is less well known, but still delicious
by Abdij Der Trappisten Van Westmalle
Known as the 'Mother of All Tripels' - this is the benchmark for all tripels.
A typical Belgian Tripel from one of Belgium's old family breweries
by Trappistenbrouwerij De Kievit
A tripel style beer from the 9th official Trappist Monastery
The winter seasonal offering from the KleinBrouwerij De Glazen Toren - a rich, dark winter warmer.
An extremely interesting take on the classic Belgian dubbel style, with hints of being a Flanders Oud Bruin.
The winter seasonal offering from Glazen Toren is a Scotch Ale
Four grains are used to produce this fantastic 'Double White' from KleinBrouwerij De Glazen Toren.
An imperial witbier, brewed with barley, wheat, oats and buckwheat, and the addition of coriander and curaçao
So good it was recently included in USA Draft's '25 Best Beers of the Year'.
