I can’t quite believe that we’ve never featured this beer in a previous beer pack but looking back over the records it is the case. Well, we can make good on that oversight this month.
As I’ve said before, tripels really are the beer style every Belgian brewery is judged on They are our equivalent of a pale ale in the sense that virtually every brewer makes a tripel, and it is often the first beer they release.
This beer has a little more heritage though, said to have originally been brewed in honour of the Knights of the Golden Fleece when they came to Mechelen in 1491!
It pours a slightly hazy yellow gold colour, with a classically Belgian yeast aroma along with citrus and spices. The taste is a beautifully balanced mix of bready malt but crisp body, coriander and citrus, with good bitterness and a spicy yeast note that gives a lingering prickly finish.
This beer doesn’t get the same recognition as Westmalle Tripel or Tripel Karmeliet, but I reckon it is right up there with both of these style-defining beers.
And this is one terrific tripel – I mean it has twice been voted ‘World’s Best Tripel’ at the World Beer Awards!