Het Nest is one of Belgium’s great success stories. What started as a beer tasting club in 2000 went through the stages of home brewing club, gypsy brewer at several different breweries to owning their own brewery by 2015.
And the beer that convinced them to turn their hobby into a business was the Schuppenboer Tripel, after its award winning debut back in 2006.
They still make this beer today, and it is the base for this special 2020 vintage which has been aged in rum barrels.
Barrel aged tripels are becoming more common, and it is an interesting style to age. It seems to take on the barrel character quite easily, or more likely that it is easier to taste it underneath the base beer.
This beer has a sweetness of some yellow fruits, peach and banana. The yeast gives a herbal spiciness to the beer, and then there is some vanilla and oak from the barrel and a finish that is warming with a good bitterness in the aftertaste.
The rum is strong, and probably doesn’t quite meld with the beer as much as sit over the top. A little time might allow this to mellow, but it is certainly a tasty and warming winter sipper right now.