“The pale malts used give this tripel its deep, ocher colour. Grimbergen Tripel has a bittersweet, spicy and extremely round flavor. The typical spicyness is created by using blonde candy sugar and the subtle mix of soft and bitter hop varieties. The secondary fermentation gives the flavour bouquet a perfect harmony. You’ll especially appreciate the perfect aftertaste of this beer.”
Glassware: Trappist tulip.
Appearance: Clear golden complexion with a massive four finger head. It slowly peels off and leaves an absolute mess on the glass.
Aroma: Getting a real peppery champagne-like quality from it initially. Lots of yeast esters as any good Tripel should (pot pourri, bubblegum, banana runts, clove). Really showing a lot of Saison characters of hay, Angostura bitters and farmyard funk. Coriander, parsley, candied lemon, bush honey, syrupy malts and vanilla rounds out an extremely well layered aroma.
Flavour: Kind of follows the nose with the super champagne-like fizzyness, yeast-driven notes of banana, candied lemon, dank herbs (coriander, parsley), peppery spice and Angostura bitters. Slightly funky and musky through the mid as it sets a platform for a spicy, lemony and mildly dry finish.
Mouthfeel: Quite frothy, aerated and dry. Highly carbonated. Mild-medium body. The 9% ABV is well disguised.
Overall: We want to like this Tripel, we really do but it just doesn’t stack up against the likes of St.Bernardus or Straffe Hendrik. Certainly gets points for being a little outside the square but ultimately there’s better Tripels out there