[By the way, is it ok that i’m replying to each post? These are coming to
my email, and I’m answering them like emails. But so many of these
responses are so good I want to follow up. On a forum I don’t typically do
that].
Your comments are really interesting. You say you like “unspiced, dry, and
yeasty,” but yet you aren’t crazy about Chimay or Westmalle. Now, be
patient because I’m not very good at the nomenclature, but can I assume
Chimay and Westmalle fail to meet your criteria of “dry?” Because I would
describe them both as “unspiced and yeasty.” Do you like something more
along the lines of Orval - with that definitive dry bite/bitterness? I’m
never sure where to the draw the lines around terms like “dry” and
"bitter," not to mention “hoppy.” And since the term “wet” is never applied
to beverages, what is the opposite of “dry?” Is “sweet” or “sugary” the
opposite of “dry?” If so, then I can definitely see how someone could love
tripels but not White or Westmalle. I think I like them because they do
finish with a malty sweetness. Definitely not dry. While I’ve been drinking
Belgian beer since 1989 it’s clear I’m NOT a beer aficionado. I’ve just
always bought it and consumed it. I’ve only been reading about it for a few
months. In other words: I’m a “noob.” lol
Well, there’s hitting those marks but there’s still the hurdle of being clean, enticing, having a nice mouthfeel, etc., etc. So a tripel can be unspiced, dry, and yeasty, and thus be in the right ballpark for my tastes, but have fusel alcohol notes or have a limp, watery mouthfeel, or have a dull aroma, etc. As for Chimay and Westmalle, the last times I tried each, I was disappointed by off notes or a dirty aftertaste, etc. But of course no breweries can knock it outta the park on every single batch. Even Orval went through an awful slump in terms of quality several years ago, though they seem to be back on track these days. Which is why I re-rate beer perhaps more than most folks. Both Chimay and Westmalle have been reasonably decent in the past, so I’m sure I will revisit both again.
As for “dry”, yeah…opposite of sweet, and I’m talking about the finish primarily. I’m ok if tripels start somewhat sweet as long as the finish dries out with bitterness, mild yeasty acidity, mild astringency, and alcohol effects. There are tons of so-called “tripels” out there, especially from US brewers, that are just sugar-and-booze bombs, totally unbalanced and fatiguing to drink.
I think you will be pretty happy with Gnomegang if you can find it. It’s more like a tripel than a lot of the American beers that call themselves one, and the yeast character is quite nice. A touch on the sweet side, yes, but still remarkably drinkable. Ommegang has, IMHO, actually gotten better as a result of the Moortgat involvement, and this beer has been among their more solid entries. They do still release an off batch now and again, but in general they are pretty reliable.
Better you say? My problem with Ommegang, and the new-ish pattern among breweries, is making many new beers that lead to a fair amount of duds. You can’t make 20 new well-made beers a year. Additionally, am I the only one that used to love 3 Philosophers and now find it very hard to drink? I have also never been a fan of their Abbey Ale or Hennepin but it has been ages since I tried those.
This is going off-topic a bit IMHO, but yeah, I’ll defend my opinion (since it is only an opinion). I have never liked 3 Philosophers, Abbey, or Hennepin very much to be honest (those are all high 2s / low 3s for me), and I still don’t. But beers like Hop House, a couple of the GoT beers, Bigger/Bretter, Gnomegang, Cooperstown, and a couple others have been eye-openingly well made. Back before the Moortgat involvement, Ommegang was largely a scroll-past brewer for me, not making a single thing I would ever buy. Now when they release something new in a style I’m reasonably fond of, I buy a bottle without hesitation. And I’m not a Moortgat/Duvel fan, nor am I certain they are directly the reason for the improvement, it could be coincidence. But several of my friends have noticed this trend in recent years too.
I feel Ommegang is often like a watered down version of Unibroue. Their house yeast is quite similar, but many of their quads, belgian strongs, trippels, aren’t as good as similar ones by Unibroue
All these awesome suggestions - and I mean that sincerely - have helped me
create one heck of a wish list and a “beers to try” list, but my practical
situation hasn’t changed at all. Fact is, I live in an area dominated by a
couple very powerful distributors who don’t focus on “specialty” beers at
all. No one at the beer/liquor stores has offered much of an explanation as
to why they can’t simply order this or that beer, but clearly they cannot.
However, there is good news, too: Friday one of the managers at a good
liquor store in Memphis called to tell me he found an American-made tripel
in stock I might like. I’d explained to him I wasn’t a big fan of the two
everyone around here stocks - Victory Golden Monkey and New Belgium
Trippel, both coriander heavy - so he was thoughtful enough to check his
inventory thoroughly for something different. He found it in the form of
New Holland’s Black Tulip. My wife and I made the 30 minute drive to Joe’s
Liquor in the old part of Memphis, and I bought a few. While it’s not a
world-class tripel according to my tastes, it’s DARN GOOD! And the price -
about $2.45/12oz bottle iirc - is exactly the target I was hoping to hit.
Thanks to New Holland for a good tripel and thanks to Joe’s Liquor for
caring enough about ONE customer to go to extra effort.
As for the beer itself, Black Tulip gets it REALLY close in most
categories. It’s got a great color, nice hazy appearance, and fruity,
estery aroma. Moderate, one-finger head with persistent lacing. The taste
arrives in stages, with lots of light/tropical fruit and banana on the
front, yeasty/malty candi sugar sweetness and alcohol (9%abv iirc) next,
and a subtle hoppy finish with no appreciable bitterness or sweetness at
the end. Very, very good. However…there is something in the aftertaste
I can’t really define that left me thinking, “Well d@nm…I wish you hadn’t
stayed.” For lack of a better description, it tastes like a characteristic
in a perfume I’ve smelled before…almost like when someone wears too much
of a scent and you can sort of taste it for a while in the room. Does that
sound crazy?? It’s so subtle it almost isn’t worth mentioning, but with
beer snobs is there anything not worth mentioning? lol
If you are around there, you might find Blackberry Farm’s tripel, which is pretty solid. They do pretty good Belgian styles. I know I saw it in Nashville.
Thank you. A store nearby carries several of Blackberry Farm’s brews, and
people must agree with you, because they cost as much or more than the
"real" Belgians, lol! A 750ml of their tripel is the same price as the
Chimay Cinq Cents.
