4 Stars

4 Stars, Brouwerij Het Anker, Tripel

Gouden Carolus – Tripel by Brouwerij Het Anker

Per the Het Anker website, this beer was originally brewed for the Knights of the Golden Fleece in 1491 so I had to pull out the gold rimmed glass for this golden tripel with a long lasting creamy white head. Nice mild, spicy aroma with orange and malt sweetness working in harmony. A little spicy, citrusy followed by light hop bitterness and pleasant alcohol, finishes dry with a grain character. Easy drinking and refreshing with no overpowering flavors, completely hides it’s 9% alcohol.

4 Stars

4 Stars, Brasserie St Feuillien, Tripel

Triple by Brassiere St Feuillien

This beer is a bright amber with a pebbly, frothy white head. Inviting aroma leads to more fruitiness and yeast eaters than I was expecting, light maltiness plays in the background. High carbonation leads to a pleasant explosion on the tongue; juicy, malty with an long lingering aftertaste. There is a triple hiding somewhere in the background…

4 Stars

4 Stars, Brasserie Cantillion, Lambic

Mamouche by Brasserie Cantillion

Poured a hazy gold with a fair amount of head that rapidly dissipated to a wispy bright white. Aroma is complex and difficult to describe past classic Belgium Lambic. First reaction is, tart! Once your palate adjusts it’s quite juicy with a good amount of bitterness with a lingering sweet, tartness. Despite using words like sweet and juicy it is dry and unlike most lambics it is not brewed with fruit but with elder flowers.

4 Stars

4 Stars, Brasserie D’Orval, Pale Ale

Orval by Brasserie D’Orval

Bottled on 3/5/14 best before 3/5/19. I mention this as it is unusually relevant to this beer. The beer starts life as a dry hopped Belgian pale ale but the long it ages the more the brettanomyces works its magic. Somehow this classic Trappist beer has escaped my drinking.

Pours a beautiful amber-orange with a large, long lasting, frothy off-white head. Classic Belgian sour aromas great the nose; fruity sour, cherry, apricot, vanilla with very subtle spiciness. Strong fruit punch upfront followed by pleasant sourness fading to a light bitterness, malt flavors and dry.

With this beer I would love to a vertical tasting with differently aged bottles.

4.5 Stars.

4 Stars, Blonde, Brasserie Du Buisson

Cuvée Des Trolls by Brassiere Du Buisson

I believe the translation to be “Tank of Trolls”…

Pours a golden straw colored, light haze with a fizzy and rapidly disappearing white head. Full aroma; strong fruit and yeasty.  Taste is fruity, yeasty, malty, balanced well with some bitterness. The beer has a lager like lightness dispite the 7% abv (I had to check, it is a lager).  Refreshing, flavorful and easy drinking, what’s not to like?

4 Stars.

4 Stars, Brouwerij De Molen, Strong Ale

Spanning & Sensatie by Brouwerij De Molen

Pours a deep brown with next to no head. Full aroma; molasses, sweet malt, chocolate and faint chili pepper. Full bodied but not too sweet, very smooth. Flavors follow the nose with the faint chili pepper masking what little alcohol flavor there is (impressive for a stout 9.8%). I do not think I have ever had a beer that pulled of chili pepper so well. I will admit I not a fan of chocolate and chili pepper candies otherwise I think the score would have been even higher.

4 Stars.

4 Stars, Brouwerij Huyghe, Strong Ale

Delirium Tremens by Brouwerij Huyghe

Delirium Tremens the beer and not to be confused with the alcohol withdraw induced delirium of the same name. Pours a nice golden straw color with a small amount of lasting bright white head. Very complex aroma; strong fruit and raisin, caramel and less forward spicy Belgian yeast character. Honey malt sweetness, fruit flavors followed by a bitter after taste with some alcohol character. All-in-all a very different different beer than your typical Belgian strong and I think that is what I like about it.

4 Stars.

4 Stars, St. Bernardus, Wit

Wit by St. Bernardus

Light straw in color, with a fine bright white head. Aroma is intensely fruity with plenty of Belgian yeasty spiciness. Initial impression is very nice, well carbonated, light body. Very flavorful; sweet citrus fruit, light spiciness, some soft graininess. I could drink a few of these.

4 Stars.

4 Stars, Brassiere du Rochefort, Quad

Rochefort 10 by Brassiere du Rochefort

Dark brown with a tinge of red, long lasting tan head. Fruit aroma, subtle yeasty spiciness and malt sweetness, tracking right with the 8. Dark fruit, caramel tones, more bitterness to balance out the stronger flavors and high alcohol (11.3%), finishes lightly sweet. Like all good Trappist beers the results are complex (secret code for hard to describe), balanced, and the alcohol well hidden. The 6, 8 and 10 taste like increasing versions of each other, subtle difference are there, but overall more flavor comes with more malt and as a result more alcohol. Of the three I give a slight edge to the 8. It is rare that you have to give up so little in the way of taste when going with a lower alcohol beer.

4 Stars.

4 Stars, De Struise Brouwers, Strong Ale

Tsjeeses Reserva – 2012 by De Struise Brouwers

Strong Ale, bourbon barrel aged, 2012 vintage, best before the day after Christmas 2018. Poured a hazy amber with a decent amount of off white head. Strong aroma of fruit, orange and apricot, mellow bourbon character. Complex fruit flavors, long lasting interplay between a pleasant bitterness and bourbon warmth to finish. The 10% alcohol is there but so damn smooth you would be forgiven for not noticing.

4.5 Stars.

4 Stars, St. Bernardus, Tripel

Watou Tripel by St. Bernardus 

Pours a light gold with bright white head. Orange citrus and faint floral aromas, surprisingly light spiciness for a Tripel. Flavors playing very well with each other, fruit, grain, plenty of spicy character and a nice lingering spicy bitter finish. Maybe not the most classic Tripel but very enjoyable.

4 Stars.

4 Stars, Abdij O.L.V. Koningshoeven, Quad

La Trappe – Quadrupel by Abdij O.L.V. Koningshoeven

Poured a clear brownish orange; beige head with some real staying power. Dark fruit, fig, mostly spicy yeast ester aromas.   Smooth and creamy mouth feel. Malty sweetness, peppery at the back of the throat, not bitter, alcohol warmth. The beer mellows and the flavors mesh as the beer warms, or maybe that’s just the 10% ABV talking but I think not. I am not sure if there is such a thing as a Quad that I do not like

4 Stars.