westmalle tripel

[studentofbeer]

picked a bottle of this and the dubbel up the other day and decided to give it a try.

when i opened it, the first thing i thought was, did i open a cider by mistake? the smell was overwhelmingly tart apple and apple skin. even once poured into my ommegang goblet i detected a lot of sweet and tangy green apple as well as herbal and flower smells.

color was a slightly hazy but perfect hay color. nice head that fell to a slight lace as i drank.

first taste was a knockout--from cider it seemed to have morphed into a super strong ESB. the first taste was strongly english aley-- very bready and earthy. then came a sharp pepper bite mixed with some sour/sweet apple flavor and a bitter herbal aftertaste.

i find this an amazing beer. i havent had all the trappists (missing orval, achel, rochefort) but of what ive tasted it is probably my favorite. highly drinkable, imminently complex with flavor profiles from different styles and a strong 9.5 abv, its quite a beer. i only wish i could afford it more often. i would like to try and find a good food pairing with it some time.

[steveh]

One of my all-time favorites. I've been meaning to "rediscover" it...

S.

[stronk]

You're missing out if you haven't had the Rochefort trappists. My favourite from the three of them is the doppel (is that 8 or 10 in rochefort terms?). So far I prefer them out of all the trappists, closely followed by Chimay; but I, too, am short on some of them (notably Westvleteren, which I can't buy for love or money over here).

[steveh]

I was able to sample the St. Bernardus Abt 12 through the real beer tour, does that count? ;)

That's one tasty - and DANgerous brew!

S.

[stronk]

I'm trying to get some St. Bernardus (which I have found). Is it worth the effort, or should I concentrate on Westy?

[steveh]

Originally posted by stronk
I'm trying to get some St. Bernardus (which I have found). Is it worth the effort, or should I concentrate on Westy?

Well, if you've found it, all the effort's over - right? ;)

JMO, and I can only speak for the Abt, but it was damn good. But the Westmalle is great too - why couldn't you try both, are you limited to one?

S.

[studentofbeer]

last time at the map room i had a st. bernardus abt. 12 and it knocked my socks off. it was just fantastic. it was my 2nd beer of the night so id like to try it as the first beer and/or get a bottle for home sampling, but i was very impressed by it. that could definitely be one of my favs.

personally i had a westy 12 and it was good but did not really blow me away the way some of these other brews have. havent tried the 8 yet. whenever i get the pluck up again to spend ~$6 on a 12oz ill give the rochefort a try. i also want to try the orval.

[hopjack13]

orval was a hard one for me to understand. guess i need to try more of it!
westmalle triple was good but i think i liked the double better.
westy 12 was outstanding
and rochefort10 ...wow what a beer! one of my faves from the trappist line up.
chimay cinq cents is another fave of mine
and i did try the achel 8 which i thought was supurb!
i love all the trappist brews, i have a sweet tooth for them.

st bernardus was a little sweet for me....i think, i can't remember which was which maybe im thinking of the tripple karmelette (sp?)
any one try the hep keptel (sp?)
another great brew from belgium!

[stronk]

Actually, it turns out that the pitfield beer shop in London has all the Westvleteren and the St. Bernardus beers. It's a trek and a half from my house, but I'll be making the journey as soon as Lent's over, to save tormenting myself.