This weekend in London, Tripel Karmeliet was named the “World’s Best Ale” at the World Beer Awards.
Tripel Karmeliet is a historical “3 grain” beer, using barley, wheat and oats, and is refermented in the bottle. The recipe originated in a Carmelite monastery in 1679. Today it is brewed according to the same recipe at the Bosteels Brewery in Belgium.
There were also three other big awards. Primator Exkluziv was named World’s Best Lager, Kaltenberg Konig Ludwig Weissbier was declared the World’s Best Wheat Beer, and our own Rogue Shakespeare Stout was named World’s Best Stout/Porter.
The rest of the awards are available at the World Beer Awards website.
I can attest to the Rogue. Got the first perfect score on Suds or Duds TV!
So how can I get me some to taste?
Becoming very popular in Chicago but I’ve been drinking it for years. A year or so I noticed a new importer (Artisanal Imports out of Austin, Tx) and they changed the packaging and recipe.
Tripel Karmeliet used to have a ton of floating yeast in it. It was totally unique and oh so creamy. But after Artisanal took it over they started to filter the brew and we lost the best part of the taste.
Tripel is available on tap at Trinity Brewing CO. in Colorado Springs. I take home a growler every other week.
In Oakland it’s available at the Trappist…for a good price…and they cut the head with a knife–savvy.