In Triplicate

Brewaucracy
Belgian Tripel
9.6% abv
Dry July: T-minus 6 beers

I’ve had this beer sitting in the fridge a while waiting for a suitable occasion to crack it. The big abv was always a bit daunting, but with 31 days of teetotalling ahead in Dry July this seemed like the perfect occasion.

First up, congratulations are deserved for the name of the beer. It’s very smart and a great link back to the brewery name.

In Triplicate poured a gorgeous, light golden/yellow colour with about 15ml of head in my giant brandy snifter, which I thought was pretty good.

I certainly wasn’t prepared for the aromas that wafted from the glass. They certainly weren’t unpleasant, just unexpected. To me the aromas were very reminiscent of a good New Zealand sauvignon blanc, gooseberries and the like. When I say ‘the like’, I mean I was having trouble putting names to scents. There was a touch of alcohol on the nose too.

In the mouth the Tripel had excellent body; rather heavy and the carbonation was good enough to keep it from being syrupy.

The flavour was something else. Remember how I said it smelled like a sav? Well, it tasted nothing like that. It was sweet, it was sour, it was spicy, it was bitter. All in that order. I guess that makes it complex… it writes complex.

The flavour left a sticky sweetness on the tongue that was accompanied by a bitterness that just made you want to take another sip. And at 9.6% you could quickly find yourself in trouble if you had a few more in the fridge.

As it was, I only had the one, but if I see it in store again, I’m definitely grabbing another.