Alesmith Mikkeller Stone Belgian Style Tripel Ale

Formerly brewed at Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Abbey Tripel
Escondido, California USA

12oz bottle. thanks Kan for sharing. pours hazy yellow with white head. nose is spicy, herbal, and phenolic. tastes herbal, spice, bready, and floral. pretty straight forward tripel and very disappointing when you wonder why these 3 brewers got together and put this kind of beer out.

Poured a clear, dark golden color with a small white head but no lacing was left on the glass. Aroma was floral, some coriander, honey, spices, and yeast. Taste of honey, citrus fruits, toasted malts, more spices, grains, and alcohol in the finish.

Tap at Neighborhood bar. Pale golden ber with a light thin white head. Aroma is very hoppy and herbal/floral. Light sweet lemony citrus, lemon peel, orange and a kiss of light fruity apricot. Lean and light Belgian malt aroma. As the beer warms there is a fairly prominent kick of black pepper, ethanol and a lightly spicy kick as well. The apricot/peach character also picks up as the beer warms up. Honeyish as well. It’s pretty nice.

Bottle via WeeHeavySD and served in my Stone IRS snifter: Clean golden hue with alight frothy white head and some lace. The aroma has notes of pear and strawberry esters, candi sugars, Belgian yeast, floral hops, bready malts, and light anise and coriander spice. The taste is rather a straight forward Belgium Strong Ale, malty and fruity with a sugary component. Light handed spice and bitter finish. The mouth feel is oily and lush, lively and refreshing considering it’s ABV. A solid offering but with the sources involved, I did expect more honestly.

Sampled at EBF2008. Light Belgian fruit nose. Pale hazy golden, lacing head. Good hop profile and Belgian fruit. Medium body. Quite nice.

Hazy golden colour with a small white head. Malty, fruity and yeasty aroma with a hoppy floral note and hints of alcohol. Malty, yeasty flavor with floral and fruity notes.

Had this out of a bottle and this had the greatest amount of floating sediment I’ve ever seen. A tripel with a lingering hop finish. This was an interesting brew, but not something I would reach for again in a hurry.

A moderate pour produces a three-finger thick, frothy, light tan colored head in my 25cl tulip glass. The beer is a clear, rich copper color that shows a brilliantly clear, full gold color when held up to the light. The aroma is a mix of spicy phenolics, ripe fruit and pale-toasted grain notes. Aromatic notes of clove, a touch of herbal anise, toasty cracker like malt, a touch of sweet honey-like grain, some herbal hop notes, sweetened lemon zest, . As the beer warms a soft cracker like malt character becomes more noticeable as does the warming alcohol notes and some citrus zest character.

Sweet, but more from fruity esters than overly sticky malt. The malt does contribute some sweetness that mixes in with other notes to produce an herbal honey like character. Overall this beer is fairly light bodied (when considering the strength), but does have some viscous heft to it. The beer finishes with a spicy, herbal, bitter finish that is a mix of hops, phenolics and lightly warming alcohol. Fruity notes of melon, green apple, a touch of pear, raisin and some lightly tart plum are found up front & in the middle and help to balance the spicy finish that this beer has. The spice character has touches of young ginger, at times woody black pepper and some lemon zest character that is lightly sweetened.

This is definitely a tasty, interesting beer. One of the better, and more in style, Belgian-styled beers that Stone has made. I like how the fruit and honey malt are well balanced by spicy fermentation notes and some touches of noticeable hop character.

Purchased: South Bay Drugs, Imperial Beach CA