Chimay Triple / Blanche (White)

Review from summer ’08 Yay! Aged Chimay! Poured out a very nice amber / orange brew with a large, thick off white puffy cap, 360 degrees of lacing throughout and a huge amount of sediment. Slightly sour nose, huge yeast that is very prominent. Man, this has massive aroma. Slightly musty, some citurs (ripe pinapple), mid to mid range spices, a touch of smoke??? (huh?) - a very fresh smelling beer indeed. Pretty tasty too. No alcohol to be found, nice medium spicy yeast, soft mild pepper, noticable malts when warmer. Not a thick tasting beer that’s for sure. I just dumped in all the sediment and, as expected, there was a big increase in the potentcy of the spices. Lots of smooth carbonation, medium light bodied. Has a nice yeasty, spicy blend in the after taste to go along with a hard bitter finish that is not overpowering. A very tasty, mouth watering beer.

***** Edmonton swillfest in my basement with the usual dolts - very excited to get a hold of another bottle of the white (it had been about 3 years). Impressive solid fluffy head perched on top a light orangish brew. A little weak on the aroma - floral (although this may have been beercronicshero’s perfume) and quite yeasty - a little dissapointing. First flavour to hit my mouth was some soft yeast which seemed to stronger followed by a suprising bitterness, more than I expected and some sour undertones. Bitterness was quite spicy too (’tis a good thing!)and I never really noticed the 8%. Interesting taste that I’m not sure I liked. Finished empty. Quite dissapointing - maybe not the beer to sample following Rochefort 10, but when you expect a beer to be unreal, you can get unreal results. Need another bottle to re-sample.

Bottle from Denmark. Full fruity beer, apples, peaches. Fine balance. Very Belgian, very drinkable, a true classic.

Relatively young 33cL bottle. Spicy herbal nose, spicy and dry with some light phenols and lighter noble aroma hops in the deep background. Cloudy orange-amber with a rocky tan head. Extremely dry (unexpectedly so!) with a very mildly tannic grape-skin aftertaste, light bitterness and complex malt. Spicy hops and a little bread, alcohol is superbly hidden, I’d have guessed half the abv. Subtle, nuanced, and has a humdinger of a wallop! A mature brew worth seeking out.

Solid body, sweet, but still bubbly. Had lots of spice, yeasty. Sweetness comes from a raisiny sweet grape appeal. A little heavier than I think of for tripels.

Very good. well balanced with some fruit up front and a hoppy finish. I think this is one of the better tripples.

Bottle from Systembolaget. Pours hazy golden, a white head leaves lots of lacing. Smells of belgian yeast, spices and hops. Sweet hoppy spicy taste.

Had a really nice aroma of grapes and yeast. A very clean taste of raisins, spices, and other tropical fruits. Finished very smoothly, mmm what a good beer.

Chimay on tap? Only at Canal St Pub, at least in this crap town. The smell was very atypcial of most tripels I enjoy. Westmalle and Bernardus Tripels have a certain belgian tripel smell, no one knows how to describe it but this doens’t have it. Not does it have the american tripel honey nose, nor the canadiana tripel clove nose. It smells very nicehowever. The taste is great. Very typical Tripel taste, nothing overally fantastic. There are much better Tirpels for your money out there. This beer is recommended, but not if other tripels are available. Try a Westmalle, or Bernardus Tripel if you want a true Belgian experience