Chimay Triple / Blanche (White)

Brewed by Chimay
Style: Abbey Tripel
Baileux, Belgium

Bottled, 0.33ltr. Hazy orange-golden beer with a lasting, dense, off-white head. Yeast and alcohol in the aroma, along with lemon-peel and some spicyness. Flavor is fruity, with alcohol and dried fruits. Long-lasting bitterness and pleasant mouthfeel. Definately not a bad beer, just a bit to ordinary, if you can say that of a tripel. Rating: 7-5-7-4-14-3.7. (060202)

Bottle, 33cl. It pours a hazy golden-orange body with lots of carbonation. The Westmalle-goblet is topped by a thumb-thick, creamy off-white head. As I’m drinking, lacings hangs on the side of the glass. Very fruity on the nose, lots of spices, and hints of yeast. Banana, lemon peel, coriander, alcohol, peppery hops and dreams of cheese. It’s full-bodied, effervescent and quite warming in the mouth, almost sticky sweet. The flavor is fruity, mostly lemon-peel, and quite bitter, with alcohol, white sugar and fruityness added. Nice spiced touch as well, leading to a lasting, warming finish with good bitterness, lemon-peel, spicyness and sweetness. Besides looking gorgeous in the glass, this beer tastes and smells very nice, and despite it’s high abv, it drinks dangerously well too. A true classic I don’t visit often enough. (090818)

White frothy head sitting atop a slightly opaque golden color. Smells heavy of yeast and malt. Taste is very smooth and nice on your tongue. Yeast taste is strong, with light hints of sweet fruit.

(bottle) hazy orange colour with a steady foamy white head. Banana and coriander aroma with a touch of hops. Sweetbitter flavour with a malty start, fruity orange peel mouthfeel with a spicy bitterdry hoppy finish.

Hazy golden in color with a huge frizzy white head, this is a dandy tripel. One of the more nicely hopped Belgians, this also carries a strong fruity aroma, dried fruits and orange peels. There’s malt in the bottom of this, but this soft-bodied drink tastes of malts, spices, a yeasty fruitiness, some alcohol, and nice hop bitterness. Finishes on a slightly tart, bitter, alcoholic note. Nice.

Deep hazy, golden color with a tall head that disipates to a 1/4 inch of thick foam. Aroma of a sour cream raisin pie. the smooth mellifuous liquid crosses the lips and the flavors bounce about merrily. Yeasty, with flavors of cherries and spiced apples. Less assertive than the aroma and initial sips. Warming alcohol with a fairly strong bitterness in the finish. To me this a is a cross between a triple and a strong, and smewhat missing both.

re-rate, 04-22-06, on tap: I finally found it on tap somewhere. And now I’m convinced. This beers has indeed more than just quality. On tap it’s also very nice to drink. Maybe just a bit more sweet, less carbonation, less harsh hops and fuller. re-rate 03-16-2003: Re-rated this once again and still I it doesn’t do it for me. Technically an ok beer, but the flavors, texture, carbonation and palate just aren’t mine. 03-18-1999, 2.7: Maybe I had an offday but I don’t think it’s that great compared to the other Chimay beers.

Aroma has light Belgian qualities, slight fruit hops and banana/clove. Clear yellow color, awesome lacing and a persistent white creamy head. Sweet and salty color, zesty and tangy. I had this one while fighting a bad hangover, so the strong ABV in this made me sick to my stomach, but was still tasty. Clean finish and bready on the palate. Overall a good Belgian whtat reminded me of Lucifer (the beer, not Satan).

Bottled (330ml). Colour is attractive deep gold underscored by a suggestion of orange. It has a moderate fluffy head, which quickly subsides. The aroma is dominated by yeast and Demerara sugar, with an undercurrent of wheat and malt. Spritzy on the tongue, but relatively light bodied. The flavour is dominated by lemons with some underlying sweetness, but the two aspects are not especially well integrated – imagine adding sugar to neat lemon juice. Well hopped, but the hops announce their presence a tad aggressively and without subtlety. There is sharpness on the finish that lingers and tends towards astringency. I certainly would say that the “after-bitterness melts in the mouth” as claimed. This beer is crisp and quaffable for a Trappist, but somewhat straightforward and uncomplicated. None of this is to say that I actively dislike the beer; I just can’t really see what everyone raves about. As Tim Webb comments in his book, perhaps the monks are getting too commercial for the good of the product.