Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Tripel

Brewed by Brasserie d’Achouffe (Moortgat)
Style: Abbey Tripel
Achouffe, Belgium

Nice hazy golden coloured body with a super-dense frothy white head. Aroma of strong honey, malt, hops, yeast, curacao and nice coriander seed. Full-bodied; Great strong maltiness along with a great hoppy flavour, especially for a belgie. Nice sweet kicks persist with a touch of malt as a backbone really make this one good. Aftertaste is potent and long-lasting - a truly nice beer to sample. I had this 75 cL bottle purchased from Oliver’s Beverage in Albany, New York on 03-March-2007.

33cL bottle, consumed at Pizzeria Paradiso (Georgetown). Pours a murky orange-yellow / grapefruit color; textured white head with great retention and fine-bubbled lacing, coating the glass; a gorgeous pour. Tons of dense yeastiness, grapefruit, toastiness, and warming vanilla and fruit in the aroma; dense, dry, with a prominent fruitiness. Lively carbonation. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: lots of yeast, yellow fruits and toasty vanilla; the yeast character is pretty fantastic; dry; very generous. Lengthy finish, showing yeast, and dry breadiness and wheaty / toastiness; some yellow fruit.

12oz bottle at Winking Lizard in Columbus - Pours golden slight haze with a short white head. Aromas of lgiht citrus and a little pine. Flavor of yeast, candi sugar, pine, and citrus. Palate is smooth and pretty easy drinking with a fair amount of carbonation.. Not bad..

This beer is quite well carbonated, it produces an initial five-finger thick, tan tinted, pale tan colored head. The beer is brilliantly clear, with lots of streaming bubbles swimming up through a rich gold colored beer. As the head dissipates it forms a rockied surface and leaves a delicate lacing pattern on the sides of my glass. Eventually the head leaves a long lasting, dense, yet tall island of foam. The aroma is quite nice. First there are the dry accented aromatics; a mix of lemon, toasted grain, hay, something that reminds me of fresh corn masa, a light herbaceous note an a touch of grassiness. There are also sweeter notes that remind me of vanilla, grapefruit, and sweet orange peel.

The beer explodes on my tongue, as soon it hits it vaporizes into a mouthful of foam. Swirling the beer a bit helps to degas it, it is still well carbonated, yet does not completely disappear on my tongue as I take a sip. Still spritzy, notes of light lemon, and a definite hop bitterness add to the sharper sides of this beer. A touch of vanilla, and a soft creamy malt character soften out the profile of this brew and provide a definite refined balance that would not be found in an American hop bomb. This beer has a touch of yeasty and even hop derived tartness to it. Lightly spicy fermentation notes poke through the hops at times, but it is really the mouthfeel where the Belgian character shines.

Warming notes of alcohol waft up through my nasal ducts as I sip this brew. It is not sharply alcoholic and in fact hides its alcohol quite well, but there is that warming in the nose that lets you know that this beer will bite you if you don’t watch out. The balance that this beer strikes is really the wonderful thing about this beer. Soft, creamy and enticing, yet at the same time bitingly bitter with ample hop notes. And the ample meringue like head is as good as it gets. This is definitely one of those beers that is quite well integrated, the sum of its parts, tasty as they may be, still add up to a greater whole than one my expect.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson, AZ

Bottle from KAggie97. Is there no end to his awesomtivity?
Pours a lush bright yellow with a head that would make Peter North insecure. Aroma is subtle hop spice with a touch of bready yeast. Alcohol is very apparent when ya sniff the drink. Flavor is unlike anything I have ever tasted; on the one hand, it’s bitterly hoppy, but then a buttery yeast takes over and subdues the sour tones. Nice bready finish. Watery palate really detracts from the overall experience. Not too shabby; interesting, if nothing else.

Draught @ Delerium, Brussels. Fruity bubblegum yeast and peppery citric hop nose. Sweetish biscuity malt in the mouth with hop flavours drying this out in the finish but it isnt particularly bitter. Quite drinkable considering the strength although the alcohol is noticeable to the detriment of the beer.

Bottle (75 cl) at Delirium Café, Göteborg, Sweden. Hazy golden, medium creamy white head. Fruity malt aroma with apricot, and with earthy, dusty, yeasty notes as well. Medium bodied, lively carbonation. Alcohol very well integrated in the flavour, long and bitter finish.

Hazy golden color, big frothy head. Farty nose ;-) Well - I*m wondering that my notes give it an 8 for this and I just wrote down Farty nose- ahhh - well ,-) Nice apricot and grap taste with a long nice koriander aftertaste.