Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Tripel

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

I was afraid I’d sat on this one for too long, and was worried that the hops would have dulled out and ruined the experiment. Not so! After about a year, this baby is as piquant and quirky as I remember. At the base is a very fine and bitter Belgian brew, an improbable combination of the richness and buttery flavors of certain tripels with the grassy finish of a saison, crossed with the hop punch of a DIPA. It’s like one of those menu items you read at a super fancy restaurant, thinking there’s no way all those ingredients can work together. But they do, and this does too. Rock the fuck out.

330ml bottle. Unfiltered and sedimented. Finger width of head that dissolved into a spotty clinging somewhat thick, white head. Dull golden bronze with a slight orange tint. Sweet candy sugar yeasty nose. Banana, yeast, caramel and perfumy. Medium and smooth. Bitter dry finish. Sweet malts and a light roast. Little barnyard with mild effervescence. The hops hit you midway through the mouthfeel. Full of citrus and floral hops. The hop bitterness is short lived and replaced with the long, cloying and sticky sugary finish. Delicious!

Bottle, 75 cl. gift from Yves Vd B. Golden colour, unclear, with dense creamy beige head. Sweetness, hops ! and yeast in the aroma. Fruity and sweet notes and a light touch of yeast to balance the hoppy flavours. Complex and very balanced. Full bodied. Dry. Has a balanced bitterness in the end. Very good one.

Batch #2 bottle shared by Jason. Hazy yellow pour under a thick foamy head. Tangy apricot and peppermint aroma - very pleasant. Great marriage of flavor and mouthfeel. The gently sweet cornbread, bubblegum and sugar malt base is buoyed by the soft-yet-viscous mouthfeel. On top of that there’s a nice spicy, floral hopping reminiscent of grapefruit rind and petals. Dry-hopped finish with some grassy notes. A kickass beer! The hops are overbalanced just enough to get them precedence but the great malt backing is still enjoyable.

Unclear golden of color with a white head. An aroma of corianders, hops, spice, yeast, grass and dry. A flavor of spice, sweets, hops and dry notes. Very nice!

Unlike the previous raters, I was not a fan of this beer. I am a huge fan of IIPA and they are probably in the running for the top style of mine, but I just cannot get this one. It is almost too bitter for me to enjoy, and actually I did not enjoy it. I am all for beer companies trying new beer styles, but sometimes it is just best to stick with what you know you can make very well. This is a pretty large failure for me, something I would never buy again and something I certainly would not recommend to anyone to drink. Pours out with a huge head - which was an annoyance as well since I poured about half of it on the counter - with a tan yellow color. Taste is hoppy and bitter, too bitter, the hop is not really tasted, it just tastes more like chewing on an asprin. It leaves the palate dry and not refreshed, hence the departure from the norm of "IIPA" I also realize this is not a technical IIPA but it is certainly not a belgian strong. The style of this should be something more like: when brewing a tripel goes wrong.

alla spina chiara ottima schiuma persistente note luppolate in bocca luppolo e lieve etilico

Best before end 2009. Big gusher, pale golden hue with two fingers of frothy white head. Lots of cracked glass lacing, yeasty spiciness in the aroma. Grassy and herbal hops. Good body, tripel like tastes, spicy cloves, peppery. Then a finish of strong wet, herbal American hops. Grassiness and hay mustiness and a slight alcohol heat in the finish.