Fish Tale Monkfish Triple (2004-)

Brewed by Fish Brewing Company/Leavenworth Beers
Style: Abbey Tripel
Olympia, Washington USA

Bottle at April Fools Tasting Raleigh, NC. This tasted more like a lemony belgian wit than tripel. Lots of spices in there too and not much crisp, yeasty, goodness that some tripels provide. Just kinda boring. took a couple sips and moved on.

Ah jeez - another beer picture with "RateBeer" superimposes over the label. It looks like the kind of thing that they might do on another beer rating site.
It pours a deep golden body with plenty of suspended particulates beneath a modest fizzy head. The aroma is light, yeast and warm spices and a soft floral bouquet. The flavor is sweet and fruity, juicy citrus, with black pepper and a mild floral bitterness. Okay, I s’pose.

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22oz from Liquid Solutions. The first underwhelming beer I’ve had from Fish Tale. Amber body, somewhat cloudy, and a weirdly thin, drab mouthfeel. I definitely prefer my tripels on the effervescent side; but even lacking that kind of liveliness, this one is a bit thin and almost flat. One-dimensional and peppery to start, and fairly aggressively so. Tapers off with hints of vanilla, butter, and pear. But it’s too hot and too imbalanced to enjoy. Not good.

12 oz bottle from Andrew. Thanks. This one was interesting even from the pour. Pours out an orange color without much of a head at all (not really typical for a tripel). Smell is sweet, yeasty, slightly hoppy, with some citrus orange notes. Taste is sweet and lightly carbonated. A tad bitter and brutal at first, opens up as it warms a little bit. Not bad, but probably not something I would go for again.

Bottle courtesy of matta. Pours a copper amber with a white head. Smells of oranges, tea, sweet malt and doughy yeast. Tastes of honey, sweet malt, some mellow earthy hops, and sugar.

Pours a med/light copper with small head. Aroma is malts, candy corn, and light hops. Flavor has a slight Belgian quality to it. Light sweet malts, a little hop, barley and citrus. I thought the flavor was quite thin. Pretty average.

22oz bomber. Poured hazy orangish to light copper with off white head. Aroma is decidedly hoppy. It seems to be mostly the citrus variety. If I really dig deep into the aroma I think I get some sweet malts, cane sugar, beat sugar and banana. The hoppy flavor starts off as a combo of citrus hops and sweet malt creating a citrusy sweetness. Then the flavor moves into a more pine hoppiness near midway. Adding to the sweetness is candy sugar and beat sugar. For me this is a tasty beer but style wise it seems to be missing the mark.

22 oz from World of Beer in Clearwater. <P> Has a cloudy orange/yellow appearance that reminds me of peach juice. The white head is about a thumb thick and fades slowly leaving a clingy lace. <P> Aroma is lightly sweet with some vague fruit notes and a mild breadiness. <P> Flavor is fairly narrow with a mix of ripe and unripe apples and other fruit notes...maybe pear or peach. Light yeast notes. Finish is lightly bitter then sweet and fruity. It’s not an easy beer to define as far as picking out distinct flavors..it mostly hints. Not sure I like that. It’s faily still on the tongue as far as mouthfeel goes.