Fish Tale Monkfish Triple (Barrel Aged)

Formerly brewed at Fish Brewing Company/Leavenworth Beers
Style: Abbey Tripel
Olympia, Washington USA

White grape juice injected in caramel-laden oranges...Obese alcohol heat doesn’t like the sweetish yeast powder and creates discomfort...Much more a barley wine than a Belgian-style Tripel, or at the very best an okay, homebrewish triple...The Leviathan works incredibly better with their wine barrel theme...

Chocolate, candi sugar, doughy yeast aromas. Opaque orange tan with thin fully diminishing head. Some yeast in suspension. Light roastiness, slight alcohol kick. Malty, sweet, candy-like. Woody character noticeable. Medium-full body but mouthfeel is flat and unappealing. Kind of a boozy, barleywine-style tripel. Bottle (enjoyed with MartinT, Rastacouere and some non-RB tasters).

Bottle-conditioned, amber body, off-white film. Very toasty malty aroma. Roasted pears, mango, grilled malty and vinous grapes. Appealing aroma. In mouth, the stale comes out boring and stale. Not much development at all. Wine character doesn’t marry so well at all with such absence of life (carbonation is extremely low while the body is moderately thick). A bit of mango here and there, nutty aspects. Very warming alcohol for 8%, moderately bitter finish, heavily astringent. Sadly disappointing. Thanks TAR for the opportunity.

Pours a orange color with a small ivory head. This brew has a ton of crap floating around in it, and I was even careful not to pour in the yeast from the bottom of the bottle. Aroma was very fruity and spicy with a smell like pears, a good hoppy backing too. Taste is very sweet and targets those tastebuds who have a fettish for kitchen spices. Extremely dry finish with a slight bitterness to it.

This triple pours with a hazy amber body with numerous floaters, topped by a medium thick head with some lacing. The aroma is sweet and malty with slight candy sugar notes, a little yeast and some banana notes. The flavor is sweet and malty with a touch of yeast, some banana notes and a touch of candy sugar. Medium to full bodied, slightly dry yet surprisingly smooth.

(2003, 750ml bottle) Small beige head atop a cloudy, deep amber body. Aroma is sweet, butterscotch, cherry, vinous, oak, light herbal. Taste is medium sweet, butterscotch, orange peel, oaky, vinous, some herbal. Medium-full body. Alcohol is present but never overwhelms. The body of the beer holds the wine qualities quite well, but those same characteristics at times replace the inherently tripel qualities. Nevertheless, I enjoy this beer quite a bit.

Pours a hazy golden brown with a foamy off-white head with wonderful lacing. Aromas of yeast, banans and flavors of the same. Mouthfell is sweet with a slight thickiness. As it warms flavors of apples, honey and a barely noticible oakiness emerge. Alcohol flavors are present throughout. Slightly dry on the palate and sweeter than most triples that I’ve had.

Malty and fruit esters galore, apples and a bit of cherry, creamy, orangey and lightly citric but also a bit extracty, carmels in the toffee range. Odd for a tripel.