Fish Tale Monkfish Triple (Barrel Aged)

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

Bottle 2003. Great strawberry like nose. Some bread and cookdough in the nose too. Good head with lacing. Nutty and oaky with some hop bite. I like Fish beers a lot. Have not had a bad one yet.

Find it somewhat odd that it’s called a triple, but it has as much right to it as anything else. Earthy, oaky ... and might I say .. fishy? I liked this one more than others, but Fish brews are ones that I think I could easily pull from a blind tasting. Perhaps not the specific beer, but from the brewery - as they have a tell tale (tail?) quality.

Vintage 2003 (tasted on 4/2/04). Nice dark amber color with an averaged size head. Large particles. Citrus aromas with spices, oaky and yeast. Tastes of hops and balanced malts. Aging in Oak Casks comes through in the smell and taste. I was looking forward to tasting a beer from Fish Tale and was not let down.

Retasted side by side with an ’04 vintage. ’03 definitely darker in appearance and quite a bit tastier. Additional notes to the above; vanilla & caramel in the aromas and tastes. My numbers remain the same.

750 mL, 2003 version (May 2004): Opaque orange gold, dense billowing & fluffy off-white. Wonderful crisp malty aromatics: light peppery sprice, warmed orange peels and a subtle yeast character. Undying cream on top. Palate is smooth, but missing any real lively carbonation . . . slightly sour orange flavours with just a hint of grainy yeast. Light must and a bit of pineapple. Not what I would call a ‘normal’ tripel, but enjoyable as it is interesting and unique.

Hazy golden body with a thick, creamy white head. The aroma is dominated by honey, caramel, oranges, apple cider, white wine, a little clove and strong hops for the style. Very medium bodied that is slightly creamy, but certainly not too full. Vanilla becomes more prevalent in the flavor to compliment the citrus, sweet malt, spice and alcohol. The yeast character is a bit subdued for my taste, but an otherwise tasty trippel. I think the barrel aging works pretty well, or at least is not as bad as many I’ve had, however, it’s not my favorite trippel.

Slightly sweet aroma. Not terribly heavy, with a nice balance of sweetness, alcohol, and oak flavor. Should age quite well.

Light caramel colored brew sitting under an off white head. Oaky nose with not a lot of yeastiness.Solid tripel with slight vinous notes in the background. Very nicely done, the characteristics from the barrel aging blend well with the brew. Another winner from Fish Tale!

opaque dark honey colored, medium bodied and slightly sweet. yeasty/citrus aroma. this is a very nice beer to sip.