Fish Tale Monkfish Triple (Barrel Aged)

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

Dark amber gold color, slightly cloudy. Medium white frothy head. Aroma is malt, toast, fruit and slightly sweet. A medium bodied Belgian Triple. Malts are fruity, bready and slightly sweet. Touches of pineapple, orange, peaches and apricots mix with some nice bready toasted malts. Nicely spicy and yeasty. A little touch of oak with some mustiness. Full complex flavor. Very smooth. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

2003 Vintage:
I've got to celebrate #625 in style because I have too many good beers in my cellar. Hazy copper colour with a medium-sized tan head. Very strong yeastiness in the aroma with a pleasant maltiness and tons of sweetness. Pineapple and caramel is noticed in the aroma big-time. Full-bodied; Strong maltiness in the taste with a dry oak feeling. The sweetness comes out as well (from the fruit) and is quickly followed by the spiceyness. Coats the mouth well, and the alcohol is seemingly irrelevant. Packs a pretty nice punch overall, and is a very good tripel. Overall, I'd have this over many other beers, even with its current age. I got this 750 mL bottle in a trade with The_Beer_God, so thank you very much Mike!

My 800th rating, Vintage 2003: Pours a thick hazy copper brown with a big puffy, heavily lacing cream-colored head. Thick bready Belgian malt and yeast aroma with some oak. Starts thick and sweet with lots of Belgian malt flavor. Then comes the drier oakiness with light acidity and more bitterness. Don't taste any alcohol, but I feel it going down my throat. A good triple, but I'd have to agree with raindog that it needs some aging.

2003:Hazy red/oarnge. Medium sized,off-white,head. Aroma is loaded with tropical fruit,quite sweet(toffee,caramel),and peppery yeast. Noticeable oak and alcohol as well. Near watery texture,but sticky at the same time. Creamy with soft carbonation. Sweet upfront,then fruity and bitter. Finish is clean. Fruity,sweet,and dry,with some alcohol. This could mellow into something nice,but didn't do much for me now.

2003 bottle. As I looked at this beer after pouring it out of the bottle, I got the immediate impression of melted butterscotch, with a strong tan/gray head that left sticky lace on the side of the glass. Sweet wort and honey syrup mouthfeel. Flavors of butter, toffee, caramel and oak, with bitter orange and spices coming out as it warms. Very nice triple. Thanks to mreeves for the bottle.

Knock me socks off, I drank it wasy too fast when I was preoccupied with other stuff but it quickly brought me around to my task. Sweet spicy pears that warmed into apricots. Very smooth, delicious.

An outstanding beer,thanks beer_god! Tastes like candy on the front but balances out nicely on the finish. The oak aging is evident and lends character to the finish.

I tried this beer, bottle versus draft. Outstanding! The oak seems to take some of the Belgian nose and palate away, but I still comes off great. The draft is especially smooth and deceivingly good. It's too easy to drink more than one, or two, or three, or ...