Fish Tale Monkfish Triple (Barrel Aged)

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

From bottle, blind #4, 2001 vintage, courtesy of thewolf. Pours dark orange with a small white head. Mild wooden, vanilla, and light bourbon like nose. Smooth wooden, bourbon and caramelish to biscuit malt flavoured. Smooth and nicely balanced. Light wooden lasting impression into the far finish.

(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.

Bottle. [thank you, after4ever]
[Bottle #4 in the Kolding Blindtasting, 20th June 2009]
[vintage 2001]
Pours a tad hazy, deep orange. A small, creamy, white head on top. Aroma is really impressive. Lots of yeasty notes, apples, pineapple, oak, biscuity malts, cardemum. Medium carbonation, good creamy mouthfeel. Flavour maintains the notes of cardemum, adds some rosemary. Oak, yeast, viniousness, sweet maltiness. A touch of oaky tartness in the end, but overall, a very elegant tripel.

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.

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.

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.

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...

2003: Dark amber and cloudy with a firm tan head. Aroma of over-ripe apples and some syrupy hops, along with a mixture of spices. Flavor is composed of a big ripe fruit flavor, apples, pears and some honey, along with a slightly stinging alcohol flavor and a light hop finish. A good tripel, a little different than most. Thick, syrupy and feels very "aged". Big time wine flavor coats the mouth and lasts an incredibly long time.