Kasteelbier Tripel Blonde 11%

Brewed by Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck
Style: Abbey Tripel
Ingelmunster, Belgium

Light golden, beautiful head. The aroma is spicy, mostly coriander. The mouthfeel is oily. The flavour has a lot of light sweetness and is quite powerful with it’s notes of spice, coriander and clove, that partially dominates the light notes of fruit. Nice.

Bottle. Poured nicely to a golden blond color with a soft white head that quickly disappeared. Little to no fizz with a lite syrupy body. Sweet fruit aroma (pear) with flowers accents. Clean crisp cider like tatse. Quick beginning, long middle draw and quick aftertaste. Small alcohol flavor noted in after taste.

Pours clear gold with large white head. Pleanty of carbonation. Aroma of some spice, fruit, and floral notes. Taste is crisp with pepper, alcohol, fruit present. Finishes with more pepper and lots of yeast.

(330 ml bottle (stamped "07-2008") from <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/maine/portland/ target=blank>Downeast Beverage Co., cellared for 8 mos. after purchase) A little sweet, a little hot...Pours hazy blonde with a smallish off-white head. Aroma of fruit, yeast, light spice, bubblegum, sweet candyish malt. Mouthfeel is fairly smooth, very finely effervescent, fairly soft, a bit of syrupy stickiness esp. in finish. Wide, very fine, weepy rings of lacing. Flavor is kind of fruity and sweet, also fairly hot (could lightly feel in nasal passges) but not sharply so. Notes of spice, bubblegum and even honey were tasted, esp. on back end. Not too bad. Labeled as a "Triple".

Bottle, BB 11/07. Poured clear brighter golden with a tall, looser cap of white head that receded to a thin layer after a short while.. lively carbonation. The aroma picked up spicy Belgian yeast, alcohol-enhanced apples and other lighter fruits, and some perfumey notes.. very strong, yet it worked well for me. The flavor had lots of bright peppery alcohol amplifying the lighter-skinned fruits.. sharp estery notes get caught up a bit on the higher carbonation at the back-end.. left a long, strong, pepper and light fruity finish. Medium-bodied with the aforementioned high carbonation.. I liked the yeast in here, but the brew was a bit too sharp at times. Overall quite nice!

Bottle. Slightly hazy, golden-orange body with a medium, dense, white head on top. There’s some floaties in the beer, and a very lively carbonation, causing the floaties to swirl rapidly from bottom to top to bottom and so on. There’s nice lacings forming too. The nose is very fruity, with a good dash of alcohol, lots of dried fruits, some spicyness, a little pale malt, and a little hoppy note. There’s also some beef-stock like aromas, more common in darker beers. Flavorwise it is quite bitter, but the sweetness of course hits first. Fruits, mostly yellow apples, spicyness, alcohol, some pale malt and dried fruits are other things that comes to mind. A slight alcohol burn in the mouth, quite full bodied. Finishes with some alcohol, a good bitterness and sweetness, pale malt and fruityness. And it lasts for a long time. Well suited as a night cap or a relaxing beer earlier in the evening. 11% ABV is a bit strong if one wants more than one or two beers, but for the forementioned purposes, it works just fine. Not refreshing, not quenching, but surely enjoyable. (071120)

bottle. Clear golden, with small white head. Taste of bread, malt, spice. Well rounded. More bitter than sweet, long finish.

Pours with a decent size head with strong aromas of hot alcohol, this beer need to open up in the glass like a fine wine. It changed as I drank it over a half hour. Bready Belgian yeast, spice, and a creamy, long sweetish finish. Was about to get another beer when I first opened it but I’m glad I gave it a chance to shine. Recomened to any Belgian Triple lover.