MacTarnahans Gran Luxe Tripel Ale

Formerly brewed at Portland Brewing Company (Pyramid)
Style: Abbey Tripel
Portland, Oregon USA

Color’s a cloudy orange, with busy bubbles darting about, and a fine, 1/4" head of off-white foam. Aroma: sugar & spice, with just a whiff of musty sourness as well. Peach and apricot blended with a bit of pepper, straw, hay, lemon and ginger, ...pretty nice. Taste: oooh, tart! Not expecting that in this one, citric and sour right off, quickly mellowing, and turning dry, with a lingering fruitiness. The tartness is in full control of the flavor, where I guess I anticipating more sugary sweetness, as in many tripels. Hmmm, after reading other reviews, perhaps something went awry with this bottle?...it certainly doesn’t taste like some of the other writers describe it. Alcohol felt hidden halfway through the bottle, but now starts seeping into my brain, as it is wont to do, and despite the differences in perceptions, and altered expectations, I’m liking this a bit more as I finish it. (Perhaps it’s the alky-holic influence...yeah, it’s got a kick!) More flavors unfold, apples, tangerine, more spices, great, big hoppiness at the fore, full mouthfeel. Very intriquing. I’m almost wishing I had a second bottle, for it took me so long to get into it!

im not a big fan of mactarnahans but i figured id give it a try.small head with an "ale style" color.it had the tripel taste to begin with but i look for a bit more in a tripel.

color is deep golden, cloudy, thick white head. aroma is typical belgian grand cru, lots of spiciness with a fair amount of fruitiness. flavor has a lot of spiciness and loads of caramel malty sweetness. for me, the alcohol is mostly subdued.

Pours a cloudy golden-orange color, with a thin white head that doesn’t last very long, not much lacing either. Bubble gum yeasty aroma, sweet and malty, thick yet carbonated mouthfeel, warming alcohol taste and a nice spicy clove flavor, not a bad tripple.

This beer was a tad scary to begin with coming from a brown bottle, but hey, what the hell! It poured an ambery red color with a massive degree of carbonation that led to a big thick white head. The aroma was banana, grapefruit, and citrus. It was like a huge astringent fruit platter. I mean these guys really went absolutely crazy with their usage of banana in this beer. I mean this was sickeningly banana-ed out! In the aroma and the taste, nothing but banana. There are hints of clove and grapefruit in the finish as well. Very dry and astringent finish with a syrupy wood and alcoholic cardboard finish. Not a very well balanced beer and excecuted quite poorly aside from the aroma and appearance.

The beer after escaping the 22 ounce brown bottle sets in the Belgian Triple glass a crystal clear amber color with a smallish white head that dissipate quite quickly, the residual lace a thin sheet to conceal the glass. Nose has a cotton candy like sweetness, hints of banana and maybe cloves, fresh and appealing at any rate, start is also quite sweet with a decent malt presence, the top middling in its feel to the palate. Finish is decently acidic, the hops quite mild and the 9.3 percent alcohol quite evident in the very dry aftertaste and the belly warming sensation, drinkable, but not near as good as most Belgian Triples.

22 oz. brown bomber bottle. No freshness date seen anywhere. Impressive gold label. Poured out a brilliantly clear amber color, with a fast fading, off-white head. Left a decent lacing on my Luttich Schwenker glass. Aromas are mostly of sugars. Brown sugar, candi sugar, you name it, it’s in here. Malt aromas are non-existent, as are any hops. Sweet aromas overpower anything the brewer was trying to do here, especially with a Tripel. Caramel tastes make this version of a beer completely out of style. Crystal clear clarity means they filtered this beer before bottling it, which is a big no-no. I had a hard time finishing this beer. I think I’ll cook with the rest of it instead of demeaning myself by drinking it.

This triple pours with a clear orange body topped by a Thick off-white, sustaining head with a good amount of lacing. The aroma is slightly sweet, spicy and a touch yeasty with notes of banana’s, oranges and malt. The flavor is slightly sweet yet bitter and spicy with notes of yeast, a slight malt note and a little banana. Medium bodied, tingly on the tongue and warming.