Moosejaw Belgian Tripel

Brewed by Moosejaw Pizza & Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Tripel
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin USA

(Draught) Pours a hazy golden body with a medium off-white head. Aroma of citrus, yeast, clove, and bubblegum. Flavor of orange pulp, yeast, candi sugar, and coriander with a dry finish. Too sweet…

On tap at brewery. Hazy creamy golden color with minimal white head. Strong creamy wheat aroma, seemed out of place. Aroma was a bit of banana esters, some sweet citrus fruit scents I could not define. First sip, citrus flavors and alcohol, with a creamy wheat flavored backing. Mouthfeel was medium. Not what I would expect of a Trippel. More like a wit beer or a weiss. Tastes like they used a yeast strain that wasn’t meant for making a trippel, and used a lot of wheat in the recipe. I love belgian beers, but this was definately out of character for a Trippel.

Sampled on draught at the GTMW ’08. Pours a hazy golden straw brew with a decent white head that has good retention and excellent lacing. Aroma of yeast, light bread malt, banana esters, bubble-gum and a touch of cloves. Taste is medium to full bodied, some light carbonation with flavors of light banana esters, white bread malt, maybe a touch of coriander/orange with yeast and cloves. Finish is light flavored with a hint of yeast, some tropical fruit and a little alcohol warmth. Nice to see Moosejaw brought the tripel back after a five year absence.

On tap at the brewery, sampler flight. Clear golden with white head at rim. Subtle barley/yeast nose. Thick in mouth, sweet citrus and coriander flavor. Typical for a tripel, but not bad.

A tripel at a brewpub like this? I'm offically surprised. It was a slightly cloudy yellow beer, with a lemony scent. Tastes more like a standard weiss than their weiss did. It did get more complex as I drank it. Not a bad beer, but certainly not what I'd expected from a tripel.

Hazy, light golden. Very thick, white head with tremendous staying power. Very bubbly; the beer continued to send up tiny streams of bubbles a good 45 minutes after it was poured. Strong yeast aroma, with some clove characteristics. Thick, malty flavor, full of cobweb/must/plum highlights. Very velvety on the palate. A very, very fine offering from Moosejaw, and probably their best to date (at least of the ones I've sampled).