Ottos Abbey Tripel

Brewed by Ottos Pub & Brewery
Style: Abbey Tripel
State College, Pennsylvania USA

Wonderful esters off this one. Banana, bubblegum, some cloves, Belgian yeast and a bit of dull barnyard. Light citrus and some musky melon sweetness. Hazy orange amber, very warming color, with thin off-white lacing head. Medium watery body, silky with light medium carbonation. Starts sweet with banana and bubblegum, a good amount of salty orange notes, too. Good sweet malty caramel and honey character with sour banana tang that mellows as the tasting goes on. Hops are very fruity but give nice drying bitter hit to knock down potentially cloying sweetness at the finish. After is pleasantly sweet and musky, with smooth yeasty notes to round out the beer. This is a really nice tripel, and even though you can tell it’s a higher ABV, it’s hidden very well and goes down smoooth.

Pours hazy deep gold with minimal white head. Aroma of Brett, candi sugar, fruit, apricots. Tastes very Bretty, with finishing fruit, spices, and a dry, fruity finish. Stellar!

On tap at the brewpub on 5/16/07: Pours a transparent dark golden bronze with a nicely-lacing white head. Aroma of rich, sweet caramel and biscuity Belgian malt with a hint of honey and clove along with some doughy Belgian yeast. Body starts very sweet and caramely sugary with some light fruity tartness and bready toffee complexity toward an authentic finish. A very nice tripel.

HBF 2005. Slightly deeper in color than most tripels. Decent head but fades. Aroma is fruity, spicy and yeasty with some banana and ripe apple. Moderately sweet throughout but not too much as to make it cloying . All flavors blend well together. Nice dry finish makes it easy to drink.

Belgian Tripel is one of my favorite styles so I was very pleased to see Otto’s try to make one. - and thankfully the result was far better than the dubbel. Sampled on draft the beer poured a cloudy dark orange color with a small tan head. The aroma is light sweet and tangy fruits. The favor is tangy fruits and candi sugar with a thick tangy finish. There is a noticeable alcohol burn but not as pronounced as with the dubbel and it did not detract overly much from this beer.

Poured hazy gold with white fizz head. Fruity with sweet malt and yeasty bread. For being a high alcohol beer it was well masked.

On tap at the brewpub. Stick nose of fermented banana, aging esters and bubblegum. Pours a burnished gold, with a rim of white. Flavor is bold. Some light acetone runs through a strong acetylhyde note. Banana paste pans through. Not too sweet, but not exceptionally dry. Crisp. Leafy. Malts aren’t particularly complex and sugar body is mostly in bread, pale honey, and plain cane. Light hop figure in the back end. Hot. A little coarse in terms of heat. I’d like to see a bit more restraint on the yeast, lots more carbonation and some full breadiness in the body. Otherwise, a faithful rendition.

Visited Otto’s for the first time and luckily got something worth drinking. The beer was served with a cloudy, dark golden, color. Could not see through the beer. Head a light head. The aroma was not strong but in the vain of a tripel. Very good body, not too heavy. Goes down well, little hint of almost 10% alcohol. Overall, a good version of a belgian speciality.