Bottle. Fairly decent rendition of a tripel, but not close to some of the Belgian examples. This shows some citric fruit qualities, with and estery, yeasty alcoholic finish. Quite fruity and fairly sweet.

on tap at the brewpub, 2005. ruby colour with a big head, aroma of golden syrup and apple flavoured cordial. moderately sweet with some musky alcohol and a decent yeast bite. not exactly bold but a good effort

When they pour this you get the usual warnings that you need to be careful, don’t drive, go easy, yackety yack. Well for most punters this is probably a fair thing as they wouldn’t expect an Aussie brewed beer to be this high in ABV. It looks great in the glass and is so reminiscent of the De Garre I had in Brugges six months ago. It has a great coppery hue and creamy head. The lacing lasts all the way down as you would hope from a beer of this nature. The nose has a distinctive hazelnut and molasses presence with, oddly some licquorice and passionfruit esters in there as well. Great warming alcoholic flavour of plums and berries with a finish that is soft and syrupy. Well done Redoak, you have done a great job here.

Missed this on draught and I wonder if it’s as good in the bottle. The bottle I sampled had oxidised notes that suggested a beer past its prime. Could have been a dud sample - hope so. This didn’t present as well as Redoak’s stuff usually does. Clear amber with a very thin film of foam and minimal carbonation. The aroma had some bubblegum and sticky dark fruits but was marred by a thin phenolic note like cheap white wine on the turn. Semillon, perhaps. Great mouthfeel, medium bodied and oily. High caramelised sugar content with bubblegum notes, sour fruits and a heavy wash of alcohol. A fair tripel but it’s hard to imagine why anyone would pay $11 for a bottle of this when a number of superior Belgian tripels are available in town for around half to two-thirds of the price. (330ml bottle at brewpub - 9.6% abv)

bottle @ redoak. the guy behind the bar, in typically breathless redoak style, congratulated me for choosing this beer, telling me that it was a magnificent tribute to trappist breweries (combining the best features of four of them, apparently) and that it had, and i quote, an "almost baked beans aftertaste". i blinked. the beer was taken straight out of the 1C fridge and dumped straight into one of their wineglasses-in-disguise, where the lack of carbonation and freezing temp combined to cause chill haze and the barest white rim of a head. he informed me that because of "health regulations" they were obliged to keep their unpasteurised beers heavily refrigerated. i asked whether their beers had bacteria in them. anyway. once i had warmed this beer up in my hands it still failed to let loose any carbonation or head. the aroma was heavy caramel, peaches and coriander - free of fusels at least. in the mouth this was a joke. syruppy, cloying, one dimensional caramel. about the only trappist like this is la trappe tripel. quick finish with slight phenol. no sign of any bitterness at all. and yes it tastes like baked beans!! i couldn’t finish it. i told the guy behind the bar that it was too sweet and he informed me that it was "typical belgium (SIC!!!) style" and i said he should try it side by side with a westmalle. he said he had tried it next to a leffe - case closed buddy. this place does make some good beers but geez they need to get some humility into them. and lose the sweet tooth.