Sprecher Abbey Triple

Brewed by Sprecher Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Tripel
Glendale, Wisconsin USA

20 ounce bomber. Amber colored. Large white head which quickly disappates. Very active bubbly structure...champagne like. Fruity sugary aroma, starts out promising in that manner. Some orange, mango, clove, and flowery aromas. However, the flavor is lacking for a tripel. Oily on the palate with butterscotch notes. Overall, this just falls short on the flavor. You know, this might be a good introductory beer for an unexperienced drinker. But I can see why this scores around 20% for the style. Just lacks the kick you normally expect for this style. On a positive note, the alcohol is barely noticed, unexpected given the thin flavor profile.

Bottled. Hardly any head that quickly diminished. Slight hints of apple aroma as it warmed. Sweet. Medium carbonation. Light mouthfeel. A bit on the sweet side for my tastes.

A soft amber, hazy quality, this beer is not too bad, however, while it has a malty flavor, the palate ends with what I would describe as burnt plastic. While it isn’t too bad of a beer, the burned plastic quality is something I can’t get around very easily. This flavor goes away as it gets colder.

Pours with a brilliantly clear, copper color and is topped by a frothy, in initially three-finger thick, tan-tinged, white colored head. The aroma is fairly spicy, but sort of reminds me of a mix of earthy coriander, butterscotch and basil. There is quite a bit of malt presence here as well, with notes of caramelized malt sugars, toffee, biscuits and freshly ground malt all present and noticeable.

The taste is slightly sweet up front, but quickly moves to an artificially sweet, butterscotch driven finish. This butterscotch note tends to linger on long into the finish, and is actually quite distracting, if not even detracting. There is a nice spiciness here, that seems to be a combination of hop derived components and yeast driven fermentation by-products. Notes of spicy-earthy-almost coriander are here, perhaps a touch of orange peel character, some white pepper notes, a hint of ginger and a touch of hot higher alcohols. This beer is a touch sweeter than I would like to see, or put another way the sweetness needs to be balanced by more spiciness.

This definitely strikes me as a stereotypical (except that there are many great interpretations done by Americans now a days) American attempt at making a Belgian beer; while technically correct, it lacks the finesse and balance of the real deal.

You know, I do like it a lot when I get to sample a good, non-Belgian Belgian style beer. I got a strong sense of fruit over tones with a great bouquet of malts. A strong beer yet not over powering

Pours a rich dark golden with a decent fine bead head that diminishes but continues to coat the surface. Fruit and coriander aroma. Taste is sweet pale malt and yeast, as well as a slightly sour mead-like characteristic. I like!

Golden cloudy color. Smell of orange, peach, malt, alcohol, hints of malt, candy raisins and caramel. Taste of yeast, spice, candy, citrus, grass and hops. Bitterness at the end.

Bottled. Hazy peach color with small head. Sweet malty, fruity and herbal aroma with notes of orange. Sweet and herbal flavor with orange, grapefruit and pineapple. Light bitterness. Needs more hops.