Struise Tsjeeses

Brewed by De Struise Brouwers
Style: Abbey Tripel
Oostvleteren, Belgium

Pours burnt orange color with off white head. Spicy aroma with a slight funkiness. Belgian yeast and alcohol aromas also. Sweet bready malt flavor with Belgian yeast, fruit, citrus and some peppery spices. Alcohol is nice and warming but not overpowering. Medium body with tingly carbonation.

11.2 oz bottle that has been cellared since the holiday season likely from Binnys (Orland Park, Il). Pours a dark amber, well hazed with moderate white bubbly head that dissipates to a film. Aromas are a welcoming Belgian candy sugar, light brown sugar, cinnamon, spicy belgian yeast, vanilla, banana and apple. Pretty good. Initial is a little lighter than expected; some belgian yeast and candy sugar, a touch of dark fruits, banana, and apple. A lovely melange of flavor complexity, but lighter than expected and weaker on the aftertaste and palate. Medium bodid, but on the lighter side. Good spice and fruitiness, with typical belgian malt and yeasty notes. Finishes with small bitterness and fruity aftertaste. Pretty good.

(bottle) Pours gold with a light white head that settles to a thin cap but leaves web-like lacing. Aroma is an interesting mixture of tart, sweet, earthy, and spicy. I get sweet aromas of raisin, honey, and pears. The tart aromas smell like stale bread, and there are hints of coriander along with orange zest which at times smells like orange marmalade. The taste presents an odd effect. At first, I think the flavor will be very sweet, but the initial spike of sweetness gets reigned in by a substantially dry, tart, and lightly bitter mid-palate and finish. The sweetness is still here in the mid-palate, but it plays second-fiddle to the dry, tart, and bitter flavors. The tastes specifically are, sweet peach and honey, stale bread, orange zest, a mineral-like effect, some coriander, and subtle bitterness. The yeasty finish really lingers after drinking. Mouthfeel is fairly full, with nice carbonation, and the high alcohol doesn’t appear. This a really great tripel (like a drier version of Moinette Blonde), and if it were cheaper, I’d gladly buy a couple bottles to age.

Kiwi fruit and yeast in the smell, lactic, tart, spicy... Struise does it again. I really like this because it tastes so unique. Nice bitterness underneath. Like with pannepot, the sweetness is very much under control. Nice to know the brew master looks like a drunken orc and gets high on his own supply like a beer chugging version of scarface.

’07 version from a bottle this evening. Murky orange pour. Lots of sediment. Aroma of vanilla, spicy phenolics, tart fruit and noble hop. Flavor is more of the same x5. Complex to say the least: spicy, fruity, yeasty, decent malt backbone, some hops and plenty of herbal notes. Alcohol is not overbearing on the palate, but warms the body as it goes down. Lots of citrus and spice in the finish; nutmeg, orange zest, hints of sage and more creamy vanilla. Nice mouthfeel: medium-bodied, creamy, but with enough carbonation not to leave the beer with a thick, cloying flavor on the palate. Flavors don’t exactly mold in to one, but blend in to something you’ve not likely tasted before: Very unique to say the least. Aging does not seem necessary here.

Pours a murky, orangey-blonde color with notable sediment and a moderately full, eggshell, foamy head which is mostly lasting and leaves nice lace rings. Nose is nice but not great; yeast is musty, lightly bready, and faintly estery; hops are faint herbal, and other notes of honey, pear, coriander, and faint orange peel. Flavor is similar with some notable fruits on the tongue (pear, apricot, banana peel, orange peel), with some herb notes (jasmin?), spices (ginger, coriander), and maybe some honey also. Palate is more than medium, creamy, silky, and lively. Finishes with just a touch of bitterness from the jasmin notes and some old hop notes with lingering pear, orange peel, and coriander. Certainly intersting and not like any other tripel I’ve tried. Interesting fruity notes and certainly unique spicing but everything just works out okay; not spectacular, not great, just good. One of a kind.

Tap at Capone’s. Aroma of fig, mango, peach, pineapple, watermelon. Flavor huge with watermelon and watermelon seeds for me. Quite malty with a clean finish. For a tripel, I didn’t find it to be all that yeasty per se despite the endless esters. Good stuff.

33cl bottle from hopduvel @ghent, strong alcohol taste malty taste sweeter than the tsjeeses reserva. very good beer