WESTMALLE TRIPEL

OK lets continue the Trappist tasting with another outstanding beer, this time from the Westmalle brewery.
Just 3 beers are produced, the dark 7% abv Dubbel, the golden 9.5% abv Tripel and also (like the orval below) a lower strength (5% abv) patersbier (monks beer) named Westmalle Extra. The abbey also produce their own milk and from this a semi-hard Trappist cheese.

First brewed in 1934 this was the first beer to be labelled as a Tripel, the current recipe dating back to 1956 - so folks here we have the Tripel Daddy.

Pours a hazy pale orange the glass is alive with streams of bubbles, topped with a creamy white head that slowly falls to leave behind a lasting thin covering.

Aroma is sweet, malty and fruity (bananas are prominent) with a hop bitterness on the finish. Beautiful creamy sweet flavour with a fruity / citrus (orange) edge, a dry hop bitter finish - and when I say finish I mean long finish, the carbonated mouthfeel lasts and lasts............the original Tripel and certainly amoungst the best.

Also note the same bottle (minus the label) is used at the other Trappist brewery Westvleteren.



http://www.trappistwestmalle.be/