There are some beers I go into this experience not really having a good idea of what is going to be thrust upon me. This particular beer is a
Belgian tripel, and it has been aged in cognac casks. I've had
barrel aged beers many times in the past, and I didn't really understand them the first few times, but they eventually grew on me quite a bit. I've never had anything from this brewer, but this is a
Belgian brewery putting out
Belgian ales, and those are usually a safe bet.
The beer is a lovely earth orange color that reminds me of wet straw; there isn't much of a head, but that is really par for the course with anything that's been aged in a barrel. The aroma is lemons, banana, vanilla and light spices. What's strange is that I don't smell very much Belgian yeast, and that is really what drives me toward these kinds of beers in the first place. It's very difficult for beer to miss the mark this early in the process, but this is not what I expected so far.
First sip is strangely creamy with a bread malt backing up orange, banana, sugar, vanilla, and those spices. The finish is very dry, but it seems to complement the girth of the rest of the beer. The alcohol is definitely ever present, and there's no getting away from the fact that the barrels previously contained cognac. All told, it's not that bad for sipping. My trepidation based on the aroma was relatively unfounded.
Tip-in is heavy fruits with banana, apple, pear, peach, lemon, and a tart funk. The middle is a surge of carbonation from nowhere and the fruits really fill the void as the malt mixes with the sugars to become much sweeter and the alcohol rises to be attended to. The finish is dryness with a sweet alcohol trailing off into the night.
Bottom Line: I wish I knew how good the tripel was before it was stuck in the casks.
4.0/5
