Duvel Triple Hop 2013

 

Stubby bottle, 330 ml, at home. Poured into my tulip glass. ABV 9,5%. Great appearance as with all Duvels, with clear golden yellow body and a snow white, thick and sopay head of a bit more than three fingers. Foam has average retention. Nice lacing left on the glass once again. The new hops offer an tropical fruit aroma, a bit of mango too. Very refreshing smell, just like a good IPA. Very nice bittery taste as well, with the flavour following the aroma. Lots of tropical fruits, very refreshing, very hoppy. The high alcohol masterfully hidden for one more time, deceiving you into taking big sips of this excellent beer. Medium thin body, good amount of carbonation. Dry on the palate, but nothing extreme. Overall, this one is very close to an IPA, both aroma/taste wise and hops level, although not overly bitter. Great beer, and as with the 2012 version, they should have made it year round or at least seasonal instead of an one-off. 

AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 3/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 17/20

                                                   3.9

Maredsous 8 Bruin

ABV 8%

Bottle of 330 ml at home, poured into a chalice, after letting it warm up a bit. It gave me one and a half fingers of beige head, with average retention and I mean by that that biggest part of the foam went away but a quite thick layer of it stayed on the surface. Heavy lacing around the glass. What I really liked was the colour, very very deep bruin, it looked almost black while sitting on the table and no light was held agianst it.

Aroma: When I opened the bottle I smelled some dark fruits. Now that the beer sits in the glass, I smell caramel and roasted malts mostly and less than before the fruits. An excellent aroma.

The roasted malts are very notable on the taste too, one could say that they overtake any other element of the beer's flavour. Slighty bitter though, leaves behind an iron aftertaste. Reminded me faintly of Guiness and the fact that the alcohol is so finely concealed surely help. It's like you're drinking a beer with at least 3% less alcohol. 

A full, thick body, with a light amount of carbonation.

It's been a while since I had the other two of the Maredsous family. but I don't remember them impressing me as much as this one. A really great beer and as it warms up becomes better, has now got rid of the metallic aftertaste and it goes down very smoothly. I will recommend and buy again.

3.78/5

look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Duvel Tripel Hop 2012 (Citra Hops)

ABV 9,5%

A bottle of 330 ml, similar to the classic Duvel, with Tripel Hop written under the name and the clarification, "Dry Hopped With Citra Hops" in a circle, on the lower right side of the label.
Since this is made only for this year and they're planning to make it with a different hops variety every year, I thought that it deserved a different entry.
Poured into a tulip glass, very similar to the Duvel one, after letting the beer warm up a bit. Colour is pale golden yellow, with some bubbles rising to the top and a whooping head of four fingers. Great retention and light lacing around the glass as it goes down. The head never disappears completely, even now, I have a thick part of it into my glass.
Aroma is.. fantastic! I haven't met another beer with this kind of fruity aroma. Mostly I get a fruity aroma of dark fruits, but never before something like this. The citra hops are really making a difference. I smell some guava and a bunch of other tropical fruits.
Taste is also great, much more bitter than I expected from the smell and much more bitter than the original Duvel too. Some citrus and tropical fruits on the taste again, result of the citra hops I suppose. The alcohol is there, but very masterfully concealed. I get the warming feeling but I can't feel it that much on the taste. Aftertaste is also quite bitter.
Full on the body and quite a bit of carbonation, maybe a little too much.

I am not a huge fun of Duvel, and don't get me wrong, I like it and I would gladly drink it on every given occasion, I just don't get all the hype around it. But this one, not only I liked it, I loved it, mostly for the superb aroma and then for the great, bitter taste. I had got myself three bottles already, before I even try it, but this one will probably be the first beer that will send me back to the store, in order to get some more and store in my cellar.

4.53/5
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Palm

ABV 5,4%

  One of the most widely available belgian beers here in Netherlands, along with Jupiler, I guess. I had it many times before and the supermarket around the corner had it on offer recently, so I grabbed the chance to get a whole crate of it. It was also a good choice for my new tulip glass to be used for the first time. 

  The small bottle of 300 ml gave me a beer light amber in colour, with slighty beige head of two fingers in height, with good retention, which left some traces of lacing as it was going down.

  A sweet aroma coming mostly from roasted malts. That's where the faint caramel aroma is coming from too.

  Taste is fruity you could say at first, but then the flavour of the roasted malts overcomes everything else. Slighty metallic aftertaste. 

  On the body is quite thin, with an average carbonation. 

  Now, I like Palm and for a moment I thought it could replace my usual lagers and pilsners that I drink after a long day at work, but after having it continuously for almost a week, I find it a bit boring, to tell the truth. Still, a good beer to break the routine every once a while.

3.23/5

look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Orval

ABV 6,2%

I got this beer at my local liquor store without knowing anything about it. It was just another option among all the other beers on the shelf. After coming home though and reading all those positive reviews, I was looking forward to drinking it. Instead, for a bunch of reasons, it stayed in my fridge till now.

A uniquely shaped bottle of 330 ml, with just one small, modest label mentioning the beer's name and other info, around the neck of the bottle. Poured into a chalice, after letting it warm up a little bit, since it has a recommended drinking temperature of 12°-14° C. Dark amber coloured, with a two finger head, white in colour, with some yelow spots every here and there.. Foam is thick in texture. Quite a few bubbles rising to the surface. Head has an average retention.Once most of it is gone, a thick enough part stays behindand covers the surface. 

Aroma was quite complex when I sniffed it the moment I opened the bottle, with the most obvious smell being a fig aroma.. After smelling it from the glass, I sense plums, pears, some light caramel aromaand maybe some old redgrapes. Great aroma.

Taste is great too, somehow in the middle between fruity sweet and hoppy bitter, with the scale turning on the bitterness' side when it comes to the aftertaste. It's very difficult to name some flavours exactly. There are fruity flavours, some clove too. Now I perceive some white wine flavour and some spices too. This beer is so complex, to the point you get another flavour with every sip. Alcohol very well concealed.

Full body with average carbonation, a bit tart on the palate. 

Overall, a fantastic beer. Its complexity makes for a great sipping beer. Those monks are doing a great job at their brewery.

4.25/5
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Leffe Tripel

ABV 8,5%
Bottle of 300 ml. At home, poyred into my Chimay chalice.
This beer has a honey liked colour, very hazy. One finger of off-white head that quickly was reduced into just a thin layer on the beer's surface. leaving heavy lacing behind. 4
An amazing strong aroma of dark fruits, plums mostly, and some banana and apricot notes.
The taste is sweet with the fruity notes much more noticeable. It leaves a nice bitterness behind. Unfortunately it also had a slight metallic taste, but maybe it's just my bottle, since I had it a couple of times before and I don't remember it having it.
Rich and full body, average carbonation. The alcohol certainly distinguishable, if not at first, certainly when the beer starts to warm up a bit. Dry on the palate.
A really great beer.




4/5
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Sloeber

ABV 7,5%

The label is one of the weirdest I've come across. A beer bottle named Sloeber showing me the name on my beer bottle which is also Sloeber. Maybe it was a good concept but the final result looks quite amateur-ish if you ask me. So what do we have here? A belgian strong pale ale, that pours a white thin head of one finger, in my Chimay chalice. Colour is, well, pale golden or better, copper-like. I can witness a thin fountain of bubbles rising from the center of my glass to the top.
Aroma is light and pleasant, fruity, sure, but I can't put my nose into it exactly. One time I think I smell bananas, the next I smell plums. Whatever it is, is very faint though.
Taste is fruity, with some plums and other dark fruits, but there is unfortunately a slight metallic aftertaste. The high ABV very well conceiled.
Full and thick body, with just the right amount of carbonation.
Overall, a very good sample of the kind.


3.55/5 
ook: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Maredsous 6 Blond

ABV 6%

Bottle of 330 ml.

Poured into a tulip type of glass. One finger of head, white in colour and thick, that didn't stay for long. Colour is pale golden,slighty haze in my second pour after I shook the bottle a bit. with average activity in the glass.
Sweet aroma. A smell of old bread that thankfully is quite faint and it's cobered by aromas of dark fruits.
Dark fruits like plums and dates also traceable on the taste. You could say it has a sweet taste.
Medium thickness on the body and average carbonation.
Overall, hmm. There are better samples of the type out there, and I know because I have tried some.


3.05/5
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Jupiler

Bottle of 250 ml.

Pours a golden yellow color with a thin head that slowly dissolves, 

leaving light to almost none lacing on the glass. 

Medium amount of bubbles rising and lots of them on the glass's wall.

Mostly malts on the aroma.

Taste is very flat, sweet at first, with the tiniest amount of bitterness on the aftertaste.

Nothing to celebrate about, I didn't like it the first time I tried it (on tap) and I am

not very enthusiastic this time either.

Thin on the body and light carbonation.

2.78/5
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Brigand

ABV 9,0%
I had this one at a bar in my town, served with its appropriate glass. Usually I don't go for so expensive beers when I'm out (3-3,50 at the bar), but the rest of the options were not the best you could find, even for macro lagers. I took some quick notes back then and recently I found it in my local liquor store, so I got one bottle for 1,50. At home I poured it into my Chimay chalice.

330 ml bottle, poured into its original glass. Deep golden colour. A little hazy on the second pour. Huge head, going down slowly untill it becomes a thin layer on the surface. Leaves some light lacing around the glass.
Aroma is fruity , with obvious banana notes. Dark fruits too, plum and dates.
Taste is sweet, with the dark fruits very obviously there. The high ABV gives a warming feeling and although is very nicely concealed, you will feel it.
Thick body and quite carbonated .
Overall another specimen of great Belgian beer.

  Those are the notes I took back then. As you will see on the next photo, the head on a chalice from "huge" becomes just one finger in height.Also, scratch that "deep golden colour", I guess it's a term I should reserve for pilsners, but I wasn't alone there and I was trying to write everything down as soon as possible, so this was what crossed my mind first while someone was talking to me. Today I would say "pale -or light - honey colour". It was more clear on the first pour though as I write, but probably because with the second pour the yeast got into the glass, same happened at home.
On the aroma I would say that now the dark fruits are more obvious, instead of the bananas, and some clove too. That concludes the main differences between a pour at the bar and a pour at home, I guess.None extreme difference in order to change my grading for this one.

3.93/5
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4