Xtra Gold
Captain Lawrence Brewing Company in Elmsford, New York, United States 🇺🇸
Belgian Style - Tripel Regular Out of Production|
Score
7.16
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This beer is an American adaptation to the classic Belgian style of beer known as a Tripel. Historically Tripels were brewed to have a very light golden color, a moderate hop presence, and be around 9% alcohol. But we are not in Belgium, so I decided to crank up the hops, dry hop the beer with American Amarillo hops, and brew it to 10% ABV. This is our American Tripel, enjoy.
Sensory Profile:
Enjoy in a goblet or wine glass.
Tropical fruit and honey are the two biggest aromas coming from this lively brew. While the hop bitterness is not as powerful as an IPA, the hop flavor melds nicely with the fruity flavors created by the imported Belgian yeast strain used.
Food Pairing: This beer goes great with roasted vegetables, fish and rotisserie chicken. And it can be used as a aperitif before dinner with shrimp cocktail.
Sensory Profile:
Enjoy in a goblet or wine glass.
Tropical fruit and honey are the two biggest aromas coming from this lively brew. While the hop bitterness is not as powerful as an IPA, the hop flavor melds nicely with the fruity flavors created by the imported Belgian yeast strain used.
Food Pairing: This beer goes great with roasted vegetables, fish and rotisserie chicken. And it can be used as a aperitif before dinner with shrimp cocktail.
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4.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 4
Texture 6
Overall 3.5
Had the pleasure of sampling this at the 1/27/2008 Pittsburgh ratebeer.com gathering upstairs, Sharp Edge Creekhouse. It will be a long time, if ever I am invited again and I see a spread of bottles like I did there - ever again. I am not good enough for the beers that were that we sampled! For example, how about this beer; C.L. Xtra Gold, provided by John, thanks Lukin! Winish aroma, typically alarming sweet as with many trippels. Big foamy head, cloudy. Good tingley carbonation, more than expected for the style. Some bitter bite. Mild medicinal qualities on the finish. Not as good as Chimay Triple / Blanche (White) or CBW millenium trippel but certainly better than Urthel Hibernus Quentum Tripel or Merry Monks.
Tried
from Bottle
on 28 Jan 2008
at 17:52
6.4/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
From bottle, no 20 at Papsoes blindtasting. Pours hazy yellow to orange and with a diminished white head. Hoppy pineapple fruity. Flavour is sweet fruity towards slight soapy hoppy. Has a soft sweetness leading into the finish. Not much caramel malt but rather more clean sugarish finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Dec 2007
at 14:54
6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Bottled. A hazy golden beer with a thick off-white head. The aroma is sweet with citrusy and spicy notes. The flavor is sweet with notes of citrus and spices - especially coriander, but also with a light alcohol burn, leading to a dry bitter and spicy finish. Thanks to Papsoe for sharing.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Dec 2007
at 16:56
7.4/10
—
Appearance 4
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
(Bottle 75 cl) Courtesy of kmweaver. Hazy golden with an off-white head. Very fresh, piney aroma. Medium body with lightly sweet, fruity accents and a base of pale malts. Discreet yeasty touches but otherwise dominated by excellent aroma hops. Distinct alcohol in the finish. Excellent and a very different take on a Tripel. 301107
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Dec 2007
at 07:47
7/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
750ml bottle-pours a retaining thin white head and cloudy gold color. Aroma is nice floral/citrus-lemon hops (yes, Amarillo), secondary light malt, yeast. Taste is lemon hops, honey, secondary light malt, yeast. OK carbonation.
Tried
from Bottle
on 25 Nov 2007
at 10:32
8.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 9
Deep golden colour. Lots of sparkle but the head doesn’t hold. Fruity, diverse aroma (plum, pear, pomegranate, guava, pineapple and on it goes). Bready malts, light alcohol in there as well. Great concept - the "American-style" ramped-up hops add so much complexity to that fruitiness in the aroma and to a lesser extent on the palate. Nice bitterness - after the number of cloying American (and Canadian) tripels this is really nice to see. Grapefruit, lots of bready malt and a kiss of late alcohol. Just enough yeastiness that you don’t forget it’s a tripel. Cool shit.
Tried
from Can
on 06 Jun 2007
at 21:16
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Huge, very dense & fine, just yellow tinted head, very stable and fed by fine bubbling from darker golden beer. Exploding nose of speculoos (distance), and hops (closeby); dry hopbales, but not necessarily C-hops; dry alcohol as in aftershave; really lupulin nose and slightly peppery, as well as mandarine peel. Taste: aha - here agian the speculoos with faintly sweet spices, still a lot of hops, quite dry. Ends greenery-like, very hoppy, fresh hops. There is malt body, but it is not preponderant. Medium to well bodied, better than most tripels, even when the attenuation is properly high. Very good beer, American Tripel indeed. Thanks Brian! Great!
Tried
from Can
on 19 Mar 2007
at 01:17
7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
2007-11-30, Papsø’s Blind Tasting, 7-3-7-4-15=36
Cloudy blond color; huge head. Very nice hoppy aroma, elderflowers and some fruits, but not persistent; hop leaves. Medium body, some sweetness, the hopping is good (flowery, delicate oils, lightly fruity...), bit it’s a bit too warming and alcoholic, and apparently the yeast left a bitterish trace. Anyway, good.
2007-01-01, draught at Hop Devil, NYC, 7-4-8-4-16=39
Blond color. The aroma is soft, malty and fruity. Very sweet for being a Triple, a bit spicy, oranges, not thick. Refreshing and pleasant.
Cloudy blond color; huge head. Very nice hoppy aroma, elderflowers and some fruits, but not persistent; hop leaves. Medium body, some sweetness, the hopping is good (flowery, delicate oils, lightly fruity...), bit it’s a bit too warming and alcoholic, and apparently the yeast left a bitterish trace. Anyway, good.
2007-01-01, draught at Hop Devil, NYC, 7-4-8-4-16=39
Blond color. The aroma is soft, malty and fruity. Very sweet for being a Triple, a bit spicy, oranges, not thick. Refreshing and pleasant.
Tried
on 11 Jan 2007
at 16:20
8.9/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Notes from last night, tap at Hop Devil Grill. Goblet pour, small head, golden color, cannot see through the beer. Aroma is present tropical fruits and sweetness from hops. The hops are not over the top but definitely with other sweet aspects. Taste has a hop presence with Belgian sweetness, some very nice mango and apricot flavors. Low bitterness with a medium body. Very nice.
Rerate 12/12/06 from 750ml bottle. Bought it at the brewery 2 weeks ago, sat in the fridge till now. The main difference is the hops are more assertive in both nose and flavor. A bit more piney and aggressive. Also, leads to a more spiky mouthfeel. I prefer the tap version.
Rerate: 8/20/07, comparison of Batch 1 (10 months old) and Batch 2 (4 months old) in 750ml bottles. Only slight differences, 2nd batch is a clearer beer with less particles and a strong visible vortex carbonation. Batch 1 has a stronger Belgian yeasty flavors and less astringent hoppiness with softer carbonation and a slightly thicker body. The 1st batch is nicer now than when it was fresh out of the brewery. It’s also more like the original keg rating. The 2nd batch bottled is least interesting of any of the samples, hopefully time will right it more. 8/4/7/3/15
Re-rate: Batch 1 (22 months), bottle leaked in transport a little bit so I opened up tonight, had no choice. Fortunately, no ill effects and it tastes amazing. Cellar aged since I bought it. Pours with a beautiful thick head that never goes away. A thick shining golden color. Aroma is beautifil sweet with yeasty beglian dough then a a sweet citric orange peel aspect thats very original. Taste is marmalade cookie with a long yeasty sweetnes that just lingers forever. Feel slike the hops have turned into a beautiful accompaniment to the yeast of the beer. This is truely amazing right now and much better than it has ever been in its history. Mouthfeel is a pillow thickness beautifully rolling off your cheeks. And after you swallow there is a rush of sweet citric cookie rusing back from your throught to your cheeks. My rating jumps now and I am saving this as the true rating. 9/5/9/4/17
Rerate 12/12/06 from 750ml bottle. Bought it at the brewery 2 weeks ago, sat in the fridge till now. The main difference is the hops are more assertive in both nose and flavor. A bit more piney and aggressive. Also, leads to a more spiky mouthfeel. I prefer the tap version.
Rerate: 8/20/07, comparison of Batch 1 (10 months old) and Batch 2 (4 months old) in 750ml bottles. Only slight differences, 2nd batch is a clearer beer with less particles and a strong visible vortex carbonation. Batch 1 has a stronger Belgian yeasty flavors and less astringent hoppiness with softer carbonation and a slightly thicker body. The 1st batch is nicer now than when it was fresh out of the brewery. It’s also more like the original keg rating. The 2nd batch bottled is least interesting of any of the samples, hopefully time will right it more. 8/4/7/3/15
Re-rate: Batch 1 (22 months), bottle leaked in transport a little bit so I opened up tonight, had no choice. Fortunately, no ill effects and it tastes amazing. Cellar aged since I bought it. Pours with a beautiful thick head that never goes away. A thick shining golden color. Aroma is beautifil sweet with yeasty beglian dough then a a sweet citric orange peel aspect thats very original. Taste is marmalade cookie with a long yeasty sweetnes that just lingers forever. Feel slike the hops have turned into a beautiful accompaniment to the yeast of the beer. This is truely amazing right now and much better than it has ever been in its history. Mouthfeel is a pillow thickness beautifully rolling off your cheeks. And after you swallow there is a rush of sweet citric cookie rusing back from your throught to your cheeks. My rating jumps now and I am saving this as the true rating. 9/5/9/4/17
Tried
from Draft
on 16 Dec 2006
at 22:30