Bottle@Lars - Hazed amber with a off white head. Sweet malty and yeasty, notes of dried fruit, some sweet icing sugar, red fruits, medium to full body, nice notes of spice into the lingering sweet finish.

Keg at Craft. Golden colour with small white head. Aroma is fruity and floral, very strong and a bit of funkiness. Taste is full on fruity nectar, apricot and peach, bit of b.o. hop that I didn't really get in the aroma. Slightly bitter finish, but full on fruit punch taste. Nice.

Bottle @ jbrus’s place. Pale golden color. Citrus and coreander in the aroma. Citrus, earthy and grassy hops in the flavor, matched by some coreander and grapefruit. Handsome beer, maybe a bit too perfumed.

Thuis uit een flesje, geschonken in een Karmeliet glas. Amberkleur, goed schuim. Aroma wat scherp, maar uitstekende smaak: zoet, bitter en een volle warme nasmaak.

Cloudy, quite bitter, but strong and balanced with great yeast and malt body. online belgian beer factory

Large bubbly white head stayed on a hazy light reddish brown still body. Stewing fruit, malt & caramel aroma. Medium to full body, carbonated on the front with a smoother creamy back & clean aft. Red berry, citrus, spices, pine, grass, hoppy, caramel & clove tastes.

Fľaška z drink shopu. Vôňa alkoholova sladkasta. Farba medova. Chuť alkoholova medova.

The Netherlands have been imitating Belgian tripels since the eighties but I have rarely encountered a really good one, so when I saw this listed at Willems (near Antwerp), I just had to give it a go. Tripel-ish beer by De Molen, tasted from an older bottle, three years old now and a month past its "best before" date... Thick, eggshell-white, intricately "Brugse kant"-like lacing, remarkably stable head remaining closed for the entire tasting session (33 cl); initially almost clear, deep amberish orange robe, darker than average for the intended style, shifting to a misty amber and eventually a brownish-tinged murky copper as more sediment goes into the bottle. Aroma clearly coloured by age, reminiscent of very old tripels I enjoyed at Kulminator many years ago, at the start of my beer tasting 'carreer': oxidation both in a 'noble' way (sweet white port) and in a less flattering, 'rusty iron' kind of way, marmalade, Grand Marnier, honey, carrot cake, old biscuit, poached pear, strawberry jam, moist white pepper, old ginger powder, cognac, sweetbread, pineapple candy. Sweet onset, very sweet even with a lot of residual, honeyish, white sugariness cloying a bit to the teeth; esteriness remains however limited to fig-, pear- and pineapple-like accents, with a deeper sourish touch below. Softish carb, very thick and viscous (certainly for style), oily mouthfeel, vinous in the end; oxidized caramelly, biscuity and honeyish sweet malt body with ongoing candied fruit aspects, leading to a confidently bittering finish involving a peppery, firm, bit resinous hop bitter aspect, some bready yeasty notes including phenolic effects but restrainedly so, candied orange peel flavours lingering and eventually a relatively astringent, heating, cognac- and rum-like alcohol effect. Oxidized malt aromas, with a light metallic side to it, linger a bit. Boozy, overly sweet tripel: De Molen has excelled at strong stouts and barleywines on countless occasions, but creating a pale blonde, strong ale that at the same time remains light and drinkable in the mouth, the key aspect of a tripel, is apparently not their forte. Granted, this bottle is too old, I should have rated it younger, but that thick, vinous, oily body must have been there when it was younger as well, as age only tends to thin out beers by coagulation of the proteins. Not a tripel any more than e.g. Bush Ambrée or Dolle's Stille Nacht are - and these examples spring to mind with good reason: this is, at best, a 'Belgian style barleywine' if such a thing exists. And if it doesn't, I believe this beer would better fit under the general barleywine category - but of course we need to respect brewer's intent, and in that respect, there clearly are a number of good arguments to call this a failure. That said: I did enjoy this 'bière de dégustation' quite a lot, honestly speaking, for its rich and generously aged bouquet and full, quite densely packed flavours, so I will not take 'truth to style' into account here and rate it as if it were intended as another variation on De Molen's barleywine themes. Very satiating, desserty sipper to be enjoyed sip by sip, in any case.