Bottle at 't Mouterijtje Kortrijk. Hazy gold colour lasting white head. Now that is interesting somewhere between a tripel and a hoppy blond. Spicy yes. Tangerine flavour. Tasty . I've had a few tripels today and this ranks up there. Decent . Ticks all the boxes

Bottle at home. A bit unclear orangy color, medium sized white head. Aroma is quite faint. Maybe some floral notes but that's it. Flavor is also a bit faint and a bit sweet. Not much more there tbh. Decent beer though.

Rum-, apple-, banana- and caramel-flavoured (!) 'tripel' brewed for the fifth anniversary of artists collective SYL Wevelgem at De Feniks (something the label mysteriously forgets to mention); this bottle, with its rather conspicuous label, has been standing in my collection for many months now so I have no idea where I bought it. Thick and frothy, egg-white, very intricately Brugse kant-like lacing, very mousy and stable head; misty deep golden blonde robe with a 'fog' of yeast dots equally divided over the whole, perturbed by enthusiastic strings of sparkling. Aroma of banana bread (and this time the , sweet white rum with an even coconut-like touch to it, sweaty Camembert cheese or even sweaty feet in the background, pineapple, Paschka, apricot jam, ripe Doyenné pear, caramel syrup indeed (effectively used apparently), homemade apple sauce and even warm apple cake (and indeed apple is used here as well), sweetclover, cream. Evidently fruity onset, where banana ester mingles with an actual (dried) banana accent but is overridden by a clearly stronger sweet ripe apple presence, covering 'lower' hints of pineapple and peach as well; sharply carbonated, unfortunately distracting a bit from the actual flavour (an issue De Feniks needs to deal with, I think, because it is not the first time I encounter this in their beers). Soft and 'fluffy' bready malt base with a cereally core but thickened by residual sweetness (honeyish - but primarily the caramel in this particular case) which lasts till deep into the finish, verging on the brink of becoming sticky; spicy, floral finish, adding vague elements of coriander seed and basil, while this warming, sweetish rum effect increases, making for a booziness that eventually becomes a tad too strong for a beer below 8% ABV. Strong carbonation maintains its strangehold until the finish too, somewhat drawing down the attention from the wry effect established by the rum; sweet apple, spice and leafy-bitter hop effects linger beyond that, but the rum remains annoyingly present till the last drop. Weird combo of flavours here: basically a sweet tripel pimped with less obvious ingredients, something I will always remain wary about especially in Belgian ales; it admittedly does deliver everything it contains in its aroma and flavour: the banana, the apple, the caramel and the rum are all noticeable, even if I personally would have left out the latter. Overcarbonated and too boozy even for a tripel, but I cannot deny that it is at least original, so I hope the SYL people were happy with it. I am not completely unhappy, but expected more, this is a bit crude and could do with some more subtlety - isn't Feniks a little bit overrated among Belgian beer lovers? Just asking... --- Beer merged from original tick of Sylluminati on 11 Nov 2020 at 00:14 - Score: Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6. Original review text: Rum-, apple-, banana- and caramel-flavoured (!) 'tripel' brewed for the fifth anniversary of artists collective SYL Wevelgem at Gulden Spoor (something the label mysteriously forgets to mention - and which is practically the same as De Feniks these days, so I will not make a fuss about its brewery classification here); this bottle, with its rather conspicuous label, has been standing in my collection for many months now so I have no idea where I bought it. Thick and frothy, egg-white, very intricately Brugse kant-like lacing, very mousy and stable head; misty deep golden blonde robe with a 'fog' of yeast dots equally divided over the whole, perturbed by enthusiastic strings of sparkling. Aroma of banana bread (and this time the , sweet white rum with an even coconut-like touch to it, sweaty Camembert cheese or even sweaty feet in the background, pineapple, Paschka, apricot jam, ripe Doyenné pear, caramel syrup indeed (effectively used apparently), homemade apple sauce and even warm apple cake (and indeed apple is used here as well), sweetclover, cream. Evidently fruity onset, where banana ester mingles with an actual (dried) banana accent but is overridden by a clearly stronger sweet ripe apple presence, covering 'lower' hints of pineapple and peach as well; sharply carbonated, unfortunately distracting a bit from the actual flavour (an issue De Feniks needs to deal with, I think, because it is not the first time I encounter this in their beers). Soft and 'fluffy' bready malt base with a cereally core but thickened by residual sweetness (honeyish - but primarily the caramel in this particular case) which lasts till deep into the finish, verging on the brink of becoming sticky; spicy, floral finish, adding vague elements of coriander seed and basil, while this warming, sweetish rum effect increases, making for a booziness that eventually becomes a tad too strong for a beer below 8% ABV. Strong carbonation maintains its strangehold until the finish too, somewhat drawing down the attention from the wry effect established by the rum; sweet apple, spice and leafy-bitter hop effects linger beyond that, but the rum remains annoyingly present till the last drop. Weird combo of flavours here: basically a sweet tripel pimped with less obvious ingredients, something I will always remain wary about especially in Belgian ales; it admittedly does deliver everything it contains in its aroma and flavour: the banana, the apple, the caramel and the rum are all noticeable, even if I personally would have left out the latter. Overcarbonated and too boozy even for a tripel, but I cannot deny that it is at least original, so I hope the SYL people were happy with it. I am not completely unhappy, but expected more, this is a bit crude and could do with some more subtlety.