7/I/22 - 50cl bottle @ Wim VL’s place, BB: 19/XI/23 (2022-34) Thanks to Wim VL and Joeri DM for sharing the bottle!

Clear orange beer, small creamy off-white head, unstable, falls down quickly, non adhesive. Aroma: sweeter than the Euphrosyne, lots of banana, ripe sweet banana, some alcohol, more alcohol, vanilla, bit malty. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: lots of alcohol, bit sourish, vanilla, more fusels, whisky notes, volatile, little bitter, floral. Aftertaste: alcohol, oxidized, bit voozy, orange peel, way less yeasty, little bitter, vanilla, boozy, bit thin, alcohol burn, bit minty, spicy, complex, good one!

The bourbon (Heaven Hill) barrel aged one in a new series of three variants on the same theme, a theme named after the Charites from Greek mythology, three sisters usually considered daughters of Zeus (though alternative versions exist); the set consists of a basic tripel brewed especially for the occasion, the same tripel infused with Heaven Hill bourbon, and again the same tripel aged on Heaven Hill barrels. The last one was brewed at Stanium in Beveren, the other two at Zwarte Bron in Sint-Pauwels, about eight miles to the west of Beveren. All three are bottled in 50 cl bottles and labelled with a painting by Vincent van Eeden on the front, but adding the name of the individual beer (or, in this case, 'Grace') to that same front side would have been helpful in my opinion - now you will have to search for it in the small print somewhere in the lower left corner... Other than that, the sexual innuendo in the name is hard to ignore when a naked lady is depicted upfront, not to mention the introduction to the specific beer, also in that lower left corner; this is, if I am honest, an 'undertone' I do not necessarily need to associate with beer, and which may in fact be interpreted as a bit offensive by some (but who am I to judge - I'm just here for the beer...). Anyway, this Thalia shows a medium sized, off-white, tiny-bubbled, opening but otherwise largely retaining head on an initially crystal clear, orange- and even slightly amberish-tinged peach blonde beer with a whirlwind of delicately tiny bubbles rushing upwards, sustaining the head; shifts to a deep bronze-tinged orange with subtly darkish tone (from the wood, no doubt) when the sediment is added. Pronounced aroma of peaches soaked in cognac, indeed very clear bourbon (a tad too dominant perhaps), vanilla-like wet oak wood, honey liqueur, brioche bread, fried sweet apples, cooked mango, hints of lychee, paraffin wax, strawberry wine, stewed carrots, dusty old wooden shelves, white soap, 'graanjenever', leftover cake dough. Sweet and fruity onset, colourful ripe pear, ripe apricot and red apple with hints of strawberry and banana in the background, lively effervescence in a refined, 'small-bubbled' way, with full but smooth, rounded mouthfeel; residual, honeyish sweetness lies a soft blanket over a brioche-bready, slightly caramelly maltiness, while the bourbon meanwhile gains momentum, accentuating the overall sweetness in the process. Clear woodiness graces the finish, releasing its retronasal loveliness of vanilla-like 'old charm' to the full; meanwhile caramelly and honeyish sweetness unabatedly continues well into the end, with only a faint floral hoppiness adding a brief touch of bitterness. The Heaven Hill, however, has become very strong in the meantime, to the point where it takes over from the beer almost completely, with everything normally associated with liquor (including a heating feeling in the chest after swallowing and an astringent effect on the root of the tongue). Starts off in a very refined way with a colourful and expressive nose and a focused, liqueurish flavour profile, but the bourbon gets a bit too strong in the end for me - I do not normally like very obvious booziness in a beer, and in a pale beer like a tripel this effect will always be more obvious than in e.g. a strong, thick stout (which I remain convinced may have been a better style choice for experimenting with bourbon, but that is obviously beside the point). A bit more bitterness from either malts or hops could have added balance and structure, though, even without having to lose the tripel genre intentions, but I do get the idea of combining tripel with bourbon - I have argued before in my ratings here that tripel is a genre still open for improvement and 'craft beer style' elaboration, and in spite of this beer being a tad too sweet and boozy for me personally, there is no denying that it is a step in the right direction, even if it is by no means the first or only bourbon barrel aged tripel. I understand from the label that I will be tasting this series in reverse order, but I think I did well by doing so: if the bourbon is too present for me in this one, I assume it will be far less 'pushy' in the other two so this exploration of the Graces can only improve for me. As for this Thalia version: I advise to cellar it for another half year at least (preferably longer), as I am convinced that it will only mellow and improve with age. Interesting one, all things considered, so cheers to Jan, Joeri and Wim!