Tripel flavoured with three very exotic ingredients (certainly for this style): kumquat, mango and chili peppers. Can from the Albert Heijn supermarket in Lokeren. Busily cobweb-lacing, greyish off-white, large-bubbled, medium thick, breaking but edge-retaining head on a crystal clear, warm 'old golden' robe with peachy-orangey glow. Aroma of candyfloss, bubblegum, mango 'jenever' rather than true mango, Pisang Ambon banana liqueur, granulated sugar, marmalade which I suppose is the kumquat but again in a rather 'industrial' and extract-like way, industrial apple cake, indeed a whiff of chili flakes, leftover dough, honey, melon, iron, slight hint of heated cereals (toast but in a non-natural, 'stressed' way). Sweet, 'dead' onset, very clean and streamlined, low in esters with primarily that added mango extract dominating along with very strong isoamylacetate (banana) and a hint of, perhaps, strawberry (again, industrially speaking); rounded, slick body, sharpishly carbonated, with the bubblegumminess of the isoamylacetate continuing unabatedly, over a hot-malt middle without much complexity - instead behaving like the umpteenth mass-produced cereally and candi syrup-enhanced Belgian tripel from some very 'commercial' macro brewery. The mango effect - feeling fake from the start - begins to fade as the banana ester holds strong; it has been roughly thirty years since I last ate a kumquat, but I can tell you that its flavours are not believably present here, instead it only adds a generic citrus pith bitterness which could have been achieved by anything similar as well. This bitterness is further reinforced by dull, leafy, 'clean' hops (hop oil) and I guess I can feel a touch of chili heat in the very end, but it remains relatively mild (at least to a capsaicin-accustomed palate like mine). What bothers me more in the last stage, are a metallic note and - much more prominent - a hot and peppery, crude, cheap wodka-like booziness. The sweetness of the banana ester and the mango extract linger, as does this mild chili heat. I never like these Stadshaven beers, aiming at the masses with their industrial concoctions trying to be cool, and this is no exception: admittedly it posits an interesting argument in that Belgian tripel is in dire need of innovation, but the basic beer is so bland, sweet, metallic, simplistic, short-cut and industrial that the execution of this idea, quite clearly with extracts rather than natural ingredients to add insult to injury, has resulted in something rather harsh, superficial and gimmicky without any serious base. This tastes like godforsaken supermarket tripels 'à la' Grimbergen Tripel or - nowadays - Tripel Karmeliet, but with a few industrial flavourings thrown in, and that is essentially what this is. Far from great - but imagine an artisanal Belgian or Dutch brewer, who has already developed a solid tripel 'the right way', throwing in actual mango, kumquat and chili pepper... Plagiarism, Stadshaven would say, but nobody in the craft beer world would care if the result turned out to be exactly the level of innovation the worn-out tripel style seems to need today.

Bottle 0,33 ltr: Clear golden coloured brew with an sweet bitter with some sourness, hints of tropical fruits, mango and spices. Honestly I never eat an kumquat, but I think it's gives the sour taste.

Õlle on selline jook, et iga uus kord kui klaasi või pudeli suule tõstad, siis leiad midagi uut, sõltuvalt tuhandest-miljonist pisiasjast, mis hetke olukorda mõjutavad. Seega piirdun iga õlle juures selle tekstiga.

33cl bottle in Haus der 100 Biere, Berlin on 1st October 2024. Golden pour, slight mistiness as the final drop left the bottle and brought some sediment out with it, wispy white affair on top. Liked the bottle label, beer was OK too. Malty and semi-sweet front, some herbal action but very little hop content.

Bottle, 8.5%. Fruity aroma, hay, grass, clove. Cloudy yellow colour. Good stable white head. The flavour is malty and nicely spicy. Creamy mouthfeel. Clove finish. Good warming alcohol, slightly peppery. Very well-balanced. An excellent tripel.

Creamy white good mostly lasting head. Yellow colour. Moderate malty and hoppy and light yeasty aroma. Moderate bitter flavor. Average moderate bitter finish. Oily palate.

Bottled 330ml (Maxima XX, Kuressaare)
Golden, a bit cloudy colour, small white head. Aroma has riped fruits, pear, pepper and alcohol. Medium-bodied. Flavour has banana, white pepper, Belgian tripel yeast flavours and alcohol. Better than expected supermarket tripel.

Opalescent dark golden to bright amber colour, minimal off-white lacing; aroma and taste of tangerine, orange, slight mango, floral, grainy, some grape and apple notes; good one