Rubbens, a 'jenever' distillery dating back to the 19th century, has recently taken up beer brewing as a means of generating extra revenue - probably responding to the artisanal beer hype - and could not have chosen a more beaten track, with a blonde, a dubbel and this tripel. Steinie bottle from the local Delhaize supermarket in Zele, which is where Rubbens began (they moved to Wichelen in 2009). Thick and frothy, irregularly cobweb-lacing, egg-white, uneven-bubbled but firm and stable head atop an initially clear, warm and pure golden blonde beer with 'old gold' tinge and lots of visible sparkling, turning misty and more peachy with the yeast deposit added. Aroma of ripe banana, brioche bread, pear, some pineapple, honey, sweetclover, camomile tea, hints of lavender-scented bubble bath, mint even, cooked carrot and - of course - 'graanjenever'. Sweetish, fruity onset, pronounced banana ester but not to the point where it becomes annoyingly bubblegummy, side notes of pear, red apple and peach, sharp carbonation with some numbing effect and strong minerality associated with it; sweet white-bready, soft maltiness with a layer of residual honeyish sugariness on top, carrying the banana ester onwards to a warming finish where hop bitterness, though thinly lingering for a while, remains gentle and floral, spicy phenols appear but do not become too dominant and 'jenever'- to even slightly calvados-like alcohol warms the throat. The alcohol could have been better hidden at this ABV and the overall flavour profile is clearly on the sweet side of tripel with just a bit too much banana and sugariness for me, insufficiently balanced by hop bitterness, which is kept at rather 'basic' levels - but that said, compared with a few other new tripels I had yesterday evening, this is a relatively solid one, at the same time adding absolutely nothing new to this overexposed category.

33cl bottle from Prik&Tik Kampenhout, Belgium. F: medium, off-white, good retention. C: gold, hazy. A: malty, bit orange, honey, banana, red apples peels, spicy touch. T: full malty base, banana, red apples peels, bready, spicy, hay touch, decent bitterness, soft carbonation, ok for the style but nothing memorable.

Very light hazy blond colour, white foam. A bit sweet, a bit citrussy, light bitter hoppy finish. Good and well made classic Belgian tripel.