6.8

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6.5

Hefty tripel commissioned by Gino Mannaert, former proprietor of the Mangini's Cafeeken in Kerksken, a village about five miles southwest of Aalst. Named after his dog (who also graces the front label), this is apparently already the third Mangini beer he has commissioned, of which the second one was also named after... one of his other dogs. Oddly, the guy has explicitly declared that he himself is not a beer lover - he prefers other beverages over beer, which raises suspicion to say the least... Very thick and foamy, yellowish egg-white, very dense and creamy, pillowy, membrane-lacing head over an initially clear, warm orange-blonde beer with deep old golden hue, misty and a bit deeper orange with sediment (almost tilting towards amber), and lots of enthusiastic sparkling. Aroma of freshly baked croissants, 'oude graanjenever', raw parsnip, coriander seed, halfripe peach, toasted pine nuts, warm 'roux', dried rosemary, red apple peel, some banana, glazed carrots, clove, moist white pepper, hints of dusty old 'herbes de Provençe', pear, old dried orange peel (curaçao?) and juniper berries. Sweet onset but not too sticky, rather honeyish, envelopping impressions of ripe pear, candied orange and baked banana, with active, minerally carbonation distracting a bit from the actual flavours. A rounded, white candi syrup-filled, thinly biscuity maltiness ensues, upon which this honeyish residual sweetness heavily weighs; a very light toastiness (as in toasted pine nuts) is noticeable, but sweetness remains the dominant factor, adorned by clove- and thyme-like phenols and floral hop bitter notes in the end. Coriander seed, silently present from the start, comes to full development at this stage too. Unsurprisingly though, a 'jenever'-like alcohol effect sets in a few stages too early, creating a rather wry finish in which sweetness is still the main factor. Rather crude, overly sweet and boozy tripel, lacking in finesse and elegance - very reminiscent of the very similar Piraat 10.5 by Van Steenberge, which may have served as a source of inspiration here. Taking the ABV down to, say, 8% would perhaps improve this brew a lot already, but even then I think it would still generally feel like a boozy, coriandered, sugary tripel; maybe considering another executing brewery to do the job could lead to more satisfying results as well. Not something to travel all the way to Dendermonde for - a coffee bar there, often frequented by the commissioner, is allegedly the only place where one can obtain this beer. Nonetheless: cheers to Bazieleke (the dog)!