F: big, white, good retention. C: pale gold, light hazy. A: malt, grassy, floral, spicy, hint of caramel, white sugar, banana, yeast. T: malt, floral, grassy, sweet bread, spicy, white sugar, medium body, normal carbonation, not bad but not really enjoyed a bit boring to me, 0,33l bottle from Delhaize supermarket in Oostende.

Donkergeel bier met weinig schuim. Smaak is bitter hoppig en fris fruitig, licht zoet met iets van ananas, citrus en vanille.

33cl bottle from Bier Paleis, Brugge. Thick creamy white head. Hazy lemony golden pour. An ok triple.

Spiced tripel launched in 2004 to commemorate the siege of Ostend 400 years earlier during the Eighty Years’ War; I had it back then in Ostend and recall enjoying the renfair recreating the siege, but my rating was very concise (I did not write as elaborately about a beer back then as I do now) so with a few bottles stocked at home, I reckoned I could just as well revisit it and give it a 'full' rating twenty-one years later - because contrary to my expectations back then, it is still around today, and even got the company of a dubbel and a rouge version meanwhile. Inches thick, foamy, cobweb-lacing, snow white, rocky to even cauliflower-shaped head (ferrous head stabiliser for sure), slowly reducing but remaining very stable over a clear, pale yellow golden robe with a few disparate strings of sparkling, turning misty and deeper golden with sediment. Aroma of unripe banana, raw potato, coriander seed, strong added iron (the 'hand test' confirming without a shadow of a doubt), young 'graanjenever', green pear, some paprika powder, unsugared bubblegum, turmeric powder, freshly cut grass, raw Brussels sprouts (so not in a DMS kind of way), aspartame, raw white asparagus, white soap, industrial white cheese, moist sand, old bread, raw turnip, cumin. Sweetish onset with fruity aspects of green pear, unripe banana, unripe green melon and a touch of apple, not too sugary though, with a dim sourish touch underneath; the iron is fortunately less strong in the mouth than in the nose, but still exerts a metallic edge round a smooth, pale malt sweetish, grainy middle, with a mouthfeel that remains remarkably soft and velvety due to very 'fine' carbonation. Lots of iron but also lots of coriander powder in the finish, paired with floral hops that do add a long, but fairly mellow bitterness, in the end warmed only slightly by gin-like alcohol. Traces of old potatoes, unsugared bubblegum and unripe banana have accompanied this 'parcours' all the way and never seem to go away even after swallowing. I respect Strubbe for having remained an independent family operation for so many years (founded in 1830, the very year that the state of Belgium was founded) and there are a few things they are quite good at - oud bruin and tafelbier, most notably - but this is, all things considered, a rather meagre tripel, even more an 'edelbier' (Belgian strong blonde) of sorts, as if trying to imitate Duvel (including head formation and retention). I remember this beer being more 'pure' and soft - and less iron-like - when it first came out, but it seems that its commercial success had an impact on its quality in all those years. A 'tripel' - or edelbier - for the masses, trying to compete with the big boys and not minding to make a few shortcuts in order to achieve that goal, but not a remarkable or otherwise valuable beer for me, I am afraid - so no reason for me to adjust my rating here, which, as said, was based on very concise notes I wrote down in 2004... Talk about a waste of time and effort.