Keyte 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.

Hazy golden colour, nice frothy white head, good lacing. Sweet malty nose, bread, ginger, coriander, citrus, orange peel. Medium sweet and bitter taste, bit spicy. Medium body, creamy texture. A bit more more bitterness in the sweetbitter finish, spicy/pepperish on the tongue.

Ins Glas ergießt sich ein trübes goldenes Bier mit schöner Schaumkrone. Geruch malzig süß, alkoholisch, Nüsse, Früchte. Geschmack sehr süß malzig, dunkle Früchte, hefig, leicht alkoholisch.

Flat triple with decent notes of grain and hop, but with an unpleasent metallic aftertaste.

330 ml bottle. Pours a light gold with full head and fair carbonation. Aromas of roasted malts, candied fruit, honey, and light yeast/esters. Almost meaty. Flavors of honey, peaches, toasted malts and candy.

33 cl. bottle @ home as Keyte Osténdse Triple. Procured from Willems. BBF 04/11/2014 @ apparently 09:37 :) Pours a marketable big brewery, rising bubbles golden with a creamy white head. Nose is typical bigger brewery sized fare of grass, floral bitter notes with some white bread sweetness, almost hint of butter, white sugar, sweet grains with alcohol coming through. Bitter taste with overt notes of medicinal alcohol, cheap hooch style with plenty of grains, grass, bitter Belgian floral notes, white bread and white sugar sweetness. The alcohol comes through to much in a cheap white spirit type of way reminding me a bit too much of cheap hobo swill. Mouth feel is all bubbly like champagne. Typical fare with a nice factory drunkenness assistant flourish to it. I agree.

Drank as keyte tripel ( bottle in the picture) best before 4 days from now , yes ! Nailed it ! Still at its best ! Pours guzze blonde , rather small foam , regular stability Smell is kinda aged ... Malts , a strange twist of intresting sweetness Again , to much carbo ! Damned ! Intresting sweet malty taste . Kinda common , no real diffrence than so many other belgian blonds . But i do enjoy this slightly more .. ( the moment ? The palate ? ) anyway worthy of drinking , not searching

29th November 2011
Noted as Oostende Tripel - which is what it says on the label and this RB picture!! Hazy pale gold beer with a little white head. Softish palate with a little carbonated nip. Semi dry. Typical sweet and spicy malts. Semi dry finish. Standard tripel but done well.

330ml bottle [Oosténdse Tripel, 7.7% abv]. Clear dark golden colour with average, frothy, fairly lasting, minimally lacing, white head. Unspecific fruity and minimally spicy aroma, roughly grapes, gooseberry. Taste is minimally sweet, slightly tart fruity, minimally spicy, a touch of straw.

Update 24 Sept ’12: Rating from bottle

Rating from tap
Golden colour, white head. Aroma of sewer, overpowering anything nice. Quite sweet flavour, light sour, lots of butter. Finish sewerage, standing water, butter.
Appalling, especially when compared with the bottled version. Has the Keyte-tap been cleaned this century @ Botteltje?
(Draught @ Botteltje, Oostende)
3-3-4-2-8. Total score: 2

Rating from bottle
Clear golden colour, white head. Aroma of citrus, malts, sweet fruity, light banana, quite spicy. Quite sweet, light bitter flavour. Fruity. Light bitter finish, citrus and herbs.
Much, much better than the draught version I had before.
(From 75cL bottle @ Café ’t Pomptje, Stene, Oostende)