Baltic Tripel

Bottle.Clear golden colour with off white head.Aroma of spices and citrus lively mouthfeels and fresh,with flavors of yeast and hops,medium body and sweet dry finish.

Bottle 330ml. @ home. [ As Insel-Brauerei Baltic Tripel ].[ Trade by Beerhunter111 ]. Clear medium orange yellow colour with a large, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, white head. Aroma is moderate malty, pale malt, fruity malt, light to moderate hoppy, citrus, moderate yeasty, fruity yeast, citric, anis seed, bubble gum. Flavor is moderate sweet and light bitter with a long duration, pale malt, fruity malt, belgium yeast, anis seed, bubble gum, light citrus. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft. [20170413] 7-3-7-3-13

German tripel - a very rare phenomenon to begin with - from an Albert Heijn supermarket; like the others in this series, bottle is wrapped in paper. Thick, moussy, snow white, regularly shaped, stable head remaining closed for a long time, on top of a clear ’old gold’ coloured beer with olive greenish tinge, a bit warmer orangey and lightly hazy with sediment. Aroma of banana, camomile, straw, bubblegum, apple juice, hard unripe pear, old dried ginger powder, yellow plum, gooseberry, glue, soapy coriander, cloves, dust. Spritzy onset, very fizzy carbonation, sweet fruity esters with banana isoamylacetate as the main player, hints of apple, gooseberry and pear, sourish counterbalance but white candi sugary sweetness dominates; the carbonation numbs the tongue and coarsens an otherwise smooth, bit oily mouthfeel. Creamy, lightly caramelly and bready, bit honeyish malt sweetness in the middle, while the banana and white sugary sweetness linger on top and spicy phenols grow in intensity, becoming clove-like and matching with a dash of coriander seed in the end; finish extends the banana and malt sweetness but adds a spicy, earthy, grassy hop bitterness providing some balance. Gin-like alcohol is very palpable long before that and eventually becomes too obtrusive, adding both a lot of stinging ’heat’ at the back and a wry, tiring sensation on the root of the tongue. Feels quite ’Belgian’ and fits all the classic properties of a tripel; like the dubbel in this series, I am surprised that a German brewery can make beers that are so thoroughly Belgian in their make-up, and not only can, but wants to. Decent enough, in all, but lacking in subtlety, overcarbonated, too banana estery even for this style and way too alcoholic (or, better put: alcohol should have been better hidden, as is the case in the equally strong ’mother of all tripels’ made by the monks at Westmalle). Still enjoyable though, if you like this style. Still pondering about what could be so ’Baltic’ about this, too...

Bottle from Getränke-Quelle, Ilsenburg. Clear yellow with a white head. Aroma is dry, malty, star anise and light citrus. Flavor is quite sweet and moderate bitter. Sweet and moderate bitter finish with some alcohol. 100417

Bottle at home, golden beer, small head. Aroma is malt, fruit, yeast, spices?. Taste is the same, sweet with some bitterness.

01-01-17 // bottle shared. Hazy yellow beer, small white head. Light malty body, light yeasty, some fruits. Not like a typical Belgian tripel, bit weaker.

bottle from Heinrichs 3000. Hazy golden with a tall fluffy head. Malty-sweet with a sourish fruity touch, lemonade-like sweet fizzyness.

Bottle, 9.5%. OK refreshing aroma, mildly spicy. Almost clear golden colour. Small stable white head. The flavour is wheaty and slightly spicy. Has a dry finish, almost cidery, perhaps too much sugar in the brew? Good mouthfeel. Quite close to an authentic tripel.