(33 cl bottle). Enormous lasting head, cloudy brown colour. Lovely aroma of oak, leather and spices. Well balanced spicy flavour, slightly bitter finish. Aftertaste could have lasted a bit longer, but this is still a thoroughly well made beer.

Dark amber color, creamy head. Nice aroma of malt and hop. Very good body, malty, robust bitterness; long final, not enough aromatic; a pleasure for your taste buds!

Keg
It's the only Trappist beer available in kegs (and I don't understand what's the need for that). It's good but not mature nor enough hoppy; it's a bit metallic and doesn't have enough character. [7-5-6-4-13]

I didn't fancy to be the 161th of rating this beer. So I collected a brand-new 33cl bottle from the shop (BBd:01/05), a 75cl bottle from '99 (bbd: 12/04), 1 1/2 yr. in my cellar, and the oldest bottle I could find there: a, yet unlabeled, 33cl, bought 8/87 for 30 BEF (1Eur=40.34 BEF). Unless otherwise indicated, the tabel-marks are from the youngest bottle. Colour '02:golden with slight orangey shine. Thick, white-creamy head, lacy, collapsing. '99:much finer head, stable, colour ident. '87: (dark8)amber; fine, small head, larger bubbles. Nose: '02: grain, chaff, chalk, malts - not only pale - candi (?) -by warming: more hops; '99: much more worts, typical brewery-smell- yeasty and grains by warmingup (8p) '87: some grains, but lots of port&madeira notes (9p). taste: '02: first hops, but then unpleasant taste of scorched sugar, disappears to leave sweet taste and bitterness, more hoppy, at mouthsides. English hops? '99: sweeter. definitely some oxidation (biscuit-madeira) but retronasal quite hoppy and dry (8p) '87: very fine port&walnut aroma, more sweet than '02, but sweetness strengthened by portarom. Still a lot of bitterness (9p) Mouthfeel '02: quite chewy, strong hint of alcohol. Aftertaste more bitterness. '99: more creamy, and fine CO2 gives champenoise - Alcohol more masked. Creaminess gives less sharp aftertaste (4p) '87 mouthfeel chewy, syrupy, oily, not cloying. Esters and even higher alcohols give much more balanced finish (5p) Overall : '02 lacks finesse, compared to the other two, but certainly to the '87 ('99:17p '87:19p)

2024-08-21, 75cl corked bottle, vintage 1999, 25 years old, 6-4-7-3-12=32
Some carbonation when opening the cork, it doesn't seem too carbonated when pouring though; beautiful colour, clean and bright, amber; small head. Some malt aroma, light honey. It lost most character, it falls flat on the palate, there's some honey, and some oxidation; the alcohol is quite hot; notes of sweet liquorice. Despite 75cl bottles being stronger, this one didn't survive well.

2022-02-01, bottled 08/10/2020, bb 08/10/2022, batch 6 1037, 8-5-8-4-16=41
Hazy blond colour, with majestic head. Gentle aroma of malt, Belgian yeast, fennel, it's sweet. Full bodies, fairly sweet, good malt base, powerful yeast character, it's moderately spicy; the alcohol is a bit too evident, but balanced by the sweetness; correct bitterness. I prefer the first half, without much sediment transfer.
Excellent.

2003-01-16, aged 3 years, 9-5-8-5-19=46
Hazy golden-brownish-amber color; beautiful lace.
Malty, lightly fruity aroma; flowery hop, developing in a wonderful way as the beer gets warmer in the glass; light, fragrant bread. Delicate and complex.
Full body, smooth, warming, a bit alcoholic; not syrupy but almost sweetish Tripel, with a lot of malt, light fudge; harmonious.
Very good, classic final, with fine old hops; equilibrated, persistent.
A wonderful example of Tripel.

This beer has the typical dubbel features: its appearance is nice dark and it has sweet taste. I quite like this Westmalle version of our beloved dubbel beers! When i opened the bottle there was a nice top of foam on the bottle, which looked so nice, appearance was worth a 5!

Perfect golden color, with beautiful thick creamy lasting head. High carbonation. Aroma of spices, grain. Good spicy, grainy taste, with some orange and citrus, soft but a bit alcoholic. Only slightly alcoholic bit dry palate. Like the Karmeliet Tripel, this is a more grainy tripel, very good though.

Bottle Blond, clear body. White, creamy head. Nose of sweet malts (straw and sirupes). Moderately bitter, moderately sweet initial flavour. Lightly sweet, moderately bitter finish. A very well-balanced beer. One of my all-time favourites to drink now and then.