27 September 2021. At Cambrinus, Bruges. Cheers to Anke & my birthday!

Hazy orange, thinning, off-white head. Aroma of grain, biscuit, ripe plum, apricot jam, honey, banana peel, sweet whisky. Taste has sweet plum, apple & banana, estery profile but not exaggerated; biscuit-malty body with grainy edges, some bitter spices. Floral hoppy finish, phenolic, lots of ripe yellow fruits & warming whisky alcohol. Medium body, oily texture, average carbonation. Not a bad effort per se, but it's a bit too unsophisticatedly grainy.

Special edition of Stokhove's honey beer Triple Joe, infused with allegedly house-distilled 'raw' whisky... Bottle from Rotsaert. Off-white, medium thick, moussy, gradually opening head lacing with a few shards over a lightly misty, warm orange-hued apricot blonde with ochre-ish edges with a column of lively sparkles in the middle, turning misty peach with sediment. Aroma of indeed sweet whisky (or more bourbon-like actually), bubblegum, honey, canned peach, wet clay, raw pear juice, vanilla-ish oak wood (from the whisky I suppose), banana peel, plaster, old apple cake, petrichor. Sweet, spritzy, fruity onset, lots of lively carbonation, stinging and souring a bit, through banana, peach and pineapple esters introducing a slick, cereally and lightly caramelly malt sweetness, its sweetness heavily accentuated by a layer of honeyish residual sugars; spicy coriander note in the end, overwhelmed by the whisky, adding its typical spicy sweetness and hot booziness. Floral hops provide a finishing bitterness, but it too is secondary to the whisky, which in the end, after having accentuated the beer's inherent sweetness, becomes a bit wry and tiring, as is all too often the case in these liquor-infused tripels. Something clay- and soap-like lingers about in the end, even becoming a bit rubbery. I never had the basic beer but it clearly shines through here, its features only joined by this whisky effect but not structurally changed; it probably needs some improvement before being able to elegantly carry this whisky infusion and even then I think ageing it on an actual whisky barrel would be the right choice to make. Not my cup of tea: it remains a crude, sweet, boozy, mass-oriented tripel, all things considered.

Hazy blond colour, white foam. Nose of sweet malts, bread, lemon. Taste is malty, some cow fodder, quiet sweet also, light tart, bready. A bit unbalanced, not bad, not very good either.

Hazy amber colour, white foam. Nose of citrus, banana, peach, some whisky. Rather lively carbonation. Not much aroma, but when warming up a nice aroma of stone fruit, vanilla and whisky. Not very outspoken but a subtle and nice whisky BA tripel.

Bottle, 7%. Distinct Christmas cookie spice aroma. Clear deep red/chestnut colour. Small head. The flavour is vinous and a little watery. Some red berry. Warming alcohol with some alcohol bitterness. The flavour is less spicy than the aroma, but still good.

Bottle. Pours hazy dark ruby / copper brown with airy tan head. Clear aroma of fruit, malt, caramel and yeast, with spicy touches. Sweetish flavour of the same ingredients, with hoppy touches and distinct notes of cinnamon and cloves. Estery and malty aftertaste with touches of cloves and hops. Reasonable.

3/X/20 - 33cl bottle @ my nephew’s home, BB: IV/2023 (2020-954) Thanks to Thomas for this bottle!

GUSHER ALERT!
Slightly cloudy dark orange to beige amber beer, small creamy off-white head, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: very spicy, cardamom, fruity, bit sourish, apple skin, medicinal, Indian spices (garam masala), malty touch. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: very spicy start, cardamom, star anise, bit sourish, grains, yeasty, lots of spices. Aftertaste: more spices, bit sourish, infected? Very sharp, some kurkuma, pretty chemical, yeasty, musty, very spicy, a bit off, meh, not a big fan.

Bottle. Pours clear golden with stable off-white head. Clear aroma of malt, with estery notes and touches of flowers and caramel. Sweetish flavour of yeast, caramel malt and fruit, with mild, bitter touches of hops and hits of flowers. Malty and estery aftertaste. Well, a run-of-the mill triple. Not bad but nothing special, either.

Bottle, 8.6%. Dusty and slightly bready aroma. Almost clear dark golden colour. Unstable white head. The flavour is vinous, slightly sweet. Has a spicy hop note and a hint of metal.