The bourbon (Heaven Hill) barrel aged one in a new series of three variants on the same theme, a theme named after the Charites from Greek mythology, three sisters usually considered daughters of Zeus (though alternative versions exist); the set consists of a basic tripel brewed especially for the occasion, the same tripel infused with Heaven Hill bourbon, and again the same tripel aged on Heaven Hill barrels. The last one was brewed at Stanium in Beveren, the other two at Zwarte Bron in Sint-Pauwels, about eight miles to the west of Beveren. All three are bottled in 50 cl bottles and labelled with a painting by Vincent van Eeden on the front, but adding the name of the individual beer (or, in this case, 'Grace') to that same front side would have been helpful in my opinion - now you will have to search for it in the small print somewhere in the lower left corner... Other than that, the sexual innuendo in the name is hard to ignore when a naked lady is depicted upfront, not to mention the introduction to the specific beer, also in that lower left corner; this is, if I am honest, an 'undertone' I do not necessarily need to associate with beer, and which may in fact be interpreted as a bit offensive by some (but who am I to judge - I'm just here for the beer...). Anyway, this Thalia shows a medium sized, off-white, tiny-bubbled, opening but otherwise largely retaining head on an initially crystal clear, orange- and even slightly amberish-tinged peach blonde beer with a whirlwind of delicately tiny bubbles rushing upwards, sustaining the head; shifts to a deep bronze-tinged orange with subtly darkish tone (from the wood, no doubt) when the sediment is added. Pronounced aroma of peaches soaked in cognac, indeed very clear bourbon (a tad too dominant perhaps), vanilla-like wet oak wood, honey liqueur, brioche bread, fried sweet apples, cooked mango, hints of lychee, paraffin wax, strawberry wine, stewed carrots, dusty old wooden shelves, white soap, 'graanjenever', leftover cake dough. Sweet and fruity onset, colourful ripe pear, ripe apricot and red apple with hints of strawberry and banana in the background, lively effervescence in a refined, 'small-bubbled' way, with full but smooth, rounded mouthfeel; residual, honeyish sweetness lies a soft blanket over a brioche-bready, slightly caramelly maltiness, while the bourbon meanwhile gains momentum, accentuating the overall sweetness in the process. Clear woodiness graces the finish, releasing its retronasal loveliness of vanilla-like 'old charm' to the full; meanwhile caramelly and honeyish sweetness unabatedly continues well into the end, with only a faint floral hoppiness adding a brief touch of bitterness. The Heaven Hill, however, has become very strong in the meantime, to the point where it takes over from the beer almost completely, with everything normally associated with liquor (including a heating feeling in the chest after swallowing and an astringent effect on the root of the tongue). Starts off in a very refined way with a colourful and expressive nose and a focused, liqueurish flavour profile, but the bourbon gets a bit too strong in the end for me - I do not normally like very obvious booziness in a beer, and in a pale beer like a tripel this effect will always be more obvious than in e.g. a strong, thick stout (which I remain convinced may have been a better style choice for experimenting with bourbon, but that is obviously beside the point). A bit more bitterness from either malts or hops could have added balance and structure, though, even without having to lose the tripel genre intentions, but I do get the idea of combining tripel with bourbon - I have argued before in my ratings here that tripel is a genre still open for improvement and 'craft beer style' elaboration, and in spite of this beer being a tad too sweet and boozy for me personally, there is no denying that it is a step in the right direction, even if it is by no means the first or only bourbon barrel aged tripel. I understand from the label that I will be tasting this series in reverse order, but I think I did well by doing so: if the bourbon is too present for me in this one, I assume it will be far less 'pushy' in the other two so this exploration of the Graces can only improve for me. As for this Thalia version: I advise to cellar it for another half year at least (preferably longer), as I am convinced that it will only mellow and improve with age. Interesting one, all things considered, so cheers to Jan, Joeri and Wim!

Medium, light yellow head, fed by fine pearling in cold hazed metallic orange beer. Alcohol nose, white candi sugar, caramel, sharp-ish greenery smell. Again this sharp, scorched sugar flavour, reminiscent of Huyghe brews. Again green leaves, not (very) sweet caramel. Dry. Good carbonation, bit slick but dry throughout into the long aftertaste. Harsh.

Muddy reddish dark beer with a medium, irregular cream head. Dark bread, caramel, faint roast, breadcrust, hints at fortified wine. Bit roast in the taste, and dark candi sugar; almonds - both sweet and bitter - syrup from fruit (sirop de Liège) is traceable. Very lean body, certainly for a beer dubbed quadruple. The candi sugar... Get rid of the sugar, and beef up the body - and it will only better.

Bottle from Hopduvel. Hazy dark amber, small, foamy, off-white head; some lacing. Aroma of plum, pear, biscuit, cake, peanut, tea leaves, grapefruit peel, olive oil, orange peel. Taste has sweet pear, apple & melon in a biscuit-malty body, a bit nutty; spicy middle with grapefruit peel, herbs, spicy yeast. Piney, resinous hoppy finish, dank fruit (ripe grapefruit, citrus peel) lingering, touch of warming spicy gin-like alcohol. Medium body, oily texture, average carbonation. Good stuff, indeed very original a brew to Belgian standards.

De Zwarte Bron brewery, having risen from the ashes of the Weerspannige Brouwers, has a number of old recipes to look back on, including a West Coast style DIPA named Fire Your Johnson, which I personally considered the best of Weerspannige's brews - and I had literally all of those. I was therefore looking forward to the return of this beer, even with slightly altered recipe, as executed by the same brewer, but in his own Zwarte Bron brewery. Sampled at Gents Bierfestival. Egg-white, frothy, breaking but generally well-retaining head on a misty orange-glowing peach blonde beer. Aroma of half dry biscuit, fried red onion, orange peel, kumquat, freshly cut fennel, unripe mango, green melon, white pepper, herb cheese hint faraway. Fruity onset in a rather clean way, notes of unripe mango and melon again, green banana, sweetish but not overly so, with fizzy and minerally carbonation and full, slightly oily mouthfeel; dry rusk- and old cracker-like, bit peanutty maltiness, supporting a long citrus pith- and wormwood-like, peppery hop bitterness with aspects of moldy orange peel, frying onion and olive oil retronasally - but refreshingly so, in combination with that ongoing 'crystalline' carbonation. Confidently bittered, clean and powerful: indeed reminiscent of the original Weerspannige version, but perhaps a tad less bright and aromatic. Whatever the case, there are not too many West Coast style DIPAs made in Belgium, so this one absolutely deserves its place in the contemporary craft brewing landscape of this country - I have had enough of that whole 'haze craze' for quite a while anyway.

This Corbi-Art story is getting a bit confusing perhaps, so allow me to resume: the original version was brewed by Weerspannige Brouwers until 2016 when this brewery ceased to exist, then Zwarte Bron was erected by one of the two brewers and commissioned a new version of this beer at BeerSelect in Ghent, and now that same Zwarte Bron started to brew Corbi-Art again, but in its own kettles in Sint-Pauwels. In order to distinguish this own-brewed version from the BeerSelect version, the brewer decided to add Vintage to the name of the former, indicating that this one is supposed to be closer to the original Weerspannige recipe than the BeerSelect version was. So three versions of this quadrupel have been in existence so far, two of them retired; a fourth one is allegedly on its way. This 'recreation' of the Weerspannige original, sampled at Gents Bierfestival, shows a thick and mousse-like, membranous-lacing, pale greyish beige, stable head and misty deep caramel brown robe with ruddy-bronze glow. Aroma of brown bread, candied fig, sirop de Liège, fried sweet apples, unsugared chewing gum, nougat, tea leaves, hint of wet cloth somewhere but not disturbingly so. Sweet onset with a very light sourish edge, candi-sugary but nowhere in a cloying way, ripe pear, cooked apple and candied fig impressions in a sauce of 'sirop de Liège', lively but finely carbonated with slight minerally effect, full and smooth mouthfeel; caramelly, toffeeish and pleasantly brown-bready maltiness dominates the middle, developing a mild toasty bitterishness which in the end is accentuated by a herbal hoppiness. This combo makes for a bittersweet ending, paired with that lingering pear syrup aspect and warming, calvados-like alcohol. Indeed this Vintage version comes very close to the original home-brewed Weerspannige version, perhaps a bit smoother though, and with a bit more finishing bitterness - which some, including myself, will interpret as an improvement, however subtle. In any case the 'intermediate' BeerSelect version, though enjoyable enough, is now forgotten, as far as I am concerned.

Bottle at home. Darker golden to amber color, huge sized off-white head. Aroma and flavor are malts, soft roast totally unexpected, bitter, hoppy bitter. But that's about it. Don't get much more. Mwah.

Small if rather stable cream head over fully muddy amber-ocher beer. Old cookies, oxydation, raisin-cookiebar, grapes. Muscatgrapes, old hops, baked crust, and an indifferent, bitter overlying flavour. Maybe bitter almonds. Medium bodied, not very carbonated, and very (hopoil)slick. Ho-hum. Old hops and ?

06/VI/21 - 33cl bottle from De Hopduvel (Gent), shared @ BBQ at my sister’s place, BB: II/2023 (2021-462)

Clear dark blond to orange beer, small creamy off-white head, pretty stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: bit malty, floral, some chlorine, caramel touch, yeasty, some banana. MF: very lively carbon, medium body. Taste: bit sourish, grassy, pretty bitter, malty, sweet as well, lots of yeast. Aftertaste: quite some banana, pretty sweet, yeasty, somewhat grassy with a herbal bitter touch.

Three-grains tripel by De Zwarte Bron, brewed 'in situ', in Sint-Pauwels north of Sint-Niklaas. Thanks Jan! Thick and frothy, egg-white, mousy, stable head on a hazy peach blonde beer, turning cloudy with sediment. Aroma of ripe peach, banana, sugar loaf, white bread dough, cooked apple, a whiff of coriander but subtly so, honey, slight background notes of clove, nutmeg, roses and sweet cider. Fruity onset, mildly estery with impressions of banana, ripe pear and light peach, fizzy carbonation but rounded, supple, soft mouthfeel; smoothly white-bready maltiness and slick 'wheatiness' with a thinnish layer of residual honeyish sweetishness on top, all feeling very soft and even velvety - the latter thanks to the use of oats. Medium long finish, adding mild spicy accents of clove, nutmeg and coriander seed, but the latter has been kept well restrained, not interfering too much with a gentle floral hop bitterish tail, lingering banana ester and subtle breadiness - and a mild warming afterglow of calvados-like alcohol. Some wheaty sourishness and oaty graininess linger about in the end. Seemingly inspired by that famed three-grains tripel, Karmeliet by Bosteels (now in AB InBev's clutches), but deliberately made lighter in both strength and character; a highly drinkable intermediary between tripel and blonde, as it were, technically well executed with a balanced, elegant, gentle character. I could easily chug a few of these on a friendly spring afternoon.