7.5/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 7
Overall 7
Tripel apparently in existence since 2021 already, brewed with barley and hops both grown on the Terrest Hill in Houthulst (West Flanders), seemingly in a microbrewery integrated in a farm located there, operated by a father and his daughter; the story seems genuine, especially because they insist that they are independent and do not work with intermediaries, something I can only applaud. Thick and foamy, densely moussey, yellowish egg-white, hops-enhanced, membrane-lacing, stable head on a misty peach blonde robe with warm orangey glow. Quite fragrant aroma of brioche bread, Cantaloupe, orange zest, fresh lemon verbena, faint lychee, dried lavender, freshly cut Conference pear, cold pancakes, acacia honey, chocolate mint leaf, faint background notes of calvados, grass, dusty dirt road or indeed plain sand, roses, jasmin tea, muesli. Sweetish onset, fruity with notes of peach, pear and red apple, vague banana too but nowhere dominating, medium carbonated (average level of effervescence for a tripel) with still some lingering minerally effects bringing a basic level of 'fraîcheur'; vague sourish undertone accompanying a full but slick, bready, bit crumble- and dry cookie-like, rounded maltiness, under increasing herbal and spicy elements, at first phenolic (touch of clove) and then hoppy, with indeed a thinly citrusy edge but more akin to fresh lemon verbena and lemon thyme retronasally. The hops, grown on Terrest Hill, also add a mild but effective, lingering, flowery bitterness, before a slightly astringent, gin-like alcohol effect sets in - annoying me just a little bit, but behaving well enough not to barge into the other flavours before its time has come. I could summarise this Terrest beer as simply yet another sweet and boozy tripel and indeed it is apparently intended as an 'everyone's friend' for understandably commercial reasons, but there is something to it I cannot quite put my finger on - something citrus-blossomy, flowery and fragrant you will not encounter in the average Belgian tripel (and believe me, we have many hundreds of them on the market at any given time). Somehow this tripel, however banal the style may have become since its origins in the middle of the previous century, has a certain appeal, a certain finesse, driven by the fact that this father-and-daughter team grows the ingredients in their farm on the side of a hill. For once, the story kind of spurs the strings of my heart so I sincerely hope this Terrest brewery continues to work on less obvious beer styles - imagine a fruit beer with real blueberries grown on what, for the occasion, may then temporarily become Blueberry Hill instead of Terrest Hill... An interesting starter, probably one I will keep an eye on.
Tried
on 02 Jun 2024
at 00:05