The Belgian province of Liège has countless microbreweries and gypsy brewers these days, but among the most (commercially) successful is certainly Léopold 7, located in Couthuin in the southwesternmost part of the province. This is their tripel (triple), containing malted wheat but no additional sugars (white candi sugar syrup) and named after the Haspengouw region, encompassing parts of Limburg, Vlaams-Brabant and several Walloon provinces, known for its gentle slopes and its fruit cultivation. Bottle from the Carrefour hypermarket in Sint-Denijs-Westrem. Very thick and bath-foamy, egg-white, busily shred-lacing, cauliflower-shaped rocky, utterly stable and dense, firm head, misty yellow-hued straw blonde robe, turning cloudy and more apricot-tinged with sediment. Aroma of apple sauce, ripe banana, apricot jam, honey, chewing gum, green kiwi, strawbales, Conference pear, croissant dough, iron, freshly cut grass, hints of stewed Florence fennel, dry earth, parsnip, dried mandarin peel and young 'graanjenever'. Crisp, fruity onset, sweetish with pronounced isoamylacetate (banana) even though I had worse, pear, vague ripe apricot, light sourish touch, sharp and very minerally carbonation; slick, lean body, marred by this stinging carb, but smooth-edged with a pale malt sweetish middle, white-bready and a bit doughy with lingering unfermented, honeyish sugars on top (too much so to my personal liking). Clove- and fennel-like phenols here and there get paired with a floral, grassy and somewhat earthy hoppiness, adding a bitter streak to an otherwise annoyingly sweet finish. Warming, gin-like alcohol also plays in the end, becoming just a bit too obvious for me - an alcohol flavour sweetly but dastardly takes over in the final stage. If this is dry-hopped like the brewery claims, then I would say it is a pity for the hops, because there are not nearly enough hop aromas here as there could have been (even without entering 'Belgian IPA' territory); apart from that, the flavours are boringly sweet and banana-like, with not much complexity to back up for it. The umpteenth sweet, boozy tripel to please the masses - Belgian brewers ought to be forbidden to keep following this worn-out, decades-old, conservative formula. This kind of beers add absolutely nothing to what has been done a thousand times before, even with the dry-hopping (which I have seen done a lot better in several other tripels) and without the white candi sugar. Not my cup of tea.

33cl can. A clear yellow golden beer with a white head. Aroma of mild grassy hops, pale malt, litchi, dank. Taste of mild grassy and citrusy hops, pale malt, hay, litchi. Moderate bitterness.

Can, half pint. @Belgian Beer Weekend 2022, Grand Place Brussels (Belgium). 04/09/2022 [#5.348 Global - #188 Belgium - #1 Brasserie Leopold 7 (My Belgian brewery #76)] Pours pale yellow, long white head. Spiced malts, lemon peel, cardamom and dill. Long spiced finish. Next one please!

31/XII/21 - 33cl can from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: 10/II/23 (2021-1631)

Clear bright yellow beer, big creamy solid white head, pretty stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: lots of citrus, some tropical fruits, grassy, some mango. MF: ok carbon, medium to light body. Taste: nice bitterness, bit grassy, some citrus. Aftertaste: bitter grapefruit, citrus notes, not too bad.

Towering, dense & fine, stable snowwhite head over clear metallic pale golden beer; shards of lace. Fresh green hops, vegetable and citrus, even a bit of resin, citruspeel. A bit sweet for an IPA, rosewater, which prevents it from being refreshing. Whiffs of citrus. Light body, feels less (!) carbonated that it looks. Some oily slickness. Sweetness: to be avoided in an IPA, CERTAINLY in a session. Thx to Stef!

33cl bottle from Carrefour Market Cours St. Michel in Brussels. F: medium, white, average retention. C: pale gold, hazy. A: malty, citrus, floral, spicy, orange, honey, bit yeasty. T: full malty base, citrus, orange, grapefruits, bit hay, dry on the palate, grapes, bit yellow topical fruits, medium carbonation, very nice not typical triple bit like saison more, enjoyed for sure.

27-05-21 // 330ml can. Hmm ratings are very bad for this one. With infected cans. Dont remember it that bad though. A simple IPA hopped with Chinook. Nothing to remember but I didn’t have any major flaws.

33cl can from Rob the Gourmets’ Market in Brussels. F: thin, white, quick gone to some bubbles. C: deep gold, hazy. A: malty, orange, caramel, grapes, vinous, tangerine, mellow tropical fruits. T: medium to full malty base, mellow orange, caramel, biscuits touch, mellow tropical fruits, decent bitterness, ok for the style, enjoyed.

33cl can from Rob the Gourmets’ Market in Brussels. F: medium, white, quick gone. C: pale gold, light hazy. A: mellow orange, bit grapes, white wine touch, spicy, canned pineapple. T: medium to full malty base, orange, bit grapefruits, grapes, pineapple, mango touch, decent bitterness, soft carbonation, not really special here, partially enjoyed.