Yellow and hazy with thin head. Aroma has sweet mango puree. It's certainly not a typical Tripel. Fruity sweetness. No yeasty residue. No banana.

Veel en veel en veel teveel co2, caramel, rozijn, dun, alcohol..... waar is het bier van weleer gebleven... tegenwoordig gooi ik het hoofdzakelijk nog in een stoofpot, daar komt het beter tot zijn recht...

Good off-white head, very stable, over (cold)hazy yellow-orange beer. Spicy nose, spicy malts, bit peppery, Szechuan pepper, citruspeel. Hints of stonefruit as peach, faint hint @coriander. Bitterish, again citruspeel flavour. Dry, ever so slightly toasted malts; bit of cornflakes, not sweet and as if made from other grains. Bit vanilla/almonds, warming up. Quite (grist)slick, bit (hop)oily, medium carbonation. After some time it shows itself: iron punch packed in velvet. Aftertaste is more bitter. A very good triple indeed; Santos Gumer can do the blondes too!

The trappist monks of Rochefort are not known for being very progressive or open to change - in fact, their range of just three beers, each one based on the other, is perhaps the most stable and 'fixed' of all Belgian breweries: since the introduction of the 'intermediate' Rochefort 8 in 1954, joining the already existing 6 and 10, absolutely nothing has changed. Until now: after I have been playfully pondering about the idea for years, the monks suddenly decided to create a tripel, their first new beer in 66 years (though it seems to be inspired by a brew they made somewhere in the 1920s). I could hardly believe it when I first read about it - I thought it was some or other practical joke among beer geeks on social media, of the kind you see popping up each year on April Fool's Day - but I have it right in front of me now and it is indeed very real. Medium thick, lightly lacing, egg-white head slowly breaking open but retaining well around the edge and in flat patches in the middle; misty deep apricot blonde robe with pale orangey glow and disparate, but enthusiastic strings of sparkling rushing through the mist. Aroma of ripe Doyenné pear and ripe peaches, sweet plantain, freshly whipped cream, orange peel (actually used here apparently), fresh white bread dough, apple cake or other pastries, coriander seed, freshly cut green apple, raw sweet potatoes, blossoming clover. Fruity onset, sweetish with banana, peach, ripe pear and red apple impressions, lively and minerally but not overly stinging carbonation, light sourish undertone; rounded, smooth and full mouthfeel, a tad creamy even. Full, pleasantly bready maltiness with a very light caramelly touch, spiced with (fortunately not overly soapy) coriander seed much like its dark brethren, but in this case also orange peel, which adds a late 'fraîcheur', crispness and sweetness to the whole, before a long, leafy, floral hop bitterness and a soothing, 'jenever'-like alcohol glow set in, carrying along the coriander, fruity ester and sweet bready malt effects. The alcohol warmth is very pronounced here - but adds to an indeed very classically 'tripel' experience. Westmalle Tripel, the archetype in the style, is not even that far removed and seems to share the very same DNA with this newcomer from the old Rochefort stable, even if this one offers a bit more freshness and sweetness due to the added orange peel. Well, I guess the monks of the Abbaye Notre Dame de Saint-Rémy pulled it off, no doubt with a strong helping hand from 'mother' Westmalle: this is a very 'trappist tripel' beer indeed, as if it has been in existence for decades. Old school in so many charming ways, certainly a very solid tripel, though I still wonder what the reason of existence of this beer might be - guess I had to read Rochefort's official press release first, but curiosity about the first new Rochefort in over six decades got the better of me.