Farmer Steve is so cheap he’s free, so when I told him the price tag on this special edition I thought he would need a tripel bypass. He settled down considerably when I let him know he wasn’t on the hook for his share, since Lake of the Woods had donated this brew to the cause.
Belgian Tripels are strong pale ales. Tripel, which translates as you would guess to Triple in English, originally indicated the XXX version, meaning a strong beer. LOW tells us that this limited edition Belgian Tripel is finished with Champagne yeast and Trappist Candi Sugar and was conditioned in the brewery for two months then lagered 20 feet under the ice in Lake of the Woods, at water temperatures ranging from 4 to 10 degrees Celsius for 6 months.
All the COM congregating for Muskoka Oktoberfest seemed an appropriate occasion to break out this unique brew. Everyone was game, keen and thirsting to try this special Tripel. We created a 5 glass flight from the 750ml bottle for a round table sampling so we could deep 6* this brew so to speak. As you can imagine the comments were varied, so I will relay my own experience.
Hazy, bubbly and not that pale, more a golden haze with ample head on each flight glass. A strong almost boozy aroma. The tasting started with a malt and spice taste, not for the faint of heart and the high ABV is very apparent. It becomes a nice light flavour, carbonated, not really bitter, but not a smooth finish either due to it being a bit boozy and bubbly in the finish but not as much as some high ABVs. Refreshing, light malt and fizz, a champagne like finish.
Unfortunately because we tasted this as a flight the brew couldn’t really evolve for us and I expect it would have provided some interesting changes and quite possibly a higher rating. Certainly if I drank the 750ml bottle at 8.5% the beer wouldn’t be the only thing experiencing changes.
This beer is one of a kind, a very interesting Tripel but definitely not for everyone because of its high ABV and unique taste. Maybe a gift idea for the discerning beer drinker with everything. It was nice to share it with some cranky old friends.
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