Westmalle Tripel

Brewed By: Brouwerij der Trappisten van Westmalle in Malle, Belgium

Purchased: Single 11.2oz bottle bought at Binny's in IL; 2011

Style/ABV: Belgian Tripel, 9.5%

My life....fuuuuuucccccckk. I've been down and out with a cold for the past week and a half. I've been coughing up thick chunks of yellow shit, and forget trying to smell anything. Welcome to fall in the Midwest. This is just late September; wait til Swine Flue October, sneezing November, dry cough December, and if you haven't killed yourself or moved; stuffy January through March. And then there is allergy season! Yay.

I half-joke. The Midwest is great, just don't breathe the air. I have been using the past week and a half to recover and take a break from beer. If I can't enjoy it, why drink it? Plus, it gives my liver a chance to catch its breath. And too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Take a break from beer for a week: the next beer you drink is that much better.

So like a metaphor for absolution, I've decided to crack open a Trappist ale. My last Trappist ale was Orval, and it was good. In case you are wondering what a Trappist ale is: it is a beer brewed by monks in a monastery. There are currently seven monasteries brewing beer, including the breweries Brasserie d'Orval and Brouwerij der Trappisten van Westmalle.  

Today's beer comes from the Trappist Abbey of Westmalle. According to their website, the monastery has been around for a little over 200 years (1974) and became a Trappist abbey on April 22, 1836. According to Wikipedia, Westmalle is credited with making the first Dubbel and the first Tripel. 

This is not just the first Tripel: this is the beer that set the standard and became highly copied. What we have here today is a very historical, unique and important beer. And a monster of a style, clocking in at a serious 9.5% ABV. I'm torn on whether or not to pour this into a Tripel-friendly tulip, or into a Trappist glass. 

I did end up going with the Trappist glass....it seemed wrong to not pour a Trappist beer into a non-Trappist glass. Especially since I have one on hand. This is a beautiful beer, and it is evident that there is a lot of yeast in the bottle. There is actually some sediment floating around in my glass - I don't mind it - but perhaps I should have poured more cautiously. Anyway, this beer is a gorgeous pale yellow-orange, straw color. There are hints of orange coming from the beer when held in certain lights. There is a mammoth of a 4-finger head on top of this beer: the head is super thick, foamy, has tons of bubbles, and is slightly off-white with hints of orange. There is lacing on the side of my glass already. The head is on-par with Orval, and about just as thick. This beer is quite effervescent.

Westmalle Tripel

The aroma on this is super malty and yeasty and the hops seem slightly faded. This bottle right here is very close to its expiration date. I have a couple of questions about that. At 9.5% ABV, I figured you could age this beer forever. In fact, I've read online about people drinking 25 year old bottles of Westmalle Tripel at the brewery. At any rate, the nose is hugely malty, and smells funky and yeasty. I'm also getting big waves of orange zest, some unripe banana, band-aids, and lots of clove. 

How does it taste? Wow. This beer really levels out your palate. Maybe it is because I have not had a beer in a while, but this beer tastes as big as its 9.5% ABV but it doesn't taste of alcohol. I'm getting blasted with huge clove and pepper flavors: tons of warm spice notes. This is super creamy and effervescent, but still huge. I'm picking up some dried oranges, orange zest, unripe bananas, band-aids, and a powdery quality. 

This is not overly spicy or overly hot. A lot of Tripels bring the spices or bring the heat: this is remarkably smooth and soft. But this beer is still huge. This is a full-bodied beer, with medium complexity but huge depth. This beer extends deep and really blasts your palate. The front end is carbonated and smooth with hints of orange, clove, and even some booze. The middle rolls into yeast and malt, with more orange. The back end finishes with a clear pale malt note and a slightly powdery and dry finish. At 9.5% this is stupid drinkable, but at 9.5% this isn't something you want to session.

Rating: Above-Average

Score: 84%

This is a ridonkulously good Tripel. It has a huge mouthfeel, hides the heat well, and pairs well with the smoked provolone I have here (which I refrained from eating until scoring the beer). There are big punchy clove notes, some warm spices that compliment the big ABV, and some oranges and banana.

I'd like to get a few more bottles of this for the future: I wonder how a very fresh bottle and a properly aged one would hold up. I will likely do future reviews of this, because as with many of the Trappist beers: there is great variability with respect to aging.

Until then, I found this to be an Above-Average Tripels, and definitely a beer you want to check out. Single bottles of this were going for around 4 or 5 bucks this summer. That's a good deal.