Chimay Triple / Blanche (White) / Cinq Cents

Brewed By: Bières de Chimay in Chimay in the province of Hainaut, Belgium

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

Style/ABV: Belgian Tripel, 8.0%

Chimay will mark the third Trappist brewery to cross my path. I would guess Chimay is the most popular Trappist brewery, usurping Orval and Westmalle in terms of availability and popularity. Chimay is located in the Scourmont Abbey, and they are well known for the three beers they brew: Chimay Rouge (Dubbel), Chimay Bleue (Belgian Strong Ale), and Chimay Blanche (Tripel).

If you check out the Chimay wesbite and look at their history page, you can find out a bit about how the Scourmont Abbey came to brew beer. According to the link, in 1862 the Cistercian Trappist monks of Chimay began to brew beer to support employment in their region as well as to provide for their needs. In 1862, the monks began brewing Chimay Première/Red in acccordance to traditional monastarey brewing. In 1948, the current recipe for the Chimay Première/Red was created when Chimay was able to isolate the yeast strain for the beer. In Christmas of 1948, a Chimay Christmas beer was created that eventually became the Chimay Blue. And in 1966, the Chimay Triple came into fruition. The Notre-Dame de Scourmont Abbey has been around since 1850. Farming, brewing, and cheese have been a big part of the culture from the beginning. 

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The pour reveals a magnificent looking beer. This beer is on the darker spectrum of Tripels, with a dark, dark yellow-bronze-gold color under low light. Under bright light, the beer is very orange-yellow and almost looks like orange juice. This is hazy and cloudy, and there is a bit of yeast floating in my glass. There was a 3-finger head at first; it has fizzled down into a nice two-centimeter keeper. There is wonderful lacing, and the good head retention suggests effervescence and carbonation. The head has hints of orange, and resembles the slightly darker Tripel.

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Upon pouring it I was greeted with huge bouquets of yeast and malt. Chimay beers dial up the malts, and this beer wallops you with them. Malts, toffee, Belgian yeasts and bready esters, candied oranges, perfume and hints of honey, light pulls toward sugar, nutmeg and coriander, pulls towards apples and lemongrass or lemon zest.

This is really wonderful. Just the mouthfeel is huge, but slightly powdery, there is an alcohol punch that is very subtle but still there, and lots of peppery and clove spices in the profile. You get lots of carbonation and smoothness up front, followed by big yeasty and malty fruits. Huge candied and perfume-like oranges, apples, and lemon. There are toffee and yeast-bread notes in the mix, and touches of coriander. Some slight grainy qualities pop up with the alcohol as well.

This is on the upper end of medium-bodied, with a smooth and powdery/dusty mouthfeel. Very elegant, and complex. This is refined, but modern. Potent, but drinkable. So drinkable, in fact, that you want to watch out for the 8.0% ABV. The front of the palate is all about carbonation, fruit and malts. You do get some Pils malts on the front end, and some light grain. This rolls into a fruity middle, with spices and perfume and malts. The back end is lingering malts and alcohol warming. Fantastic.

Rating: Divine Brew 

Score: 93%

This is one of my favorite Tripels, by far. Not much wrong about this. The spices are subdued and complex, the alcohol is present but in bursts, and big malty notes compliment the huge fruit overtones that drive this beer. Wonderfully big, wonderfully drinkable. This is the type of epic beer that I expect when I am drinking a Trappist beer; and it even comes with an epic glass.

Given how widely available Chimay is, I would suggest this to anyone looking to try the Tripel style. For everyone else, this is just a wonderful beer to fall back on.