Feb 202128Sun

First taste of Belgian Tripel

private tasting

OK, so I couldn’t wait. There are still 20 days to go until this brew should be ready to taste, according to the manufacturer, but I’ve had my fill of beer for the night and while searching the garage for a cider to finish on I tripped across this box of Belgians, patiently waiting underneath a KTM. Why not wrestle one out and rip it open?

Clarity looked promising through the brown Steinie and when I popped the cap there was a reassuring ‘snick’ – but that was it. No carbonation at all, flat as a pancake. To think I was worried about creating bombs when I over-carbed this halfway through January! Really disappointed by the lack of bubbles. The flavour is OK; maybe a very small amount of twang and an obvious hit of alcohol, with strong malt notes and only a slight handful of wheat – another disappointment. Then again, there’s only so much wheat you can put in at 8% ABV before it gets mis-sold as malt, IMHO.

All of these flavours are fine, or they would be, if only there was some actual fizz to add texture. But no. Nothing. I’m hoping that I grabbed a duff bottle but chances are against it. It’s a real shame since I now have regulated CO2 on hand to carbonate to any level I want without relying on secondary sugars, but I don’t know how I’d get the bottle contents into a vessel without exposing to oxygen. Who knows, maybe I won’t have to write this batch off, depending on how the next bottle turns out. Maybe I will.