Trippel, New Belgium Brewing Company

I like the idea of Belgium. They’ve given us big poofy waffles and French fries, and they weren’t on the wrong side in WWII. And they are known for brewing good beer.

And what better entity to brew Belgian beer here in America than a brewery named New Belgium?

The brewery offers a couple Belgian-style brews, including Abbey, a dubbel (meaning “double,” so named because it’s stronger than a standard offering). Trippel (the style is often spelled “tripel”) goes a little bigger.

Trippel is brewed with a little bit of coriander, and the herb is pretty light in the smell. However, I thought it was a little much in the taste. The beer is quite heavy, at 7.8% ABV, and it does have a fairly boozy taste. The beer finishes with a bit of citrus and pepper-like spice.

The Belgian yeast is quite prevalent in the flavor, but in this beer, it tastes like soap to me. The beer also has a thick and slippery texture, again, like soap. (Yup, I’ve had soap in my mouth before. Thanks, Mom!) I hated the aftertaste of this beer; everything I disliked about the beer just seemed to hang around in my mouth. Despite the soap taste, it didn’t finish clean.

I should point out that I might be one of the few people who doesn’t like this beer. My usual sources of beer intel rate it pretty high. But it’s not for me.

While we Americans have mastered some of the Belgian foodstuffs, I think we’ve fallen a little short here. Have some fries or waffles on hand to get the taste of this stuff out of your mouth.

The Basics:

• New Belgium Brewing Company
• Fort Collins, CO
• Style: Belgian-style ale
• ABV: 7.8%
• IBUs: 25