Sunday Night Suds - New Belgium Trippel

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at New Belgium Trippel.

Picked this beer up at Binny's while in Chicago last month (the one where Sam's used to be in Lincoln Park). Was enticed because my last experience with Trippel was very favorable (Redhook Trippel, reviewed here).

As explained by the experts at BA:

The name "Tripel" actually stems from part of the brewing process, in which brewers use up to three times the amount of malt than a standard Trappist "Simple." Traditionally, Tripels are bright yellow to gold in color, which is a shade or two darker than the average Pilsener. Head should be big, dense and creamy. Aroma and flavor runs along complex, spicy phenolic, powdery yeast, fruity/estery with a sweet finish. Sweetness comes from both the pale malts and the higher alcohol. Bitterness is up there for a beer with such a light body for its strength, but at times is barely perceived amongst the even balance of malts and hops. The lighter body comes from the use of Belgian candy sugar (up to 25% sucrose), which not only lightens the body, but also adds complex alcoholic aromas and flavors. Small amounts of spices are sometimes added as well.

The New Belgium Trippel shared some of the characteristic of the typical, but with some unpleasant differences. The beer poured a bright yellow and had the phenolic flavor (think banana). It also is high in alcohol (7.8% abv) without knocking you over the head with the alcohol flavor. However, the sweetness which I was expecting was not there and the coriander notes practically overwhelmed the brew (they were not kidding when they described the beer on the label as "Ale brewed with Coriander").

If you like coriander, enjoy, if not, then don't waste your money on a six pack of this beer.

New Belgium Trippel is under the Kosher Supervision of the Scroll-K of Colorado. Although the beer does not bear the kosher symbol on the label, it can be found on the bottom of the six pack carrier. Additionally, if you would like me to e-mail you the LOC for New Belgium Trippel, send me an e-mail and I will gladly oblige.

Please note that not every brew produced by New Belgium is under kosher supervision. Please click on the link on the left side of my home page to see my latest Kosher Beer List.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about New Belgium Trippel, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/1054 . As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

Finally, if you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com/ to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!