Drinking a Belgian beer always makes me remember WHY I love beer. It’s with Belgian beer that I started to really pay attention to how great a beer can be. From “drinking for effect” to “hey, wha?…This is beer? This is great!…”
A big green bottle spoke to me while at the store a few days ago. Tripel Karmeliet stood apart from the 13 or so other Belgian beers and it was one I always wanted to try but never got around to.
Tripel Karmeliet is brewed from an authentic beer recipe from 1679, uses three kinds of grain: Wheat, barley and oats. The brewery is Brouwerij Bosteels in Belgium, located in the small village of Buggenhout. The Bosteels family has run the brewery for over seven generations. The brewery puts out a few other beers that vary in style. DueS and Kwak.
Now for the Beer Review!
Popped the cork, grabbed the Chimay glass and the beer is poured.
The color is a beautiful hazy lemon yellow with a huge creamy head.
Smell is bananas and vanilla with a nice floral hoppiness. Great blend of fruit and malt. The smell is something that I call an “experience”. I get so many notes from this that I could fill the page.
The taste hits my mouth like a peppery spicy clove. This is followed by a smooth banana sweetness with just the right bitterness and carbonation that equals “perfect”. The booze is hardly noticeable which makes this seem like a session beer, but it’s not. The 8.4% does catch up to you.
This is an all-around beautiful beer and is now one of my top 10 favorites. I’m off spreading the word. Get this beer!
Tripel Karmeliet| ABV 8.4%
Brouwerij Bosteels.
www.bestbelgianspecialbeers.be
