This is such a pretty beer; not only is it a particularly fine pale golden hue, but Gouden Carolus Tripel also delivers an extraordinary lacing right the way down the glass.
A beautiful, enduring head offers up understated lemon barley, pineapple and white pepper notes. This is where things start to get really interesting, and the modulation between the taste and the finish of this beer is what propels into the mid-nineties for me. The green, savoury base is supported by a plethora of rich, mellow, salt, sharp and sweet flavours. It is akin to grazing your way around a world-class deli like Edinburgh's Valvona & Crolla: lemon, Gouda, even the savour of prosciutto fat linger on the tongue.
A drying, well-hopped finish completes the journey down the glass. One issue I have with this beer is that whilst for me this is very much a brew to be enjoyed with food, at 9% ABV you wouldn't be able to sink more than a couple before you may as well be eating a dodgy kebab. I can't really hold this against this amazing Tripel, however. I drank this at the lower end of the recommended temperature scale, namely 5 degrees Celsius. I'd suspect that this isn't a beer whose characteristics would improve as it warms, but mine didn't last long enough to test that particular hypothesis. I'll definitely be ordering more of these.
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