Bink Bruin (5.5% ABV)

This Belgian dark ale is certainly characteristic of its class, pouring a near-black with a thick mocha-coloured cap.

A gentle malt and yeast nose gives way to predominant coffee, praline and cherry-pit flavours, with a hop-dry finish.

I really warmed to this beer. It would pair well with a not-to-sweet desert, although the predominant dryness means it could easily also go well with, say, a molasses-rich barbecue rib dish, or home-style baked beans with ham hock; a cassoulet or a stout or red wine-enriched beef or chicken dish, even. The lighter alcohol content works well; the only downside for me was the slightly aggressive carbonation.

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Adelardus Tripel (9% ABV)

Pours a hazy orange-gold, not unlike Orval to the mind's eye, although maybe I'd query that if I had them side by side.

A banana and tropical fruit nose yields to strong, tangy malt, with a pleasingly dry finish. The alcohol is well hidden, and this beer drinks smoothly for its strength.

More than pleasant, but not quite a major-league Tripel. Getting close, though. NB I had to dock a point or two for the ghastly cartoon label.

83

Grottenbier Biere des Grottes Brune (6.5% ABV)

Pouring a brown-red in colour with a rapidly collapsing head, the yeasty, stewed fruit aromas give way to a lightly spiced and hop-dried flavour. The hop dryness continues into the finish, which may be this beer's most appealing feature.

Lacking in complexity due to some less than stellar yeast strains, I suspect, but far from unpleasant.

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St. Idesbald Blond (6.5% ABV)

Pours a murky gold, with a rapidly disappearing head and no lacing on the glass whatsoever.

Sort of 'St. Clements' nose, with hints of lemon balm and maybe small orange citrus fruits. A predominantly fresh, floral flavour profile.

Crisp, refreshing, but a second class beer, really. Very little to hold the attention here.

58

St. Bernadus Tripel (8% ABV)

A solid amber-orange in colour, with a well-formed head. Crisp, green fruit and freshly-baked bread on the nose. The flavour profile isn't as fully developed as the nose might suggest, but sappy, grass-like tastes with hints of spice and malt dominate with just a grind or two of that typical Tripel peppery nose.

Not so much a finish as a disappearance, and whilst the ABV is a point off Trappist-style Tripels, the alcohol is nowhere to be seen, which would make this a naughty brew to spend the evening with.Definite potential to lead you astray, I'd say.

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Triple Tripel vs. Asparagus Face-Off

A soul-witheringly bad day necessitated some midweek revels in the form of a Tripel taste-off paired with some smoky, griddled asparagus, inspired by a Zak Avery video along the same lines I watched a while back (link pending ;) lots of links pending on this blog now as I compose all these posts on my phone, and links seem a bit much like hard work, to be honest. Soz).

My notes are laughable, frankly, so make of this what you will:

Tripel Moine (ABV 7.3%)

The garish and rather crude label defacing this bottle does this delightful, subtle beer no favours, and I was genuinely surprised at the sophistication of the bottle's contents in view of its gaudy exterior.

Tripel Moine evokes a sunny yet crisp and blustery day flaneuring in a bar by the beach on the Belgian riviera. Salty, intensely floral, and the aroma of warm, grass-topped sand dunes.

A wonderful surprise, and an out-of-the-ordinary Tripel.

95

Trappist Achel Blond (8% ABV)

I love the complex Achel Brune, so it was something of a disappointment to discover how run-of-the-mill this Trappist brewery's Tripel is, at least on this showing.

The aroma and flavor profile of autumn fruits eaten on a dry summer's day (hmm... time machine required there, then) but empty, somehow.

The nose became disturbingly agricultural as it warmed.

83

St. Idesbald Tripel (9% ABV)

A by-the-numbers Tripel I won't be returning to, and that you really don't need either to taste, nor to hear any more about from me.

69

The asparagus worked really well with all of these. Thanks for the idea, Zak :)

Straffe Hendrik Brugs Tripel (9% ABV)

A lot of quaffing without a great deal of jotting means I have a backlog of photos which I need to publish without sufficient notes to hand to write a decent review.

Retastes will therefore be required, but that won't exactly be a hardship. Think, therefore, of what follows as a series of place markers.

I adore the aesthetics of Straffe Hendrik Brugs Tripel, from the Farrow & Ball-coloured label to the charming 'Man in the Moon' motif which is carried through to the crown cap.

The beer itself is just as appealing. An attractive amber-orange, it has a lean, floral nose with a complex profile of dry autumnal flavors.

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Kasteel Brune (11% ABV)

This beer pours a Primitivo-coloured red-black and has a very soft carbonation. It is not bottle-conditioned, and therefore lacks sediment.

Having read other tasting notes on this beer, I was looking forward to port wine, marzipan and complex fruit.

What a disappointment. Overpoweringly sweet, this beer exhibits a completely neutral flavour beyond its unpleasantly aggressive malt which roars at the senses from the glass in a most unappealing manner.

Cloying, dull and unnecessarilly strong, I found this beer to be barely drinkable.

18

Brugse Zot Dubbel (7.5% ABV)

An undemanding, but in my opinion not particularly rewarding, Dubbel with a chestnut brown appearance, predominantly malty nose, chocolate/caramel flavour profile with some fruit and a well-balanced finish that drinks thinly for its strength.

Nothing exceptional or particularly demanding of either respect or a great deal of further attention here, however, although I'd be happy to taste it again.

58

Brugge Tripel (8.7% ABV)

To cut to the chase, this is a really rather non-descript beer. It has the bare bones of a Tripel's characteristics, but contributes nothing of its own to the style.

Really, there's little in the glass in terms of outstanding aromas and tastes that merits commenting upon. I'd be making it up for the purposes of having something to write about if I claimed otherwise.

I drank this at the cold end of the Tripel tasting temperature profile, around 6 degrees Celsius probably. I left it to warm a little, but it still failed to develop anything resembling a personality. Unimpressed.

40

Abbaye des Rocs Brune (9% ABV)

This triple-fermented beer delivers one of the crudest pours you're ever likely to encounter, with fat flakes of yeast spattering unappealingly into the glass.

This is clearly a brewery trait, as the Nöel beer from Abbaye des Rocs I uncapped recently plopped chunks of three-dimensional yeast into my glass with such vigour that the brew slopped over its edge. Visions of Mr. Armitage and Mr. Shanks overcame me, and the unappealing beverage was hastily emptied down the sink. Perhaps such yeast-saturated brews are quaffed by Belgian beer enthusiasts with the same sort of relish that capsaicinoid addicts seek out those chillies with the highest Scoville rating as a signifier of their dedication and enthusiasm. To them I say: good luck. Personally, I'd rather not drink something that looks like it was bottled at the local sewage plant.

As for the beer itself: overpowering malt drowns out the hops, and an unbalanced sweetness makes for a singularly claggy experience on the palate. Mouth-feel, however, is rather pleasant and the beer drinks smoothly for its strength. However, I can't see myself picking up another bottle of this any time soon. Not without a blindfold, anyway.

40

Gouden Carolus Tripel (9% ABV)

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.

95

Affligem Dubbel (6.8% ABV)

Wow, did I like this beer. I probably poured it at 12-14 Celsius rather than the 8-10 degrees suggested, but I am exceedingly glad I did.

A woody nose of freshly-split logs and rosemary branches transforms into a taste of peach pits and just a hint of spicy green herbiness, dill weed perhaps. That sounds like a ghastly combination reading it back, but it works, and is quite delightful. I wouldn't necessarily drink more than one of most Dubbels, but could easily see myself enjoying a second bottle of this if I had one to hand.

A nicely balanced sour-sweet finish makes for a great end to a great beer.

92

Augustijn Grand Cru (9% ABV)

Augustijn Grand Cru comes in a Duvel-style squat, slope-shouldered bottle. This blond, bottle-conditioned brew pours a hazy gold with an enduring head.

There's nothing to dislike about this beer, but then there's not a great deal to commend about it either, in my opinion. It has all the hallmarks and characteristics of a Belgian Tripel, but no outstanding features that could be said to afford it an identity of its own.

If this beer had featured in Alex Cox's 'Repo Man' (1984), it would have merited one of the amusing generic labels that adorn the foodstuffs that feature in the film. This is indeed 'Belgian beer', but for me at least it isn't really interesting enough to merit returning to.

60

Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor (8% ABV)

I should say up front that with four types of hop, and being unfiltered and bottle-conditioned, I could have predicted that this beer was going to score highly on the R&A Likeometer before it even got out of the bottle.

I wasn't to be disappointed.

An appealingly full head from a straight pour reveals a golden haze with a full, enduring head and persistent lacing. As the lemon pith and apple storeroom nose subsides, the riotous hops begin their revels. There is so much going on in the glass for hop lovers by this point, it's hard to know where one's taste buds should turn next. Many more tastings will be required before I get any further than that, frankly.

The mouth-wateringly dry finish leaves you ready for another sip. A lovely brew.

93

Trappistes Rochefort 6 (7.5% ABV)

Poured at about 14% celsius into matching glassware, Trappistes Rochefort 6 has the appearance of builder's tea viewed with strong sunlight behind it. This bottle displayed a quickly collapsing head with a gentle bead of carbonation.

This most gentle and elusive of the Trappistes Rochefort brews displayed a dried fruit and Old Holborn-pouch nose, giving way to rye and malt, sweet spice and Muscovado, with a dry, hop-brightened finish. This beer displays a gentle, elegant finish with a deceptively lithesome mouth feel that belies its strength. You could kid yourself into believing this was a seasonal session beer, until you fell over.

Trappistes Rochefort don't seem to put a sandal wrong. This is a house choice.

93

Satan Gold (8% ABV)

This golden ale delivers a billowing, pillowy head from a straight pour into the centre of a tulip tasting glass.

An intensely floral, geranium-scented nose develops into a sweet, lightly toasted nut-and-fruit flavor with a pronounced sour-sharp finish.

Ale Satan!

73

Delirium Nocturnum (8.4% ABV)

There is a dark ruby hue to this triple-fermented beer which pours with a seemingly dense head that nevertheless disappears without a trace almost immediately.

A black treacle and prune nose gives way to a hoppy, fruity strawberry jam flavour which finishes surprisingly dryly.

Delerium Nocturnum tries hard, and whilst the three yeasts and five malts make for a brew that is interesting in each of its parts, it's not a relaxing experience. Rather, this is a beer that clanks and crashes through its gears and gives the palate something of a rough ride.

76

St. Bernadus Pater 6 (6.7% ABV)

Brown. Tastes like beer. Really, this did nothing for me. I'll put it on the 'to be sampled again' list as a false reading.

50

Pauwel Kwak (8.4% ABV)

For my money, which I am more than happy to impart upon this venerable Belgian family-run brewery, Kwak has one of the greatest noses in the world.

On raising the quirky 'yard of ale'-style stirrup cup glass to one's nose (which I do not currently possess, hence the chalice in the photo), relentless waves of boiled sweets and glacé cherry break over one's twice-blessed organ of olfaction.

The cherry morphs to tangy, sour-sweet Morello and prune on the palate, with a confusing and pleasingly dry finish, but the tackiness the brew leaves around the corners of the mouth remind us of the sweet barley malt that gives it its denseness and complexity.

At the currently recommended 5-6 degrees Celsius, this beer would have been even easier to quaff, which would both do its interesting qualities a disservice, and perhaps precipitate a swift encounter with the horizontal plane. I prefer this somewhere in the middle of the 8-14 degrees Celsius range, and suspect that leaving the beer to warm too long would exaggerate its barley wine characteristics. That's not necessarily a bad thing if that's how the fancy takes you - Kwak has some chameleon-like qualities in this regard - but I enjoy Kwak and Belgian beers in general for their alterity as much as anything else, and like to let it speak to me in its own voice rather than re-imagining it as a British barley wine.

That said, it would be a great choice to introduce a hardened barley wine lover to whose preferences seldom extended to the continent.

94