As I stated in my earlier Tasting Beer thread, "One thing you have to perfect if you are to become a complete brewer, is how to taste beer. While it doesn't sound that hard, it actually is quite difficult when you don't always know what you're trying to taste for.". Refer to this post if you're wondering how I taste my beers.
So in order to perfect this craft, I have to see how others have perfected theirs! This is my first official beer review so take it easy on me! The views below are mine and mine only... Your mileage may vary.
St. Feuillien's Tripel pours a nice golden orange color. The small amount of suspended yeast provides a light turbidity to the brew. The short (say 2 finger width) head that I did have with the beer quickly dissipated. Note: I have heard that hard water will kill head retention in glassware, while I haven't noticed head retention problems in other beers that we've tried with our glasses, this may be a result of the mineral content of our water.
The beer has a nice yeasty aroma with a bit of sweetness and citrus. There's a hint of something else too... Refering to my handy dandy beer color wheel - I think this may be the phenolic odor (adhesive strip smell), that is in there with the citrus.
Ahhh taste! The best part of the brew! The initial taste I got was more of the enhanced phenolic flavor. It definitely comes out more over the smell....at least I think it's phenolic...keep in mind... I'm new at this!! :-) There is also a nice spicy bite to the flavor. I perused a couple of other reviews on this beer, and they mentioned white pepper. It's not quite something I can taste yet though. I'm going to have to go out, and buy some now just to verify! Pepper or not, it is spicy! The finish was the worst part of this beer. Really....everything was on the A- to B+ scale up to this point...however the finish left something to be desired...and it wasn't another sip! This was the hardest part of the beer to determine the flavor. I'm going to say it was a very resiny hop bitterness. However the bitterness left the palate very unappealing. While at 8.5% ABV, the aftertaste slowly diminishes with the glass, even after the bottle was empty it still left a harshness.
Well that was my first experience into the wonderful world of official beer tasting!! If you have any comments, criticisms, complaints, or questions please let me know. I always appreciate feedback. One thing I do know for sure... I need to get myself a nice duvel tasting glass! I've also attached the beer tasting wheel for your viewing pleasure! I just turned on the Brew Crew playing the Cubs on WGN...GOTTA GO!!
Beer Tasting Wheel
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