Double-Blind Tripel Taste Test Results!
After having done vodka, pinot noir, and tequila, it was time for my little club to do beer. Not all of them really like beer so what beer do you do for people who may not be big beer drinkers? Well, tripels could very well deliver, and they're one of my favorite styles. Perfect. Only one of the people who came last night had ever had a tripel before, even the beer lovers, so this would be good exposure for everyone. And finally, this forum will get to see if I can pick my favorites out of the line up and how I rank them when I taste them side by side.
The contestants:
Contestant #1
Unibroue's La Fin Du Monde
Country of Origin: QC, Canada
ABV: 9%
Price: $7.50 for a 750 mL bottle
Wookie's Prior Rating:
My current favorite tripel. I was definitely going to ensure it was represented here.
Contestant #2
Unibroue's Don De Dieu
Country of Origin: QC, Canada
ABV: 9%
Price: $7.50 for a 750 mL bottle
Wookie's prior rating:
This one is a little off beat. It's a tripel made with wheat. I got this one because my mom, who drinks beer but doesn't really love it, really enjoyed this and not so much the LFDM. I'm curious what others thought.
Contestant #3:
Westmalle Trapist Tripel
Country of Origin: Belgium
ABV: 9.5%
Price: $10 for a 750 mL bottle
Wookie's past rating: None
Never tried this one, but I certainly had heard of it. I was glad someone brought it.
Contestant #4:
Green Flash's Trippel [sic]
Country of Origin: CA, USA
ABV: 9.7%
Price: $8 for a 22 oz bottle
Wookie's Past Rating:
I wasn't that big a fan when I tried it, but we'll see how it fares. They changed the label since this picture. It looks more like their Le Freak now.
Contestant #5:
Gouden Carolus Tripel
Country of Origin: Belgium
ABV: 9%
Price: $15 for a 750 mL bottle
Wookie's Past Rating: none
I'd never even heard of this one before a friend showed up with it. It's quite pricey.
Contestant #6
Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Tripel
Country of Origin: Belgium
ABV: 9%
Price: $9.50 for a 750 mL bottle
Wookie's past rating:
A friend brought this as an extra beer that he just was curious about. I was a little nervous this might not go over so well with some drinkers, and I wasn't an especially big fan to begin with.
Contestant #7:
Kasteel Triple
Country of Origin: Belgium
ABV: 11%
Price: $8 for a 750 mL bottle
Wookie's past rating:
This was among my least favorite tripels based on the reviews of mine I looked over, and certainly my least favorite of the ones from last night that I'd had before.
Contestant #8
Tripel Karmeliet
Country of Origin: Belgium
ABV: 8.4%
Price: $10 for a 750 mL bottle
Wookie's past rating:
It was likely I got a bad bottle when I did my review. Hopefully this one would be better.
Results!
Coming in first, the grand winner of the night:
We found this beer to be very citrusy and spicy. It had a dry grapefruit-like hopping reminiscent of Arrogant Bastard, albeit milder, along with a little of the characteristically European grassiness. But it was also had hints of jasmine and coriander. Everyone loved this...but me. I really enjoyed it, but I ranked it fourth. That's not really a knock against it, but I preferred other styles.
Coming in second:
This was definitely a better bottle. It was cloudy and properly carbonated, unlike the first one I'd had. When I first tried this, I thought it might have been the Don De Dieu, but I realized I was wrong when we actually had the Don De Dieu later. It did have a lighter flavor of pineapple, pear, apricot and clove that was reminiscent of the Don De Dieu, but it wasn't as sweet and wasn't as malty. A couple people didn't care for the sweetness, but the rest of us loved it.
In third place:
As I mentioned, I was able to pick this out of the line up by taste even though we were trying them blind. I love the Unibroue beers. Those that didn't thought they were too sweet.
And just narrowly behind it in fourth by one point:
I was also able to identify this one correctly by its taste alone, and I still ranked it first. It is sweet, and that was the major complaint of those that didn't go for it. I thought the apple, orange, pear, apricot, malt, and yeasty flavors were the strongest in this. I didn't mind the sweetness because there was so much else there. The Unibroue beers are the obvious value picks of this test, as they cost half the price of the winner.
In fifth place, again just one point behind:
This was a "love it or hate it" beer. Two ranked it second. The rest had it near the bottom, including me. I don't mind the hoppiness, but there isn't enough tripel there, and even the hops are not the style I prefer. But, the people most off-put by the sweeter beers loved this one.
And then, just one point behind that, in sixth:
This one I was not able to pick out of the line up. Based on the strong grassy hopping that was almost on the level of the Chouffe, I assumed it was Belgian. It had a nice flavor of apple, apricot, and clove to it in addition to the hops. The people who liked the drier beers also liked this one.
And finally, we had a tie for last place. There was a big drop off in scores after the above block. By process of elimination, they were:
Of the two, I favored the Westmalle. It was unusually sour, not like a proper sour ale, but it was sour for a tripel, tasting of lemon and pear in addition to a light hopping. However, many didn't like this sourness, so to the bottom it fell.
The Kasteel was the one I thought was Green Flash. It was the least cloudy and the least carbonated of any of the beers, so I guess there's a chance it was a bad bottle, but it was that way in my earlier review of it. It wasn't very spicy, and it was just syrupy and sweet. A couple people liked the mild flavor and the sweetness, but even though I liked the LFDM, this didn't do it for me at all, and of course the people who preferred the less sweet beers didn't go for it, either.
Ultimately, I'm pretty proud of how my palette fared. I identified most of the beers I knew, and I scored them appropriately in my opinion. However, I'm not surprised that this crowd disagreed with me, as our tastes vary widely. The Gouden Carolus is definitely one to try, though. It was unlike any other tripel I've had, and it played well with just about everyone.