Tripel

ABV 7.5-9.5% · IBU 20-40 · SRM 4.5-7 · Serve 45-50F · Glass Chalice

Identify

Deep yellow to light gold, and usually bright and clear. A tall rocky white head that stands well above the rim and refuses to sit down. Streams of small bubbles rise through it like sparkling wine. It smells of pepper, orange peel, a little clove and pear, over a soft honeyed grain note. Lighter in the mouth than the colour or the strength suggests. The carbonation is high and scrubs your tongue clean. Spice and citrus lead, bitterness is firm, and the finish is properly dry. The alcohol is almost invisible while you are drinking it.

Place

Westmalle Abbey, near Antwerp, Belgium. A strong pale beer from the 1930s, settled into its present recipe in the 1950s.

Cause

A Tripel starts with pale pilsner malt, and then the brewer adds a large helping of pale sugar, often fifteen to twenty percent of the total. Sugar ferments away completely. Malt leaves behind unfermentable sugars called dextrins, which are what give a beer body and a sweet impression.

Confused with

Belgian Golden Strong Ale, which is paler, fruitier and even more attacking in the carbonation. Belgian Blond Ale, which is the same look at about two percent less alcohol. Super strength pale Saison, which is drier and more rustic. Belgian Dubbel, its dark sibling at 7.4.

Numbers

A Tripel is a pale Belgian ale of 8 or 9 percent that tastes like it is 5. Every other feature of the style exists to make that possible. It is also the single most useful thing to know before you order one. A Tripel is pale, light in the mouth, highly carbonated and easy to drink. Everything your senses report says moderate beer.

Will you like it and Try

Dry sparkling wine, or champagne with food. The carbonation, the dryness and the strength are all in the same territory, and the beer does the same job at a table. Black pepper on food, or a peppery olive oil. That note is the centre of the beer and it is not subtle. Marmalade, orange peel, or candied citrus.

Order and Pair

Order one, in a chalice, with food if you can. Ask for a small pour if the bar offers one, because a lot of American bars sell Belgian strong ales in 8 or 10 ounce measures for exactly this reason. Taking the small glass is not timidity, it is arithmetic. If it comes from a bottle, the same sediment question applies as with a Dubbel.

Judge, Myth and Remember

Deep yellow to light gold, bright, with a tall rocky white head that stays. Pepper, orange peel and a little clove in the smell. Light in the mouth, sharply carbonated, firmly bitter, and dry at the end. Warmth arrives afterwards, if at all, and never while the glass is still under your nose.