I believe in drinking beer in country and giving it a chance to be its best. I also have been hearing more and more about the US becoming of a source for Belgian style brewing outside of Belgium.
I recently picked up a bottle of New Belgium Trippel to see how this long standing US brewery handled a Belgian standard. One of my favorite beers in the world in Trippel Karmeliet BTW.
To be blunt, I was not impressed. The overall flavor of this beer was not complex and basically all burnt sugar alcohol. The Belgian breweries are so good at "hiding" alcohol along with creating such complex flavors while being light, not heavy.
It makes me wonder if the brewery is making a choice to try and match a view of the American palette and purposefully making this beer taste this way or do they not have the expertise to match the great Belgian examples? They are named New Belgium. Shouldn't they be able to nail a trippel?
Sorry for this negative post but I guess I am expecting more from the mature US craft brewing industry. More power to you if you like this beer. I do not want to judge. Though after travelling to Belgium and having trippels at the source it is hard to like this attempt.
Peace.
I recently picked up a bottle of New Belgium Trippel to see how this long standing US brewery handled a Belgian standard. One of my favorite beers in the world in Trippel Karmeliet BTW.
To be blunt, I was not impressed. The overall flavor of this beer was not complex and basically all burnt sugar alcohol. The Belgian breweries are so good at "hiding" alcohol along with creating such complex flavors while being light, not heavy.
It makes me wonder if the brewery is making a choice to try and match a view of the American palette and purposefully making this beer taste this way or do they not have the expertise to match the great Belgian examples? They are named New Belgium. Shouldn't they be able to nail a trippel?
Sorry for this negative post but I guess I am expecting more from the mature US craft brewing industry. More power to you if you like this beer. I do not want to judge. Though after travelling to Belgium and having trippels at the source it is hard to like this attempt.
Peace.