Ten Top Tripels: #7  Lariano Tripé, Lariano Sirone, Italy at La Belle Alliance, Milan

Date:  March 4, 2019

The Story— We featured this beer last fall just because it was such a great find in our last trip to Milan.  But we can’t do a list of =great tripel beers without including it.  You can get the full story of La Belle Alliance bar and our introduction to this beer by clicking here.

The Beer—  I’d like to try it with the yeast more settled. As is, it’s maybe a bit yeasty and chalky for style, but actually nicely within specs.   Bitter hops and a lasting mild tart lemon are authentic too.   Ellie pointed to the soft tripel funk with sugar, gentle metal and some tropical hops.

Value —  Very good to Excellent — At just over six bucks for a….shaker*…. pint, it’s hard to imagine a better bargain in a big city in Italy.   *Our only complaint about this excellent Milan beer bar was that they had become so “authentically” craft that they served almost all the beers in shaker pints.  The glass created for mixing cocktails and used in American brewpubs because they’re cheap and don’t easily break.  They’re the worst ever for trying to taste the best in a beer.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

 To start the month of March we’re featuring our top ten tripels over the past several years– these are wonderfully complex and even delicate strong golden ales.   At their best, Tripels are among the best beers in the world.   At their common norm, they’re heavy handed, big-boozed and barely better than the malt liquors of the 20th century.   Here are ten beers that could show the rest of the country how it’s done.

 We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers,   and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

Ten Top Tripels: #8 Garden Grove The Knight, Richmond, Va.

Date:  March 3, 2019

The Story—  Richmond has exploded as a beer city in the past few years.   That’s fitting, since the country’s first canned beer, Kreuger’s Finest, rolled out here 85 years ago.  Today it is home to some of the most famous breweries in the east and lines for can releases sometimes stretch outside in the rain.   You won’t have to stand in the rain for a can of Garden Grove, though – they don’t package-but it’s worth walking through the rain, if you need to, to savor their well-above average beers in their taproom.

Garden Grove gets less press than some of the cult favorites here, but it’s one of the more comfortable taprooms in the city and a fine place to just sit back and enjoy very good beer.  We found the full range of their beers to be quite good and some were nothing short of excellent. They seem to be at their best with Belgian styles.  Many of their beers are aged in wood – we don’t think this one was– but with or without the wood, beers here are the product of a good deal of skill.

This example of the Tripel style used Kashmir hops from North Carolina.   The  local-ish hops took it a few steps away from the original (echt), but added interest.   Many tripel brewers make changes in the name of originally that leave a drinker wondering where the “tripel” went.   This one succeeds in being interesting, but keeps a good deal of authentic character.

The Beer— (tasted in 2016; see Caveat below).  Heavy for style but much of it is echt.  It’s floral and metallic and slightly sugary. We assume  that the North Carolina Kashmir hops contribute to an late bitter that isn’t typical in tripels.   There were notes of sucrose, especially late in the finish, that we found distracting, but overall this was a beer that was fun to taste and ponder.

Value —  Good to fair.   Garden Grove brews good beer and they know it.   They’re a small brewery — we understand they need the margin.   If you want breweries like this, and we do, you have to pay for them.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

 To start the month of March we’re featuring our top ten tripels over the past several years– these are wonderfully complex and even delicate strong golden ales.   At their best, Tripels are among the best beers in the world.   At their common norm, they’re heavy handed, big-boozed and barely better than the malt liquors of the 20th century.   Here are ten beers that could show the rest of the country how it’s done.

CAVEAT:  The days of flagship beers, except for the Sierra Nevadas of the world, are gone.   Most breweries have a handful of beers they produce regularly, but even the lists of “usuals” vary with time.  Reviews posted here about craft beers on both sides of the Atlantic are intended to provide a sense of the strengths of the breweries featured and are subject to change.

 We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers,   and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

Ten Top Tripels: #9:  Hopkins Ordinary Oventop Tripel, Sperryville, Virginia

Date:  March 2, 2019

The Story—  Hopkins Ordinary is a nearly unique experience for beer drinkers.   A brewery in the basement, a breakfast room on the first floor and a bedroom on the second floor in which, if you make arrangements, beer can be delivered to you.   It’s a wonderful mom and pop operation that offers an above average B&B experience, a serene and welcoming beer garden, a very good nano brewery, and a small town with good food and another, albeit edgier, brewery just a bit of an ambitious walk away.

When we did the search for top ten tripels I was happily surprised to see Hopkins Ordinary in the mix.  The people are so welcoming, the place is so much a labor of love and the night we spent there was a memory we treasure.  The lesson here is that with pretty manageable capital expense, but a lot of dedication, you can make very good beer.

We happened upon a genuine French garage brewery a number of years ago– the Brasserie du Cambier which brewed an interesting tripel-like Iris beer.   It was a one man operation that no longer brews, but we loved the guy’s devotion to his farmhouse tripel-ish beer.   We were reminded a bit of that experience, though when we checked the notes, we found our ratings of Hopkins very much higher.  You can have the same farmhouse experience and vibe– and get better beer at Hopkins Ordinary.

The Beer— Some sugars emerge, but there’s lots more going on.  Stone fruit, lemon and a hint of pepper are all more or less to style, while just an echo of malt is enough to balance.  Very balanced beer even if its reminiscent of a kind of a  garage French or Belgian tripel.  The name comes from a local mountain with three peaks.

Value — Very good.  Hopkins Ordinary charges below-bar prices for very drinkable beers — with some gems like this one sprinkled in

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

In March we’re featuring our top ten tripels over the past several years– these are wonderfully complex and even delicate strong golden ales.   At their best, Tripels are among the best beers in the world.   At their common norm, they’re heavy handed, big-boozed and barely better than the malt liquors of the 20th century.   Here are ten beers that could show the rest of the country how it’s done.

 We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers,   and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

Ten Top Tripels: #10:   Vieux Lille Wal, Lille, France

Date:  March 1, 2019

The Story—  When we did our search to find out top 10 for the past several years we found some Belgians, which was no surprise, and several Americans, which only surprised us in their numbers.   That a French Tripel would push into the top tier, however, was indeed a surprise.

We found this beer at the Brewberry bar in Paris.  If you let your GPS wander you through backstreets from the Latin Quarter past the institute where Pierre & Marie Curie discovered radium, you pass through very quiet neighborhoods until you emerge onto Rue du Pot de Fer, a narrow but rockin’ block of brilliant lights and cheek-by-jowl cafes, where we discovered Brewberry, a cute tiny studentish place sporting about 4 tiny tables outside, and inside a small standing bar area and a handful of rickety tables behind them. Ellie discovered a teeny snug back by the toilettes with maybe 3 more tables and we settled in for a fine night of tasting.  They have about 24 taps, of which 19 were open with mostly French beers.  It’s not the easiest bar to get to in France, but it’s a gem.   Watch closing time and the last train from the nearest Metro, though taxis prowl after closing for grateful and generous tippers.   (How do we know this?)

The Beer—  It’s a genuine tripel beer:  Rich malt wiht lots of fruit with tropical flavors that run to kumquat with a nice pepper finish lasting well.  It’s still a fruity fruit and maybe a bit much for the style, but the pepper rides really well.  A fine beer at a fine bar.

Value —  Very good.  Six bucks for a quarter liter of an 8.2% French mind-fogger.  For Paris it is a bargain.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

 To start the month of March we’re featuring our top ten tripels over the past several years– these are wonderfully complex and even delicate strong golden ales.   At their best, Tripels are among the best beers in the world.   At their common norm, they’re heavy handed, big-boozed and barely better than the malt liquors of the 20th century.   Here are ten beers that could show the rest of the country how it’s done.

 We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers,   and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

Cellaring Beers: Chimay Speciale Cent Cinquante.  Abbey de Scourmont, Chimay, Belgium    At  Six Years From our “Vault”

Date:  February 28, 2018

The Story—  We’re not sure how this beer slipped through our drinking fingers when we bought it fresh in 2013, but maybe that’s OK anyway.   Trappist Belgian ales cellar well — the big ones, we were told at the brewery to lay down their dubbel for five years.  We assume they planned on people cellaring this special edition of this iconic beer.   We think it was something of a one off and not a relabeling.

Father Robert, who was at the time the number two monk at the brewery, took us on a several hours tour of the brewery and the bottling and cheese making facility down the road.   We’ve never forgotten his wisdom in summarizing what almost every brewery of any faith- or no faith at all– has encompassed:  “Our purpose is to take the gifts from God and make them useful to man.”   Thank you Father Robert.  Thank you God.

And on a side note– one of my favorite stories of the French Revolution involves Chimay.  At the height of the terror of the French Revolution, Robespierre imprisoned the mistress (later wife) of Jean Lambert Tallien, one of the legislative leaders of the assembly that authorized the Terror.  She apparently wrote him a letter accusing him of cowardice in yielding to Robespierre’s bloody campaign.  Fighting tears the next day, Tallien rose and condemned Robespierre and he was followed by numerous others.   Robespierre went to the guillotine the next day and Mme. Tallien, now known as the Grand Dame of Thermidor, went on to become Princess of Chimay.

The Beer— At six years it’s lost the sparkling brightness of the Chimay White Label– if this edition ever had the same level of carbonation.   It still shows the tasty smooth, but gently spicy depth and complexity that has made Chimay famous far from its monastery complex.   Just a bit of heat late attests to its strength.  .

Value — good to very good.   No one sells a beer like this cheap, but if you’re employed, this is why you work.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

 Starting Tomorrow:  TEN TOP TRIPELS for Spring.   Tripels are beers that can be enjoyed any time of year — their subtle and even enough for warmer months, but deep and complex enough for the depths of winter.   Our favorite season for them, however, is springtime: if it’s warm enough to sip them outside, great, but if it’s a chilly evening they’re perfect for a last-of-the-winter fire.

In February, we’ve dug into our legendary “vault” where we’ve been storing hundreds of bottles of beer waiting for the right time to taste them (or sell them for charity).   The charity market has slowed, so we’re working through them in front of a fire and finding some disappointments, but more very surprising delights.   You can find the full list –eventually– here on this “index post.”

 We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers,   and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”