I’ve been on a Belgian kick lately and since I loved the original Duvel I felt it only logical to try the Duvel Tripel Hop that’s been sitting in a local store for a while. The bottle came corked, caged, and foiled with a bottled on date of May 18, 2010 and a best before date of May 18, 2013. Eager to try it I jumped right in after chilling it for a bit.

I originally poured too much into my Duvel tulip glass and the scent was a bit too strong and congested. It smelled highly chemical with faint notes of apples and lemon. As I sip more and it gets a chance to breath it still maintains a chemical smell, but the floral hop notes come through more with a nice pear and apple scent on the nose. Onto the taste it’s immediate that there’s a more fuller body here than Duvel, it’s creamy with a light carbonation and the taste is definitely better than the smell. There’s a more prominent bread malt profile which goes into an alcohol apple flavored mid section and finishes with a floral hops.

Overall I am enjoying this, but not to the extent I had hoped. The Tripel Hop just isn’t balanced enough for me, there’s too much alcohol and a chemical taste apparent for me to fully enjoy this. -Mark