Well, who would have known that Monsieur BeerCrank would happen to write not one, not two, but three MANITOBAN Belgian Tripel reviews all within the same week! The more the merrier as they say. Today's sampling is Balloon Race Tripel by Obsolete Brewing out of Dauphin, Manitoba, making this the very first Belgian Tripel ever brewed in Western-ish Manitoba - As a fellow Belgian beer geek, I'm proud to see this day finally occur.
From the can of Balloon Race: Introducing our Balloon Race Tripel - A Belgian-style beer inspired by the exhilarating hot-air balloon races at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris. This golden Elixir marries spicy, fruity, and alcohol flavours with a soft, rounded malt sweetness. Fermented with Belgian yeast, it boasts citrusy esters and a peppery character. Balanced by a moderate hop spice, with medium high bitterness and a dry finish. It's a thrilling journey of flavour, cheers to adventure - raise a glass to ballonrace tripel. 9.0% ABV
Appearance: (Again, sorry about the appearance of the glass - farm water will do that and it was the only actually clean glass I had). Very clear golden body with a moderate amount of carbonation in the body, thick white head on top, but of course the head diminishes to the essential minimum, just a light layering of bubbles here and there, no lacing, very simple.
Aroma: Bubble gum! It's a sweet classic bubble gum aroma to start off things, followed by a slight toasted malt profile to give it a slight graininess and a slight hint of nuttiness to it. There's a decent amount of sweetness - predominantly honey. Pretty smooth for a Belgian Tripel so far.
Taste: Fairly dry Belgian ale. I get notes of pear, a hint of bubble gum, and at 9% ABV this is going to be something that will be a bit overbearing to some. As I let it warm up, it's still sweet, but no profile notes seem to overwhelm anything else. There's a bit of a caramel sweetness, I guess? But pretty subdued. Aftertaste is a slight sweetness, mostly reminiscent of pear/apple.
Overall Thoughts: This is a really tough one to get. It's definitely a Belgian-style Tripel - It's sweet, fruity, a tad bit spiced, and definitely a bit boozy. One thing I have to say is that this has been reminiscent of Unibroue's La Fin du Monde for the past few years once they moved production to cans.. which I'd describe as very sweet, fruity, tad spiced, even a bit heavy now days.. so comparing it to the North American standard, my favourite beer - it checks out.
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