De Dolle Dulle Teve (Mad Bitch)

~ Initial Review (750mL bottle), 02-16-2004:

A beer that required quite a but of work on my part to sample, with perhaps only better-than-average results....

750mL green bottle, with only a botle-cap keeping things in. Once I went to open up this beer, foam started spewing from the partially opened bottle cap. Once the cap was removed, foam issued forth -- not too agressively, but with enough vigor that I saw about half of the $10.49 bottle's contents seep out of the top of the bottle, down the sides, and down the kitchen sink drain.

Wanting to make sure that I got as much of this beer as I could (who likes seing good beer going down the drain?), tired pouring this into my Piraat goblet glass. With a spoon to scoop out the excess foam, and lots of paitence, was able to get a glass "only" half-full of foam. Took a deep drink of this, and ended up with a massive case of the hickups. Once both my hickups and the foaming calmed down, was finally able to get a firm reading on this beer, pro or con.

Worth the trouble? Yeah, I guess so....

Like other reviewers have mentioned, this is closer to a jacked-up Saison than what I would normally consider to be a Tripel. Neither spicy nor compartively "light" enough for a Tripel, and too big and heavy for a true Saison -- Fantome's arcane creations not withstanding.

However, for the record, I guess I have to say that this is still a workable beer. eastery enough to be interesting, and with enough alcoholic kick to make things fairly appealing.

But, at the same time, this particular beer was such a pain in the ass to work worth (excessive carbonation, most notably), and it was far from inexpensive, that I'm not convinced that it was 100% worth-while. Perhaps if it were on-tap in some funky little beer-bar in Belgium, it would be an awesome "cult favorite". But as far as the bottled version of this goes, "Mad Bitch" is appropriate, since it is bit of a "bitch" to work with, that might just as well drive you "mad". Caveat emptor...

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~ Re-Review (330mL bottle), 09-10-2004:

Another try, another rather unimpressive showing, I'm sorry to say.

Not nearly as carbonated/viotile as the previous sample, but seems to come across way too hot and heavy-handed with the alcohol. Not terrible, but a bit of a handful for a Tripel, IMO.

Scores an average of both samplings.
//TB