La Fringante

My distinct and rather overwelming first (and lasting) impression of this was, "Haven't they already done this exact beer a couple times before?" That is to say, unless my taste buds are serious out-of-whack, I'd swear this was a near-clone of the Unibroue 10's and 11's a year or two ago.

Now, mind you, that is *not* a bad thing. No, not at all. If the world was filled with more Unibroue 10 and 11 clones, and less anonymous tasting macro-schwills, think of how good life would be? But I digress....

Poured with a big, white, fluffy head of foam, but one of which that did not last too long. Yellow-ish body, with perhaps hints of orange.

Classic "Big Unibroue Beer" aroma -- kinda sweet, kinda spicy, perhaps a litte estery, etc. Nothing too surprising with this beer so far.

Ditto for the flavor. I mean, I enjoyed this, and went well on a quiet Sunday night hanging out with my wife and the "kids", watching DVDs. I would have liked this Tripel make a bit more of an impression, as far as the "spiciness" goes, but still, tasty indeed.

But..., I could never put aside the distinct impression of having had this many times before. Just like it seems how Taco Bell will release "new" products using the exact same four ingredients over and over, that was how I envisioned this beer. Tasty..., but not really distinct enough from all of the other Belgian Strong Pale Ales etc from Unibroue.

Cheers to Rastacouere for the sample!
//TB