The Bar Towel

Hello all:

Back in Ontario after five years in Asia, so obviously I've noticed a lot of changes in the market in my month or so back. Lots of new Pale Ales, IPA's, and DIPA's, which I love. Have yet to see an Ontario brewed Tripel since I returned, which is also a style I greatly enjoy. Anything happening in that area? Suggestions appreciated.

Cheers.

Sorry to say it's still rather slim pickins in that category, at least as far as tripels within the provincial distribution system go. Many breweries release them as one-offs/seasonals once in a while, but you'll probably have to go to the brewery bottle shop itself to buy any. I seriously can't think of any year-round ON tripels off the top of my head.

The only domestic tripels that I recall seeing in LCBOs in the recent past are Mill Street's Betelgeuse (which is not that good, is only in sampler packs and has been on the market since before you left the country anyhow) and Beau's New Lang Syne. The latter is very expensive, is aged in white wine barrels, and is only sold around New Years.

Cameron's did a dry-hopped tripel a while back that I didn't mind, but I haven't seen it in stores for close to 2 years. I think it may have been axed (along with many of their previous seasonals) when they re-branded the brewery.

I've long lamented the lack of consistently available, good quality Ontario-brewed tripels as it is one of my favourite styles and definitely under-represented. Very few brewers have taken a cut at brewing a tripel, and those that do often feel compelled to put a twist on the style (e.g., barrel-aging or adding adjunct ingredients).

The only year-round brewed Ontario tripel that I can think of is New Limburg out of Norfolk County. Unfortunately, I haven't seen their tripel surface in the LCBO. At 7.2%, their blond sort of straddles the category and isn't a bad option.

In addition to the examples that darmokandjalad noted, Forked River brews a tripel called Trinity that I've enjoyed. It isn't a regular offering, but I have seen it carried a couple of times at beer bars in Toronto. Side Launch went a bit outside of their usual product offerings last year and brewed a tripel called Huronic, which tended a bit towards the sweeter side but was still pretty good. Oast House also brewed a decent tripel a couple of years ago, but I haven't seen it in a while so it might have been a one-off. Bellwoods use to brew one called Phantom Limb but it never became one of their core offerings and I don't think they brew it any longer.

Some of the more gimmicky variations include Merit's Tomorrows (tripel brewed eith Earl Grey tea) and Halo's RGBee (tripel brewed with wildflower honey). Both aren't bad, but when drinking them I couldn't help but wish that the underlying beer was allowed to stand on its own. I prefer Halo's Phineas Gage, which is branded as a Belgian strong ale rather than a tripel, but that's largely semantics.

Folly's Kallipolis is another example of an Ontario brewed tripel (and quite a good one at that). Sadly, it's never been part of their bottle shop offerings and isn't available at all right now.

Provost Drunk wrote:In addition to the examples that darmokandjalad noted, Forked River brews a tripel called Trinity that I've enjoyed. It isn't a regular offering, but I have seen it carried a couple of times at beer bars in Toronto.

I knew I was forgetting one! Trinity is pretty good, and the soured barrel-aged variant (Oracle) is even better, albeit not really a 'true' tripel because of the souring. Forked River puts them both out at least once per year, though they aren't distributed to LCBOs, so you'll either have to go to the bottle shop in London or find 'em on-tap somewhere.

Block 3 comes out with Three Ring Circus sporadically, which according to untapped I liked in 2015 but didn't revisit in 16 or 17 for whatever reason.

Also I'll seconded New Limburg as worth checking out. You might also like their Belgian IPA, which is just their Tripel with a generous hop addition... it's lovely.

Sawdust City had a glorious tripel (11% but no boozy taste at all) called 11.05. I picked up some cans at their brewery in May, no idea if it's still in stock but damn, it was delicious.

Malcolm wrote:Sawdust City had a glorious tripel (11% but no boozy taste at all) called 11.05. I picked up some cans at their brewery in May, no idea if it's still in stock but damn, it was delicious.

This is a collaboration with Nickel Brook. As best I know, they have alternated over the years which brewery the beer is made at, and the laws being what they are, they are only allowed to sell it at the brewing site.

S. St. Jeb wrote:

Malcolm wrote:Sawdust City had a glorious tripel (11% but no boozy taste at all) called 11.05. I picked up some cans at their brewery in May, no idea if it's still in stock but damn, it was delicious.

This is a collaboration with Nickel Brook. As best I know, they have alternated over the years which brewery the beer is made at, and the laws being what they are, they are only allowed to sell it at the brewing site.

I think they also vary the style of their 11.05 beer each year (it was an imperial saison last year IIRC), so no reasonable prospect of this one returning in tripel form.

I grabbed some 11.05 from Sawdust last weekend and it was labelled a Belgian Tripel . I was worried it would be too strong and malty but it was really good stuff. Reminded me of Fin du Monde, but stronger yet easier to drink. But maybe I was just really thirsty.

11.05 - a 11% ABV beer brewed yearly by Ryan at Nickel Brook and Sam at Sawdust, released on Nov 5, as they share that birthday.

2013 - Barleywine, brewed at Nickel Brook
2014 - Triple IPA, brewed at Sawdust
2015 - Saison, brewed at Nickel Brook
2016 - Tripel, brewed at Sawdust
2017 - ???, brewed at Nickel Brook

MatttthewGeorge wrote:11.05 - a 11% ABV beer brewed yearly by Ryan at Nickel Brook and Sam at Sawdust, released on Nov 5, as they share that birthday.

2013 - Barleywine, brewed at Nickel Brook
2014 - Triple IPA, brewed at Sawdust
2015 - Saison, brewed at Nickel Brook
2016 - Tripel, brewed at Sawdust
2017 - ???, brewed at Nickel Brook

All have been good to great, but the Triple IPA was fantastic. Remember drinking far too much of it on a Tuesday night and having to get up for work the next morning!

Actually, getting hold of the annual 11.05 release is probably my favourite beer day of the year.

They've all been good except that first one, which tasted like cheese.

Ditto on a the first one. That first one was awful fresh and got worse with age.

New Limburg Tripel happens to be pouring at the original Bar Hop location. Still not as good as I remember it being when I first tried it from the source (though perhaps the nostalgia of drinking in an old school has coloured my opinion), but it remains a solid (and scarce) Ontario-brewed interpretation of the style.