Ontario brewed Tripels...

[midlife crisis]

Publican House in Peterborough makes a tripel, but only sporadically I think.

[Provost Drunk]

I noticed Side Launch's Huronic Tripel on the shelves at Queen's Quay this afternoon. The 750 mL bottle format is unfortunate, but I enjoyed this one last year when I tried it on tap at Bar Hop so I picked one up to revisit at some point.

[sofakingdrunk]

Pretty sure I saw New Limburge tripel @ store the other day. I've had both their blonde and wit(two styles I'm not huge on) and really enjoyed them both, great beers. I didn't pick up the triple as my bill was already climbing far too high, but I will.

[Provost Drunk]

Pretty sure I saw New Limburge tripel @ store the other day. I've had both their blonde and wit(two styles I'm not huge on) and really enjoyed them both, great beers. I didn't pick up the triple as my bill was already climbing far too high, but I will.

Good catch! I think these tripels slipped through the cracks and weren't referenced in the "new arrivals" thread. It doesn't look like New Limburg Tripel has the broadest distribution yet, but hopefully it shows up soon in more locations. I can't recall the last time there were two Ontario-brewed tripels available at the LCBO (three if you count Beau's New Lang Syne; I've never been willing to pay the premium price tag for barrel aging that will probably make the beer worse, at least for my tastes).

[northyorksammy]

side launch terrible, Shacklands on at some taps across city

[beerstodiscover]

side launch terrible

Really? All their other stuff is solid and just bought one.


The Publican House Eight or Better tripel is also at the LCBO.

[northyorksammy]

side launch terrible

Really? All their other stuff is solid and just bought one.


The Publican House Eight or Better tripel is also at the LCBO.

You are right, Ontario has not yet brewed an average level tripel. Best tripels ever? Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux and Westmalle

[El Pinguino]

I'm a fan of tripel karmeliet myself. can't think of any decent Ontario tripels...nor any decent quads or dubbels that weren't one offs.

[seangm]

I'm a fan of tripel karmeliet myself. can't think of any decent Ontario tripels...nor any decent quads or dubbels that weren't one offs.

I can't think of any tripel, dubbel or quad brewed in Ontario that can stand up to the top Belgians. Those three styles almost seem untouchable, but I guess it's hard to compete with centuries of expertise. Additionally I feel that a lot of breweries jump into making way too many styles early on before mastering the core elements of brewing. Especially with tripels where you can't rely on crutches like excessive hopping or over the top flavour additions.

[midlife crisis]

Halo 100 Pts Dubbel with Cherries. I loved that one last winter.

[atomeyes]

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).

i've talked to a friend of mine who owns a brewery. he says that his tripel was very difficult to sell kegwise to bars and restaurants and that bottle sales were also slow.

i've talked with another brewery friend about us brewing something in the same vein as Dulle Teve - a hoppy tripel that doesn't have that umami flavour that i find Chimay's tripel has, but still has great yeast notes. semi-excited to further explore this, but I also am a bit nervous about the sales side. we'll see if we go ahead with it in the new year.

to be fair, there are few tripels that really blow me away. Dulle Teve is one, but it's atypical. I really enjoy all of St Bernadous's tripels. and Buteuse is also a great tripel.
anyways, we'll see if we brew it come the new year.

[BeerIsGood]

I'll second the thought of El Pinguino on the quality of Karmeliet, ranking it behind only Fin du Monde and Westmalle as my favourites. Kasteel would be the one I consider most underrated.

[Provost Drunk]

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).

i've talked to a friend of mine who owns a brewery. he says that his tripel was very difficult to sell kegwise to bars and restaurants and that bottle sales were also slow.

i've talked with another brewery friend about us brewing something in the same vein as Dulle Teve - a hoppy tripel that doesn't have that umami flavour that i find Chimay's tripel has, but still has great yeast notes. semi-excited to further explore this, but I also am a bit nervous about the sales side. we'll see if we go ahead with it in the new year.

to be fair, there are few tripels that really blow me away. Dulle Teve is one, but it's atypical. I really enjoy all of St Bernadous's tripels. and Buteuse is also a great tripel.
anyways, we'll see if we brew it come the new year.

Sounds like an interesting project - please keep us posted! The inherent challenge in brewing a hoppy tripel is achieving balance so that the yeast notes are still expressed and aren't completely overpowered by the hops. Many North American brewers seem to fail in this regard IMO.

The only time that I tried Dulle Teve was years ago at Volo. I liked it, but the bottle had some age on it which certainly had an adverse impact.

What you've heard about the difficulty in selling a tripel makes sense. Otherwise, I'd imagine that simple economics would encourage more breweries to produce this style if the demand was out there. It's frustrating to be a fan of the style in these circumstances but hard to argue with market forces.

[atomeyes]

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).

i've talked to a friend of mine who owns a brewery. he says that his tripel was very difficult to sell kegwise to bars and restaurants and that bottle sales were also slow.

i've talked with another brewery friend about us brewing something in the same vein as Dulle Teve - a hoppy tripel that doesn't have that umami flavour that i find Chimay's tripel has, but still has great yeast notes. semi-excited to further explore this, but I also am a bit nervous about the sales side. we'll see if we go ahead with it in the new year.

to be fair, there are few tripels that really blow me away. Dulle Teve is one, but it's atypical. I really enjoy all of St Bernadous's tripels. and Buteuse is also a great tripel.
anyways, we'll see if we brew it come the new year.

Sounds like an interesting project - please keep us posted! The inherent challenge in brewing a hoppy tripel is achieving balance so that the yeast notes are still expressed and aren't completely overpowered by the hops. Many North American brewers seem to fail in this regard IMO.

The only time that I tried Dulle Teve was years ago at Volo. I liked it, but the bottle had some age on it which certainly had an adverse impact.

What you've heard about the difficulty in selling a tripel makes sense. Otherwise, I'd imagine that simple economics would encourage more breweries to produce this style if the demand was out there. It's frustrating to be a fan of the style in these circumstances but hard to argue with market forces.

Dulle Teve is a funny beer. you're supposed to drink it fresh, but it definitely tastes good with some age on it.

the issue with a hoppy tripel is what you said: balance between yeast and hop. we're talking about hoppy in Belgian terms, not North American hop bomb terms. so it's manageable. and the key to Dulle Teve is its atypical yeast strain. plays much better with hops and malt that other strains. the other key is to use a multi-generation yeast pitch i.e. use yeast to brew a few batches of an APA and then use it for the higher-alcohol tripel. i would guess that other attempts at a tripel would use a first-pitch yeast or a meh yeast strain, so you wouldn't hit the right yeast notes. finally, it's about fermenting at the right temp. belgians love their 24.5 C

my biggest issue i had was timing the sugar addition to the boil. too long in the boil and the caramel-like flavour you get doesn't work well. the sugar should be to hit gravity and to give it the thinner tripel body (versus a stout).

anyways, we'll see if we go ahead and do it in the new year.

[BeerIsGood]

Actually, I have encountered one Ontario tripel since my return, as I have a bottle of Beau's New Lang Syne tucked away for the holidays.