Mar 1, 2017

Oud Beersel Bersalis Tripel

The only other Oud Beersel brand beer — brewed by Belgium’s Brouwerij Oud Beersel — that I’ve encountered was a tasty framboise roughly five years ago. Now, I couldn’t say that I out right remembered that beer when I spied this Bersalis Tripel on shelves, but the Beersel moniker sounded familiar which was plenty excuse for me to pick up a bottle.

There was not packaging date on this particular bottle and it carried a fine layer of dust around the neck, so it had probably been sitting for a while. The fact that it is a Belgian tripel (9.5% ABV in this case) put my mind at ease concerning the age. And well, the dust did not lie — this was an old bottle. It’s probably not as lively, flavor-wise as it probably once was as caramel and bready malt lead the way for light fruit notes and distant, peppery yeast. A twinge of cardboard peaks in from the edges on the aroma and makes a stronger case in the flavor.

I certainly didn’t have super high hopes once I cracked open Bersalis Tripel, but the beer was still fairly solid in presentation. Despite it showing signs of age in both the aroma and flavor, the beer was still pretty tasty. I’d really like to find a more fresh bottle for comparison, but having only encountered two products from the brewery in five years…. that may be tougher than guessing the age on this tripel.