Long Strange Tripel

I am a hophead. West Coast IPAs are my favorite. I’ll take a Stone Ruination IPA any day of the week. Belgian ale? I’ll normally not even give them a thought unless there is a special occasion then I’ll usually pick up a Chimay Blue. But I still picked up all four of the Boulevard Smokestack series and the Long Strange Tripel was the first one opened.

Please excuse the glass, most of my glasses are packed because we’re moving in a couple of weeks.

This is the first Tripel I’ve had so I didn’t really know what to expect. It poured a cloudy golden color (the bottle says to store upright…I noticed that after I took it out of the fridge on its side) with a light head. It has a nice malty, citrusy smell…but not hoppy. The first taste reminded me of the Boulevard Zon but with more flavor. At almost 9%, I braced myself for some alcohol kick but I was pleasantly surprised…there wasn’t any.

Towards the end of the bottle, the alcohol snuck up on me. I took my time with this beer to really savor it since I only bought one bottle (I’ll be picking up at least four more of these). But even taking my time, I was pretty giddy by the time I was finished. And I wanted more but it was time for bed.

Over all this beer should appeal to many beer lovers. After all, if a hophead Belgian avoider like myself would recommend this beer, it must be pretty good.

The The - Infected is playing.