Beer of the Weekend #144: Abbey Triple

Tonight I ate the mushroom and spinach enchilada at El Banditos, a new Mexican place on Market Street in downtown Iowa City. It was badass. Mervgotti said his non-veggie enchilada was badass as well, so I suggest you guys pay El Banditos a visit if you’re in the IC area. They have PBR on tap, too.

On Thursday, after eating a black bean burger (the Jackson Junction) and drinking an Iowa Pale Ale at Short’s (I’ve been all about local eateries since returning), Mervgotti and I headed to Dirty John’s to pick up my first BotW as an IC resident.

I had no clue what to get; it was an unplanned and convenient visit since I needed beer and was nearby. I browsed the vast selection and realized my BotW needs are in good hands. After a little deliberation (mostly asking Mervgotti, “So what stuff do you guys distribute?”) I settled on Abbey Triple, brewed by the Sprecher Brewing Company of Glendale, Wisconsin.


According to the bottom of the carrier, the Sprecher brewery and gift shop are located just five miles north of downtown Milwaukee.

Serving type: Four 16-ounce bottles. Yeah — 16-ounce bottles. There is no freshness date.

Appearance: Straight pour into a tulip. Poured a thick looking orange juice color with a slight ruby tint. A maximum of two fingers of white head developed and dissipated to leave a ring around the edge and a spotted lacing.

Smell: Pleasantly Belgian in that yeasty way. Bready yeast, bananas, apple cider, clove spice, and a little honey. Reminds me of perfect summer nights.

Taste: Very fruity and spicy up front. Bananas, apple cider, and clove greet the taste buds first. There’s a noticeable alcohol presence next, which dissipates as the pint warms, and the aftertaste is a balance between honey and the fruits from the beginning.

Drinkability: Very smooth, tasty, and refreshing. A good brew from a great brewery.

Fun facts about Abbey Triple:

-Style: Tripel. BA has this to say:

The name "Tripel" actually stems from part of the brewing process, in which brewers use up to three times the amount of malt than a standard Trappist "Simple." Traditionally, Tripels are bright yellow to gold in color, which is a shade or two darker than the average Pilsener. Head should be big, dense and creamy. Aroma and flavor runs along complex, spicy phenolic, powdery yeast, fruity/estery with a sweet finish. Sweetness comes from both the pale malts and the higher alcohol. Bitterness is up there for a beer with such a light body for its strength, but at times is barely perceived amongst the even balance of malts and hops. The lighter body comes from the use of Belgian candy sugar (up to 25% sucrose), which not only lightens the body, but also adds complex alcoholic aromas and flavors. Small amounts of spices are sometimes added as well.

Tripels are actually notoriously alcoholic, yet the best crafted ones hide this character quite evil-like and deceivingly, making them sipping beers.

-Price: Once again, I didn’t get the receipt at Dirty’s. The next time I go there I need to ask for it, otherwise the cashiers will automatically rip it off the little printer, crumple it up, and throw it in the trash beneath the counter. Regardless, I think it was $7.99 for the four-pack.

-Serving temperature: The Specher website suggests 50ºF.

-Alcohol content: 8.41 percent ABV.

-Food pairings: BA recommends Mediterranean cuisine, sharp cheeses (Blue, Cheddar), pungent cheeses (Gorgonzola, Limburger), pork, and poultry.

-IBU: 13.

-Gravity: 19º Plato.

-First brewed in 2000, Abbey Triple is aged for 20 weeks.

-Abbey Triple is part of Sprecher’s “Brewmaster’s Premium Reserve Ales & Lagers” series, which also includes Doppel Bock, Russian Imperial Stout, IPA2, and Piper’s Scotch Ale. Thinking about it now, I wish I would have gotten the Scotch Ale. However, it’s not like I’m flying back to California in a week.

-Here’s one thing I do not like about this “Premium Reserve” series: the beers are not labeled very well. Sure, each style has its own name and bottle label design, but they are all packaged in the exact same carrier. The only way you can tell which beer in the “Premium Reserve” series you’re buying is to check the neck label (“Check the Neck,” as the carrier says) or take a bottle out. Each brew, in my opinion, should have its own, distinctive carrier design.

-Sprecher brews many different styles of beers (check out their website: www.sprecherbrewery.com), but I always knew them for the beer on tap at Dave’s Foxhead in Iowa City. To Mervgotti it was known as “Sprechers.” I think it was Sprecher Black Bavarian. It was the darkest stuff on tap at Foxy’s, and oh so good. I will have to sample it sometime in the future.

-Along with brewing a cornucopia of beer, Sprecher also makes gourmet sodas. (And by “soda” you mean “pop,” bitch.) Today I walked up to Dan’s Shortstop, an east side IC institution, because I was craving some cream soda. Instead of getting the normal A&W fare, I bought a Sprecher Cream Soda. It was excellent.


-Bottle nerdiness. This is on the neck label:

By using a Belgian Trappist triple yeast culture balanced with the fines imported pale barley, malted wheat, and oats, gives this delectable unfiltered golden ale a fruity bouquet and a light refined taste.

-New digs and the fact I’m not using my little Ikea desk right now means I need a new beer portrait staging area. From the BotW posts I wrote while home during the holidays, I learned my oak desk, with the black top, is not the best staging area. Tonight I cleared off a little end table for photographing purposes, and it seems to have worked well. Moving is such an adventure.


The Quiet Man’s grade: B+.

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