Lefebre Brewery/Abbaye de Floreffe
Quenast, Belgium

Sighted at: Table and Vine, Northampton, MA


Abbaye de Floreffe, a monastery with a brewing tradition dating back to 1221 now has their beers produced at the local Lefebre Brewery.

Tripel - Grand Cru

Aah... the continental blend of Hallertau and Styrian hops...

First off, this is not a beer for those uninitiated to the storage and serving of fine beers and wines. Every bottle that I have sampled has a significant amount of yeast and other sediment in the bottle, and unless stored properly, handled gently and decanted gingerly, you will end up with a large amount of flaky yeast in your mouth (not that I mind, but if you're not used to it...)

After decanting (preferably into a ceramic pitcher to maintain the temperature), the light bread-like nose could be detected from almost a full foot away. Even with careful decanting, the beer grew a large tight white head. This beer is a perfect example of a Tripel style beer: golden yellow color, honey taste and a light hop crispness afterwards. The honey taste is so prevalent that for a moment I could have almost imagined that this was a honeywine or mead... but the hops did shock me back into reality. Sweet, thirst quenching and completely enjoyable.
(Avery Glasser)