NOW THAT’S JUST DE SILLY

Decided to order totally blind the other evening at my local pub, so I bellied up to the bar & ordered whatever sounded obscure and vague enough to either be a total smash surprise or a titanic disaster. I figured that DE SILLY LA DIVINE fit the bill, even at (ouch!) $7.50 a glass. BRASSERIE DE SILLY, who make this tripel, are, no lie, located in Silly, Belgium. I’d never heard of them nor the teeming metropolis of Silly itself. So the beer – well, it didn’t pass muster, I’m afraid. It’s a high-alcohol beer (9.5%) that definitely tastes it, giving off some of those fusel alcohol aromas & tastes you hear about, in addition to creamy, caramel & fruit-flavored undertones. Some smoky “notes” as well – now that I’m not too into. Thin in body, but creamy nonetheless, sticky even. Something good is going on here – I definitely warmed to it a bit more as LA DIVINE itself did – but regardless of what I plunked down for it, there are dozens of Belgian and Belgian-style triples more worth your while than this one. 5.5/10.