DE DOLLE’S “DULLE TEVE” TRIPEL

I’ve only had one other beer from BROWERIJ DE DOLLE our of Esen, Belgium before – it was the OERBIER that I absolutely fell on the floor over. The good news is I see their beers at just about every specialty beer retailer I walk into, and I figured it was time to give another one from the lineup a try. The brewery has been pumping these out since 1835, so there’s a lot of history inside each of these little bottles. The one I grabbed is called DE DOLLE DULLE TEVE, and it’s a 10% ABV tripel, a style in every right-thinking Belgian brewer’s lineup. DULLE TEVE is very, very yeasty, heavy with tastes of grapefruit and white grape. It carries a little bit of the spice I associate with tripels, that mouth-puckering, back-of-the-throat scratchiness that either makes or breaks these things. Smells fantastic, but tastes a little acidic. I did not reach the ephiphany I did with the OERBIER, I’m disappointed to say, but the kids seems to love this one. We give it a 6.5/10.