20 September 2016 - Best Beer HQ
Moa St. Josephs Belgian Tripel Review
Often I like to tell you a little story about how I came to select the beer that I’m about to review. But in this instance I literally grabbed a bottle of Moa’s St. Josephs Belgian Tripel beer off the shelf at my local supermarket because I needed a new beer to write about.
You see, though this little beer blog has grown to around 10,000 international readers per month, I’ve yet to receive any complimentary beer to review. Poor me! So if you’re reading this and you’re associated with a brewery, get off your ass, send a bottle or two my way and you’ll see it featured here. Yay! Click here to contact me.
Enough with the begging. Let’s get on with this review of Moa’s super-strong St. Josephs Belgian Tripel…
ABV: 9.5%
Blurb on the bottle: Moa St. Josephs is a classic Belgian Tripel. Strong spice, caramel and banana ester characters create complex flavours and aromas which are heightened by its extended bottle conditioning period.
The combination of bittering hops, malt and candy sugars complement the high alcohol content and integrate into a very approachable and drinkable Tripel.
Taste test: Apparently tripel is a term used predominantly in the Netherlands and Belgium (the so-called Low Countries) to describe a strong ale. To be perfectly honest with you – and I never pretend to be a beer expert – I didn’t know that before I purchased this beer. However, I did find that out when I poured it into a glass and took a sip.
This beer is as strong as a very strong thing. Its richness of spice, banana and caramel can’t hide the prominent taste of alcohol, which utterly permeates this beer, warming my face and my belly as I drink it. So it’s definitely not a summer beer, then.
It pours a hazy, cloudy yellow with a small white head, and it smells predominantly of alcohol and yeast.
The verdict: It’s a good thing that I didn’t write my review immediately after finishing the bottle of Moa’s St. Josephs Belgian Tripel, because I must admit that I was feeling the effects of the high level of alcohol (perhaps I really should have shared the bottle with someone).
Still, this is a good, strong, full-bodied beer that’s about as close to an authentic Belgian beer as I’ve ever had from a New Zealand brewery. So definitely check it out.
Beer/movie pairing: When I think of Belgium, I think of beer and one of my all-time favourite movies: In Bruges. It’s a jet-black comedy about two hitmen hiding out in Belgium after a job gone wrong, starring a never-better Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Ralph Fiennes as their ruthless boss. It’s bloody brilliant.
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