750 mL corked and caged from Etre Gourmet. Red cap on the cage has dot-matrixed “U2 02:22 TRIPLE X”. Presumably brewed for the 30th anniversary which seems to have been in 2019, so this is a four to five year old beer.

Pop on opening is impressive, good gun smoke too. Pour is a hazed, honey-orange color body with a high white, tightly formed head. Fine sized bubbles, retention and lace good considering the ABV.

Nose is quite estery, yeasty and fruity and doesn’t give up the alcohol that I was expecting. Tastes follow suit initially. Carbonation is lively and prickly, even though the bubbles seem small. Head is smoother than the body.

Not anywhere near as sweet as I was anticipating. It’s very yeasty, and has a variety of ripe fruit present. Very malty for the style, and a distinct lack of noticeable funk or manure. Some apple character. For me this is a nice beer, but it doesn’t really feel stylistically very true. It sort of sits somewhere around the malty Tripel area which is a little odd. To back up that assessment there’s some white pepper.

I mean I enjoyed it, but this isn’t really easily categorized. The repeating malts give the beer a rounder, more full depth than I was expecting, and it doesn’t feel very Belgian at all. In fact it has a LOT of English character. Alcohol is pretty well hidden and you’d never pout it at 10.0, although I will say that it builds a bit and warms at the end of the beer. Also a few phenols in the back end.

Mmm .. honestly delighted to have had the opportunity, but this is likely a one and done for me. It’s malty character, whilst not unpleasant, seems some how out of place and I can’t really see much past it. Still beautifully and highly carbonated at this age, I think I would have like to have tried it young.