Interesting to say the least. OK, here’s my take;
22 oz bottle that on opening creates a small spew of foamy discharge.
Poured into the Gouden Carolus chalice, the beer has a very deep, rich butterscotch hue, thin film of head that is produced after the aggressive pour that produces the head recedes somewhat.
Nose is soaked in oak but still managaes to remain subtle. A very good sign.
This is what I really want to say about Prophecy;
I am REALLY dissapointed in this as a TRIPEL. The oak overwhelms the subtle Belgian sweetness and yeast that one should expect, and the beer fails horribly on that front. On the other hand…
….the beer is a MASSIVE triumph in terms of oak-aging. Time, after time, after I have been horribly disappointed with American oak-aged beers as the tastes completely overwhelm the palate and wreck the senses on the rocks of the ignorant, the crass, the overbearing, and the non-subtle. Often these beers reject the all too difficult to find tempered ground that American beers of this type throw away with depressingly regularity. This however does a GREAT job in terms of oaking and REALLY hits the spot in terms of subtlety. Surprising and delightful.
Specifics: alcohol is nowhere to be seen, but vanilla and subtle oaks are EVERYWHERE – beautiful.
I’m confused! This is a poor Tripel, but a really great beer; it’s an all-to-difficult to find, subtle example of oaking and for that I love it. I guess that in a nutshell it would be better as simply categorized on its own as an “oak-aged beer”.
Delighted to have gone there. Wow!