On a recent trip to the liquor store, I put together a mixed six of winter ales and tripels. One of the bottles was the Bête Blanche from Elysian Brewing Company. Elysian is a Seattle, WA brewer that operates a large brewery and several brew pubs/bistros. Their line-up includes 8 year round beers, 5 seasonal beers (3 pumpkin, 1 winter and the Bête Blanche for Spring) and the well-received Manic IPA and Apocalypse Series. Additionally, Elysian brews the Trip Series in collaboration with New Belgium Brewing.
Here is what Elysian has to say about its Bête Blanche:
Deceptive and delicious Belgian-style Tripel. Bete Blanche is extremely drinkable, blonde and somewhat treacherous. Brewed entirely from pale malt and augmented in the boil with Belgian candy sugar. Bittered with German Northern Brewer and finished with Styrian Goldings hops. Fermented with mixed Belgian and American ale yeasts.
I found the Bête Blanche to be…
- Appearance: Golden with light foam and good lacing.
- Aroma: Hops and a lot of citrus.
- Taste: Sweet, hoppy with hints of apricots and grapefruit.
- ABV: 7.5%
This was a very nice beer; well-balanced and full of flavor. And, for a tripel this was very easy drinking. I would imagine at 7.5% ABV this could be a very dangerous beer.
