This 8.5% ABV Belgian Tripel style ale is brewed by Celt Experience. You can find out all about the brewery on their website (celtexperience.com) or follow them on Twitter.
Beer fashioned as an artform for exuberance.
Welsh Craft Sommelier Tom and his brewing brothers at The Celt Experience exploit their natural penchant for craft beer to experiment with natures tools. A stray brewery absent in time chasing emotions reflected in their ancestors. Ignorant of jurisdiction but mindful of transcendent and sacred messages. A brewery held on the earth by its desire to reflect Beer and Art as one, reflecting on urban culture and paranormal spirit….
And on the Ogham Oak itself:
Ogham Oak Exotic Tripel – 8.5%
35 IBUs – Belgium Yeast, Orange Peel and Cinnamon
Oak is a cosmic storehouse of wisdom embodied within its towering strength. The oak tree endures what others cannot.
Each batch is brewed with fresh ‘tripel’ yeast borrowed from a secret location in Flanders. The beer has a complex flavour combining resinous bite from the American hops, spicy esters from the belgium yeast and fruit and cinnomon twists from the belgium fruits and spices. All finished with supreme British malt and candy sugar…
The verdict:
A rich golden colour with a very slight haze, possibly a chill haze from being in the fridge a little too long. Disappointingly almost no head at all- is that the style or should there be some sort of head?
Fruity smell, citrusy with orange and lemon but also the citrus hop aroma is in there too. It does smell sweet, there’s a fair amount of sugar in there I’m sure as a Belgian tripel, and it reminds me of a fruit loaf or hot cross bun with dried fruit notes.
It tastes different from what I was expecting, although reminiscent of the same flavours. In taste there is more spice than there was on the aroma, and a little less fruitiness. It has a balance of sweetness from the sugars and enough hop bitterness too. There’s something medicinal about the taste, and I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Overall, probably not a beer that I would seek out again due to the slightly strange flavour profile, but if you fancy stepping out from a more mainstream Belgian tripel it’s worth a taste at least!
Have you tried the Ogham Oak?
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