Blessed are the tickers

They're not daft, those Belgian monks. They've noticed that if you're in the business of selling beer, it pays to have the occasional new release to stay in the drinkers' line of vision. Today's are two from established Trappist houses that generated a bit of publicity when they arrived a few months ago.

Well, sort of. Westmalle Extra is not new. This 4.8% ABV table beer used to be readily available in Belgium, distinguished from the other Westmalles by its beige label. Then late last year Malibu Stacy got a new hat. The beer was given a baby-blue label and subjected to a grand publicity blitz as though it were just launched. That did mean it showed up locally for the first time, so I get to give it a go.

It's a pale yellow in the glass with a fair bit of haze. The aroma is mildly spicy, with a touch of tripel's marmalade, minus that style's heat. The flavour is... Belgian. It's a mix of pepper incense spicing and peachy fruit esters, crisp and accessible like a saison but rich and full like a tripel. While there's an early strong-beer effect, it shows its hand soon after, fading off the palate quite quickly. The lip-smacking heft that we come to the Trappists for is missing here. I can't see how it would work as a session beer either as it's still quite busy in the flavour department, with a lot of gas as well. As a stand-in when you want a tripel but without the kick, I can see it working quite well. I give it a qualified welcome, but doubt I'll be making much repeated use of it myself.

Meanwhile at Rochefort, they've noticed the gap in their offer and introduced Rochefort Tripel Extra, a brand new, traditional Trappist tripel. This is 8.1% ABV and looks quite unpolished, pouring a murky orange with lots of suspended yeast and protein hanging about in the glass. The aroma is sweet and peachy; all fruit and lacking spice. So it goes with the flavour. Pineapple, nectarine. It's almost like... a New England IPA? Is that the trend they're chasing? I quite like the juice, and behind it there's a herbal oiliness, but it's definitely a sideways spin on the usual tripel profile. I looked hard for pepper and incense but none was forthcoming. The alcohol is also well disguised -- none of the almost spirituous kick you often get from traditional tripels. It's unorthodox, but I liked it. A few of what I'd consider to be core style points are missing, but it's clean-tasting, and well made. If that's what these monks think tripel is then I'm on board.

I expected humdrum more-of-the-same from these two, but they're both distinctive and interesting beers. I would be very ready if the Belgian Trappists wanted to extend their various ranges further -- indeed Chimay has done so since I wrote the above. How about an Orval black IPA, then?

As a coda, another brand extension from a different venerable Belgian brewing tradition: lambic. In recent years, Martin's brewery have been pushing their Bourgogne des Flandres hard, and the related microbrewery/café/visitor experience in Bruges comes highly recommended by me. There you learn the story of how Bruinen Os brown ale is blended with Timmermans lambic to create BdF. Now the brown ox has a sister, Blonden Os, which combines with the lambic to make (dun dun dunnnn...) Bourgogne des Flandres Blonde.

This is a modest 5.5% ABV and a clear pale gold in the glass. The aroma is fairly typical of a medium-strength Belgian blonde on the sweeter side of the scale, with a luscious waft of lychee and pear juice. The flavour is more subtle. Still pear, but joined by a peppery spice and a floral perfume effect: jasmine, honeysuckle and the like. Any sourness from the lambic is thoroughly buried but there remains a cleansing tang which is very welcome with all the residual sugar hanging about. Overall it's a clean and happy little number, easy drinking but with bags of character, par for the course with Martin's I find.