TRE FONTANE, tripel

TRE FONTANE Tripel




Style: trappist beer, tripel
Brewe: Abbaye Tre Fontane, Italy
Tested: Bottle, September 2016

Italy, the land of wine, pizza and … beer? 

Apparently Italians can brew.

Don’t laugh.

There are more breweries in Italy than in Belgium!

But can they also provide quality craft? I will try to tackle that question in the following months. For a start – let’s try with the Trappist beer from Italy. This was a kind of surprise for me to find an official Trappist beer made in Italy! And even more to find it in a Belgian supermarket.

In fact, the Abbey at Tre Fontane has been officially recognized as Trappist brewery last year only. For the ones who are interested t are now six Trappist breweries in Belgium, two in the Netherlands, and one in Austria and the USA. This got me curious, so I have searched Trappist Association web page to see whether there is a recognition, or a standard that needs to be matched in this case. What I have found is only:

“The International Trappist Association grants a monastery the right to use the collective figurative trademark Authentic Trappist Product (ATP label).

This label serves the consumer by guaranteeing the origin of Trappist products according to the following well-defined criteria:

1.      Products which carry this label are produced within the walls of the monastery or in the vicinity of the monastery.

2.      The monastic community determines the policies and provides the means of production.  The whole process of production must clearly evidence the indisputable bond of subsidiarity, with the monastery benefiting from the production, and must be in accordance with the business practices proper to a monastic way of life.

3.      The profits are primarily intended to provide for the needs of the community or for social services.

The Association regulates the application of these criteria.”*

So clearly, no information that their beer must match some high standards and quality. This sheer fact does not mean that the Tre Fontane Triple is bad. So, I have given it a try.

Tre Fontane is medium amber in color, small head that disappears very quickly (maybe a thin layer stays for longer). Medium body, oily texture. Very aggressive carbonation, in fact a way to aggressive for a Triple style and almost too aggressive for any beer. Triples are supposed to be spicy – this one only smells like eucalyptus. Eucalyptus in a beer? Seriously?

Sadly, this Triple is simply poor adaptation of the style.

* http://www.trappist.be/en/pages/logo-atp