The Beer Tourist

Harmony, harmony, harmony. The perfect balance between the caramel malt flavour and bitterness, like the gentle landscape of Holland meeting the salty North Sea. Still a wave of a surprise this one. Picked up at the splendid Bierkoning beer shop (where, unfortunately, they still, in true Dutch fashion though, charge their clients extra for using a credit card), after a good review in the 4th edition of the Bible (Tim Webb's Guide to the Benelux beer scene), where it was described as a "pale tripel that holds and develops its character", 8.5%. Anyway, it was more like a brown ale, 7.5%, that poured into my glass this Friday evening despite the name of beer, translating into The Firebird (a very appropriate name for a tripel style of beer, if you ask me!). Brewed by the Amersfoort brewery of Drie Ringen (Three Rings) which also happen to have an excellent web site, www.dedrieringen.nl.