I continue with my Belgian beer reviews. This is the second effort. The first one you can see here.

This time I chose brands which are well-known in Moscow.

Dominus Triple

Bottle 0.33l, 8% ABV.

Ingredients: water, barley malt, sugar, hop.

Type: Abbey tripel, top-fermented.

Produced by Dutch company called De Koningshoeven (Bavaria subsidiary). But this ale is brewed in Belgium.

Served at 8-10°С in trappist glass.

Appearance: dark amber with weak foam.

Nose is very energetic, with malt and hop tones.

Taste begins as standard tripel with thick malt and bread on the palate, and later on the swallow unusual hints of caramel and coriander appear.

Finish comes with bright aftertaste of rye bread and hop. Alcohol and fruit notes are also present but no any bitter flavours spotted.

For me, that’s not standard Belgian tripel. Dominus Triple has too much flavour from amber ales and not inherit their bitterness. Unusual but I know at least one tripel which has similar taste. It’s called La Trappe Tripel, and produced by De Koningshoeven brewery too.

I think Dominus Triple is nice beer. Especially if you know nothing about taste of  true Belgian tripel.Trappist triples, for example.

Blanche de Bruxelles

Bottle 0.75l, 4,50% ABV.

Ingredients: water, barley malt, hop, yeast, sugar, wheat, coriander, curacao.

Type: witbier, top-fermented.

Produced by Brasserie Lefebvre. Bottled in 0.33l and 0.75l bottles, Blanche de Bruxelles is widely available in Moscow for almost ten years.

Served at 5°С in wheat beer glass.

Appearance: gold, non-transparent with thick white head of foam.

Fresh sour nose with strong flavours of malt and wheat bread.

Taste is very light, a little sour, highly carbonated. Coriander and wheat crust on the palate, weak but evident touch of orange peel on the swallow. And I found no hop neither in the palate, nor in aftertaste.

Subjectively, the taste was thick but very refreshing.

Blanche de Bruxelles looks like nice witbier, simple but light and fresh.

Bottled in 0.33l bottles, sometimes it may have unpleasant aluminium aftertaste.

Leffe Brune

Bottle 0.33l, 6.5% ABV.

Ingredients: water, barley malt, yeast, hop.

Type: Abbey dubbel, top-fermented.

Produced by InBev Belgium. Since InBev came to Russia, Leffe Brune became available in the vast majority of Moscow supermarkets.

Served at 8-10°С in trappist glass.

Appearance: dark brown with moderate foam head.

Robust nose with strong hint of caramelized malt.

Palate is light, low-carbonated and a little sour with prunes, coffee and rye crust on the swallow.

Bittersweet and dry aftertaste: burnt sugar, hop.

Looks like medium-bodied beer but indeed very thick, with pleasant bread finish.

I like this dark ale very much but honestly it has no any distinct features. For me, Leffe Brune is just one more standard Belgian ale – tasty but simple.