Triple ages longer than Double, but not a year though. The Bornem Triple is considered one of the best Belgian Abbey Triples. Like most Abbey Triples it has the color of gold, like the ripe ears of barley in the fields on early summer, just before harvest. A warm glow shines through the glass. After enjoying one glass, a happy glow is on your face. The light golden color and the flowery aroma mask the strength of the Bornem Triple. This beer is 9 % alc.by vol. strong, which is surprising, since you taste more the soft fruitiness of this rich beer. It's smooth and silky in the mouth with a bite from the hops in the follow.
The notion of "double" and "triple" has nothing to do with the number of times the beer is fermented. Time after time, beer-festival after beer-festival you hear these popular beer-enthousiasts tell: "This Triple is fermented 3 times." Wrong. When a beer is a double or a triple, it means that the brewer added twice or three times the regular amount of malt in the brewkettle. More malt, means more starches, which can be converted into sugars, which can be converted into alcohol during the fermentation process. Twice I said "can", because this is not for sure. Not all starches are converted into sugar and not all sugar is converted into alcohol. The brewer knows how to control these two processes in function of the beer he wants to brew.
Most beers are fermented only once. The Bornem Triple and the Bornem Double are fermented a second time in the bottle or in the keg. This practice is called "bottle conditioning". After the lagering and the fermentation, the Bornem is bottled or kegged and a second yeast is added in the container. The container (bottle or keg) is stored in a warm room for several weeks. The second fermention consumes part of the remaining sugars in the beer and the oxygen, that came into the container during the "bottling". It is one of the oldest practices to store and conserve beer for a long time. It is said to be invented by the monks, maybe more than thousand years ago. This technique is still used to bottle and conserve the best Belgian Abbey Ales. The beer is not pasteurized or sterilized. No, it stays a living product that evolves over time. Yes, you can keep the beer for many years. A little note for the home-brewers: the yeast that you find on the bottom of the bottle is NOT the yeast, used for the main and first fermentation. This yeast is the secret and the most valuable asset of the brewer's recipe.
The bottle conditioning is also used for our Augustijn Abbey Ale, our famous Piraat and Gulden Draak, and our Flaxhead (Vlaskop) and Wooden Head (the Houten Kop). When you pour bottle conditioned beer in your glass, you see the yeast on the bottom of the bottle and your beer becomes cloudy when you pour the yeast in the glass. Sometimes flakes or little pieces of yeast are floating in your glass. You can see them but you can't feel them. They are so soft. Brewers-yeast is sold in every Health shop, since it is a rich complex of Vitamin B
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