De Proef Lunatique (Cuvee Diabolique)
Editor’s Note: Lunatique was previously known as Cuvee Diabolique.
3.5
169 reviews
Hijfte, Belgium
Community reviews
In short: A smooth floral fruity tripel. Nothing special. Average for the style.
How: Bottle 750ml. Consumed moderately fresh about 6 months after purchase
The look: Partly cloudy yellow-blonde topped by a medium white head
In long: Yeasty nose with fruity esters and some kind of barnyard/stinky notes of wet animal fur. Taste of bananas puree, scented flowers, herbal notes, a bit of fresh ginger, green apples, mangos. The floral hosp lacks the assertiveness of the good dry grassy noble hops that I find so appropriate for that style of beer. Finish of fruit puree and flowers. Overall the beer just isn’t crisp and I got that a musty stale water sensation. Body is smooth and pillowy and so is the carbonation is medium. The beer is interesting, has many good things going for it but there is also a few problems with it. At the end it ends-up being a decent beer but just an average representation of the style. The Lunatic is also commonly known as a “loony” which is also the name of our Canadian 1 dollar coin which is commonly known as the “loony” which is also another name of a Lunatic which is also commonly known as “loony” which is also what we call someone who writes meaningless verbiage.
Bottle. Pours a copper toned body with an off white head. Fruity malt notes, of lemon, apricot, and some bread y yeast notes. A bit floral with a modest eoth warming and some light earth to finish. Nice beligan ale.
Poured a hazy yellow from the 750ml bottle: Some sour, lemon effervesence in the mouthfeel, in addition to some light banana notes and sugar that mask the alcohol well. Drinkability: Yeasty, tart, and mildly bitter in the finish. Rebuy: Perhaps to re-rate. #141 on 15102009, DG.
Hazy yellow gold, sparkly, big frothy head. Bright citrus and yeast aromas. Starts off sweet and yeasty, with clove and banana. Turns musty after warming with some lemony citrus flavors. Bready finish with a spiced pear flavor.
Poured a hazy golden with a nice fluffy white head. Nice funky yeast aromas and in the flavor as well. Nice Tripel.
Bottle. Slightly hazy golden color with a very thin white head. Aroma of grains, yeast with some sweet raisins. A nice well rounded beer with the same yeasty fruit flavors that are found in the aroma. Finishes dry with a strange bitter aftertaste but mostly pleasant to drink.
Cloudy yellow/orange/grayish. White dissipating head. Some sour/funky aroma, which is never my thing. Flavor is missing the spicy note of most tripels I’ve tried. Alcohol is a bit hot, and there’s the slightest funk in the flavor. Bit of a disappointment.
THOUGHTS: I had been having a lot of tripels around the time I tried this. This one was much better that Legacy Euphoria, but not quite as good as Gouden Carolus Tripel. This one was super yeasty. It hid the alcohol very well. Very complex, but slightly off. It hardly needed to be chilled.
TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a slightly hazy dark yellow to light orange with beautiful carbonation and an average to large, fluffy and creamy, ever so slightly off-white head that keeps a thick sheet and left excellent lacing. The aroma was moderate caramel and candy sugar, moderate to heavy doughy yeast along with lighter leather and cheese yeast notes, cherry, white wine, honey and lemon drops. The initial flavor was sweet and a little bitter; while the finish was very sweet, acidic, slightly sour and a little bitter with an average duration. There was fruity candy sugar, a little tiny bit of brown sugar, spices, yeast, tea, a little like toast and marmalade, fruit cocktail, a little lemon, honey-lemon cough drops, and a little metal. The medium body was sort of creamy then dry with rather fizzy carbonation and an ever so slightly metallic, slightly chalky, lightly astringent and dry finish.
750ml bottle. Murky, gray-orange color. Small, patchy head. Sweet golden yeasty aroma, some candi sugar as well maybe. I’ve been aging this beer for the better part of a year, and it hasn’t fared any better for it. Lacks the vibrant freshness and effervescence that really carry it. Lots of sweet apple liqueur flavors. Underwhelming, though still pretty good. Some mild tartness and bitterness. Deserves a rerate.
Straw yellow color with a tall soapy whit ahead. Aroma of apples and spice. Taste of apples, spice, sugar, and yeast. Nicelt carbonated. Somewhat of a hot edge. Very good beer!
pours a very, very pale yellowish-white. aroma is very complex, like apples, strawberries, champagney and cinnamon. the strongest aroma is by far, apple juice and would seem overpoweringly sweet. flavor is difficult to explain. it starts out tasting like a mimosa (very sweet and fruity), but the sweetness is fleeting and is replaced with a dry bubbliness. alcohol content is noticeable, but masked well. feels very fizzy and a slight bit dusty. dries out my mouth a little bit.
A frothy white foam of moderate dimension is eternal thanks to champaigny carbonation activating among the sedimented gold. Gently estery nose that feels clean, fresh and spicy, more doughy than very characterful. The first mouth contact surprises with its higher than expected sweetness, though it does dry-out in the finish, which revolves around fresh bread and exotic fruitiness. At 8.5% alcohol, this remains quite drinkable. Its mouthfeel is, not surprisingly, influenced by biting, rather small-bubbled carbonation which accentuate the dry-out effect, but do not feel fluffy or pillowy like top examples. Rather straightforward, sweetish tripel, but sometimes, this is what you’re craving for.
Pours a nice hazy golden color, with a big head. Aroma of malt and some fruit, with pretty much the same taste with decent carbonation. This is a pretty good beer, but not nothing near to Karmeliet or even the Golden Monkey for that matter. And it was from Belgium too... LC-CP
750 cc bottle. Pours turbid gold with 3-fingers of clingy white head. Nose is spicy and yeasty, with some floral, fruity, and slight rock sugary notes. Tastes floral, more sweet and fruity than I suspected, with some apricotty honey notes late, and floral, spicy yeasty notes at mid-palate. Gets a bit tarter late, and the rock sugary fruity sweetness is replaced a bit by a more spicy dry floral hit. Decent.
(Sample Date: 12/20/2008 Source:Other) 750 ml bottle 8.5% ABV Grainy with peach and pear aroma. Toasty. Slightly cloudy light golden with small white head. Grainy flavor with light fruits and spicy Belgian yeast character and honey and candy sugar. Spicy subtle bitterness. Medium body and mouthfeel. Sweet finish with residual spiciness. Very good.
Poured clear gold with a bright white head that had excellent retention and lacing. Aromas of ripe fruit, banana mostly, and clove. Lemon and other citrus were the strongest flavors, overall a malty sweetness ruled the day. Light to medium body, generous carbonation, and an aftertaste that featured the lemony sweetness. Held up well to the spicy sausage I had with it, but I wouldn’t recommend the pairing.
Pours a transparent deep golden bronze with a well-lacing frothy white head. Aroma of sweet biscuity, sugary caramel malt with lots of light fruity notes and yeasty esters. Starts with lots of carbonation and sugary sweetness with some light caramel and lemon notes before a slightly drier, but still sweet finish. Pretty one dimensional with a lot of candi sugar sweetness and not enough underlying complexity.
#534 (Jimmy Foxx). A most pleasant experience, not overpowering, generates a most agreeable buzz, presents a smooth and buttery consistency, a sweet flavor with a butterscotchy presence. Got more cloudy and better as it got towards the bottom of the (big) bottle.
Poured at the Gulfstream beer fest. A cloudy gold pour with a fluffy white head. A frutiy nose of apples, caramel, honey and some yeast. Flavor is fruity and has some sweetness, but not overpowering. There is some yeast, alcohol and caramel notes. Nice beer.
Yellowish pour with a huge and intense white head. Very sweet in the aroma, to me it almost smells like apple juice really, with some honey thrown in for good measure. Very sweet flavor as well, more fruit and honey but with a nice hop snap at the end. Solid brew all around.
Bottle (750ml) shared with HogTownHarry and biegaman -- courtesy of HogTownHarry. Pours a very bubbly gold with some sediment and a fluffy white head. It just keeps on bubbling and there’s some decent lacing. Very sweet, sugary aroma along with caramel malt, honey and fruit. Flavour’s malty, also sweet and sugary along with some honey, fruit and some light bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied. A little sweet for my liking but still a pretty good Tripel.
Bottle (750ml). Shared with blankboy and biegaman. Clear bubbly gold, smallish frothy white head. Sweet, sweaty malt aroma, yeast and paper - a little dry. Taste same, a little papery- sweet and slightly oxidized. Slick mouthfeel, sweet, weak carbonation - a little past its best, but tasty.
Some fruit, sugar and a bit of clove in the nose. Nice fluffy head. This sis pretty tasty. A bit of hops in the finish. Fluffy and fruity, but I like it.
Bottle from By the Bottle in Vancouver, WA--Poured a massively carbonic light yellow-golden body with a monstrous white head. Sweet, funky, FUNKY, spicy, spicy presence. This beer was too much tart sweetness for my preference. Most of it went down the drain.
Spicy lemon dough nose. Large head, yellow-gold orange color. Crystallized honey sweetness with bitter lemon and spice, nice balance, had some sour notes as well. Good Carbonation, nice mouth feel, complex long finish. A very nice Tripel with a higher bitterness/sourness than expected--great beer!
Pours gold into a tulip. Bright white head with medium retention recedes to hug rim. Biscuit and sweet cookie aromas. Crisp with medium body and a lasting malty finish.
750ml bottle pours clear gold with a large white head. Nose is sweetened cracker malts and white wine, with a heavy note of pear and a lighter note of pineapple. Medium to full body, someone sharp on the palate, which works well with the fruity sweet flavors throughout - a lot of ripe pear, some soft pineapple, some green apple and green grapes, with a touch of alcohol in the nose at warmer temperatures. Quite nice overall, even if it nevers develops a lot of depth.
bottle. pours a bright clear straw yellow color, very good size foamy white head that bubbles up over an inch, clears quick enough but leaves a very nice ring and some heavy lacing. Aromas dominated by sticky sweet fruit notes. Flavor is surprisingly muted- some light honey grain notes, some fruity boozy phenols, small amounts of yeasty twang and a very slight bitterness. Not at all bad tasting, but not as full flavored and complex as one might hope. Very crisp and even on the palate, with a smooth clean finish.
75cl bottle from Total Wine (Tampa). Rated on 4/17/08. Pours a cloudy golden color with a thick and frothy white head that diminishes quickly. Smells sweet and spicy with notes of honey and phenol. Flavor is sweet, toffee, caramel, hops. Full-bodied beer (like a dubbel style) with quick, slightly watery bitter finish. Interesting ale.
750ml bottle from BevMo. Poured a bright clear light yellow/gold with lots of effervescence. A large white head and very nice sheeting lacing. Mild on the Belgian aroma/flavor and mainly a fairly subdued, wheat and light malt flavors. Not much hops and all in all very pleasant.