The Westmalle Trappist Brouwerij (Brewery) produces three beers. The lightest beer produced is named the Westmalle Extra and is available only at the abby's cafe.
The following are reviews for the beer:
"At Westmalle Café Trappisten, for the current season.
Bright solid golden color with a thick head with great retention.
Aroma with notes of pineapple, wheat, some fresh hops and cream of banana.
Surprisingly refreshing and original flavor with notes of oranges, floral fresh hops, pineapple juice foam, wheat sourness and a bit of candied sugar. Dry aftertaste with a flavoring mild bitterness.
Deceiving light to medium body with really velvet carbonation.
Interesting Belgian Blonde Ale with nice fresh hop and wheaty notes."
"2 fingers of white foam, fine, medium and coarse bubbles, lasting long time. yellow body, poured without the sediment from the bottle and therefore clear. plenty of fine carbonation
Belgium yeast character, more banana then phenols, a bit of Pilsner malt expressed by a little grainyness
Taste is dry and assertively bitter, not much malt character
Plenty of carbonation makes it burpy but also really refreshing, very fine prickly carbonation
Refreshing dry and bitter everyday beer for the monks"
33cl bottle, both fresh and 2d before bb.
Slightly hazy light yellow, nice foam.
Aroma is honey and white fruits when young, when aged, the honey dominates.
"Taste has a strong bitterness component, speaking relative to the style. Some of it is coriander seed. The body is medium. The focus is on the honey from the light sugar mixing with fruit notes from the yeast. As the beer ages, the honey intensifies and hop bitterness recedes. So, best drunk fresh for sufficient complexity. Would benefit from a bit more body in my opinion. The use of sugar to this extent in a this low abv beer would require darker/crystal malts and hop aroma to counterbalance it.
In summary, worth looking for when fresh. But not perfect for the style at least when bottled. Would probably be at its best from tap."
"Colour is beautiful golden yellow, a bit of haze — not transparent, but translucent. Aroma of spices, light coriander, faint citrus — maybe lemon — underlaid with a pleasant hop aroma. Slight white head, not a lot of lacing.
Wow, this is carbonated! Almost like drinking mineral water or a soft drink. Body is excellent for the gravity, not thin. Surprisingly hoppy, bitterness stays with you after a sip. Yeast character is present, but seems much milder than in the dubbel or tripel. Slight Juicy Fruit-like flavour, rather nice.
Overall bright, not too sweet, ample hopping and carbonation. A nice Belgian pale, although not as balanced as its burlier siblings. Would prefer a bit less intense hop character here given the gravity. I enjoyed Taras Boulba yesterday, and it may seem crazy, but there are aspects of this beer that are reminiscent of that one. Prefer TB, but this is probably the best patersbier/enkel I’ve had yet. Not worth going out of your way to buy, but pleasant and interesting if you can get it."
"Look: Golden yellow, visibly heavily carbonated, and a huge frothy white head.
Smell: Sweet citrus, fruit, honey, and a bit of wheat and grass.
Taste: Very mild. Hints of grass, malt, and a faint hop bitterness at the end.
Mouthfeel: Thin and extremely, sharply carbonated.
Overall: The monk's equivalent to a lawnmower beer. Light, refreshing, and extremely effervescent."
"Poured from fridge temperature. Pours a nice golden yellow. Nice white head that sticks around for a while. Aroma is pine, lemon, and other citrus peel. Some wheat and barn funk notes. Taste is slightly bitter, lemon, wheat, and pine. Mouthfeel is dry and pretty thin. A bitter aftertaste. Overall, a really nice beer of this style."
"A: Pours a clear straw with an enormous and loud fizzy white head. Head sticks around pretty decently surprisingly, but nothing special.
S: Very nice light citrus rind. Wheaty and a little bit peppery. Touch of grass.
T: Taste is pretty much the same. Quite a bit of grass with a good citrus kick to round it out. Maybe a hint of floral hops? Light cracker malt with a tiny bit of bitterness on the back end. Clean and crisp finish with a touch of grass and citrus again.
M: Lighter bodied, crisp.
O: Very nice BPA. Super clean and refreshing. Just the right amount of hops to give it some brightness but not too much, this is no triple IPA of course. Very tasty though."
"Pours a very pale blond with a bubbly white head. The head lasts a while and there is good lacing left behind. Smell is absolutely beautiful. Smells of candi, Belgian yeast, fruits and spice. The taste is much like the nose, but the yeast and fruitiness are dominant and the spice is a bit more subtle. The feel is light and effervescent. Thinner than expected, but that just made it too easy to drink.
A nice beer. On a hot summer's day, a few of these would be perfect."
"Standard Westmalle-shaped 33cL/330ml bottle that I found at De Biertempel in Brussels.
A - Pours a mirky yellow body with an almost soapy head. As with all good Belgian beer, the head retention is quite remarkable.
S - The initial impression is quite deceiving, as it does remind me of a pilsner. However, soon enough I am starting to get a much more complex aroma that is a little nutty, a little citrusy, a tad earthy, and without a doubt very bready. Hints of apple, white grapes, and a bit of flowers.
T - It tastes like an enriched pilsner or a toned-down Belgian strong pale ale or tripel. Bready, fruity (with hints of lemon, white grapes, apple), with some bitterness to it. The finish is dry but not very bitter. This is a really interesting and different beer for sure!
M - Medium-bodied, effervescent and a little bit peppery. The drinkability is high on this beer, unlike on its eldest brother, Westmalle Tripel. After the initial abundance of carbonation falls, the beer becomes very gentle on the palate.
O - This has been a truly unique experience. One of the lowest ABV (non-Stella) beers I've had from Belgium, and for 4.8% this is a very complex one indeed. I know this one is hard to find, but try it if you can!"
There are many more reviews on Westmalle Extra that are very similar to the above reviews.
For my Belgian Trappist Extra recipe, I will try to highlight the same profiles, but to balance the beer with fewer hops bitterness while still retaining the hops aroma and flavors.
The Westmalle Extra is said to be brewed to 4.8-5% ABV with an IBU of 30. It has been estimated to have an SRM of 4 by one reviewer. Original gravity is likely around 1.048 making the BU:GU ratio of this light beer at .62. An American Light Lager is typically brewed at an average 0.30, and Bohemian Pilsner is .80, German Pilsner is .74, American Blonde is .39, Belgian Wit is .29, and other Belgian blonds are at an average BU:GU of .36 (.28 to .44). This information shows that there is room for IBUs to range from the mid .20s to .80. With this in mind the average light pilsner-malt-based beer styles have an average BU:GU of about .53.
In the book, "Brew Like a Monk" Brother Thomas, who created Westmalle extra also created a beer called Blond 4. This beer had an estimated 4% ABV and was made for cyclists and runners who needed something light, so it was presumably lighter but similar to Westmalle Extra as this was one of his signature styles. "He used only Pilsner malt and hopped the bear with Kent Goldings, Hallertau-Hersbrucker, and Saaz in five additions for an estimated 33-37 units of bitterness." This can give us further insight into how Brother Thomas likely crafted the recipe for Westmalle Triple.
Like my Belgian Trappist Triple I will infuse my Belgian Trappist Extra with old world spices to match the flavors pronounced by the Abby yeast. Delicate complex floral aromas of passion fruit, grapefruit, pineapple, gooseberry, lemongrass, and white wine will follow floral notes and a light malty honey character with soft notes of banana and lemon peel. Effervescence will be heavy. The beer will have background notes of earth and spice. This beer should be drunk within 3 months of kegging or bottling.
Freshly grind coriander during the last ten minutes of mash downtime.
Candi sugar is added 30 minutes into the boil. Add to the hop spider to reduce the risk of burning sugar on the bottom of the boil kettle.
Hops go directly into the boil - not the spider.
Once primary fermentation is complete, dissolve 4oz of table sugar into 8oz of warm distilled bottled water and pitch the mixture into a sterile container (a bucket is fine). Rack the beer into the container with the priming sugar and bottle into 16oz fliptop bottles. Alternatively use fizz drops in each 16oz bottle, skip the process of making priming sugar syrup, and rack directly into bottles. Keep dark and ferment at 66 degrees for 18 days.
