The Flying Dog Kerberos Tripel, an obvious Tripel-style beer, brings a great flavor profile with a Vintage 2008 12 oz bottle. Purchased just this year, the Kerberos has been aging for almost two years which, as any beer geek knows, changes the flavor of the beer. This is my first taste of any of the Kerberos, so my judgment is soley based off the 2008 bottle.

I’ve come to expect the same look for most Tripels, though some tend to still surprise me. The pour produced the expected minimal, well really no, head on the beer. What foam that did exist settled immediately into a thin, white and bubbly ring around the 10 oz goblet glass I’m using. The color was crystal clear at first and golden-orange. As I finished off the bottle and the beer warmed, the visuals changed to become more cloudy.

The nose on this was powerful and full of sweetness. That’s the best way to describe this one. I think the aging really had an effect on making this one more sweet than perhaps a 2010 bottle, but I can’t validate that. You can really smell the yeast strains coming through heavily here, but it’s cut sharply with the Double Bubble bubblegum scent, along with some fresh clove. Also present, though definitely undertoned by the usual Tripel scents, were rosemary and garlic.

The taste on this really followed suit with what I came to expect from the nose. Whoa – it’s pretty darn fruity. Specifically the fruit is pink grapefruit and peach, though this is fused with baked chicken with olive oil. The backbone of this one was dry and lingered with some very light alcohol esters. The mouthful was medium-bodied, though almost on the heavier side, and quite low carbonation (again, I’m assuming due to the aging).

While Tripels are not my go-to style of choice, they’re definitely pleasant for me. I really enjoyed the Kerberos and generally have been overly impressed with the stuff from Flying Dog. I’d be interested to do a vertical on the ‘09 and ‘10 as well to compare the differences. But, setting the stage, the Vintage ‘08 did a great job.

Overall: 8.3/10