Tripel success?

It's too early to say--let's let it bottle condition--but I think I nailed my tripel. My second attempt at the style, this was designed to be very, very close to Westmalle's tripel, the monkish exemplar and one of my favorite beers. I hit the starting gravity and the IBU's, and, following a lengthy warm secondary, I hit the proper final gravity, with a brilliant 88% attenuation. This is the hard part--producing a really dry tripel. I'll bottle it tomorrow. More on what to do with the yeast cake later today.

Flat, the tripel is gorgeous, very much like a white wine. It's a pale, crystal clear gold. The nose is lightly herbal, flowery, very orangey. The palate is both full and very dry with a firm but in no way intrusive hop balance. I'm pumped up. It'll be quite a while before it's really ready, but I'll get the sucker into bottles posthaste and go from there. Yum.