New Holland Black Tulip Trippel (sic)

New Holland Brewing is in Holland, Michigan. They make a wide array of beers, but something keeps drawing them back towards the Nethlandish inspiration, utilization a rare flower of the region with a beer style with the opposing color. I wouldn't naturally associate "black" with a tripel. Is there a golden tulip? Would that name mean as much as the current one? So many questions.

But now to the here and now, I am drinking a Black Tulip (9% ABV)on tap at the Blue Nile for the first time ever, and looking back on my first notes on it ever, from September of 2004, a good eight and 1/2 years ago, from a bottle. Here's what I said then:


Golden/orange hued, general haze, with a capable cap of foam holding down the fort.

Aroma is a muted blast of sweet and sour, citrus, and sugar, yeast aplenty, more fruits speaking their peace, from pineapple to banana...interesting...

Taste: big mouthfeel at the fore, quickly spreads all along the palate, but feels ultimately mild. Full-on fruity, with tantalizing spice, as well. Me, I'm liking it.
Could be bigger, could be better, but I'm content with it. Still searching for that "tulip-dusting" taste in this, though.
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Looking back, I still like it, and I don't know why I thought it should be bigger of better, I find it's just about right on the money. Maybe that was then/this is now. Could it have gotten better over the years? (Looking at other reviews, a friend posted a scathing attack on it around the same time as my initial review, giving it a withering 2.5/5, urging no one to ever try the brew. It's certainly much better now.)

Am I judging a freshly tapped keg versus a bottle shipped to me from I -don't-remember-where back when the brewery wasn't available here? I think I am. And, also, I don't know what the "tulip-dusting taste" remark refers to, perhaps it was on the neck label of the bottle?