12oz bottle, thanks go out to stopbarking for the chance to try this one.
Straight into the Ommegang chalice with a deliberately aggressive pour on my part. Clarity is good, but it is a very pale, macro lemony color. Head is gone quite quickly and the lace left behind is minimal.
Nose is fairly sweet with sinus clearing alcohol and a little spice.
Soft esters greet the taste with a little warming solvent alcohol too. The ester fruits are not very well defined and the alcohol bitterness hits agsin in the finish. Definite Belgian sugar candy notes and a very mild touch of Wit like spice. It’s quite thin, and lacks depth in all areas. The mouthfeel is the poorest impression of a genuine Belgian and the other characteristics also fall a little short.
I dunno, not a bad effort but Duvel it ain’t! Maybe it’s not trying to be a Duvel clone, but it ultimately strikes me as the type of beer that might be produced for a Belgian macro market!