Notes on beers in the style
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Tremendous dark copper clarity on the pour with a lovely, off-white head. NOT your typical, drab Dubbel appearance. Retention of the head is decent with an above average light film forming across the surface of the beer, and the lace well above...
My general suspicion of Dubbels goes way way back, and the bottom line is that they tend not to thrill me. I often find then drab and dull, both in literal appearance and in taste. This is one of the exceptions (there are a few). There's nothing...
This is the 2023, French oak, American oak, Tank, Barrel and Bottle version. 375 mL, corked & caged. Tremendous pop on opening, and in good light the beer has an attractive, copper hue with some really bright elements. The light helps this...
I've drunk this beer a lot over the years, but I don't think that I have really appreciated what a beautiful color it is before today. A magnificent, chestnut brown richness, with a great head that gives decent lace and some good retention. Pretty...
Mahogany brown with some reddish highlights. Moderate head. Some retention, some lace. Color is quite rich and not at all typically dubbel-like. There is a surprisingly, lightly sour note about the beer which, coupled with the color has a very...
375 mL bottle, corked and caged. Well, out of the gate this looks like a quad and not like a typical Dubbel - GOOD! So many Dubbels present as an ugly, dishwater, murky brown mess. Taking a dump in a glass would something that look better half the...
Big, rocky, tan head on top of a dark brown body. Lace is great. Is it a Belgian Dark or a Dubbel? I'm going with the latter for now. This starts off a bit roasty and stout-like. Eventually it backs off a bit, gets back to it's Dubbel roots, and...
750 mL in the usual corked and caged presentation. Head is rocky and significant at first, but fades. Really beautiful garnet color, atypical of Dubbels in general. Nice malty nose with plenty of fruit and alcohol. Caramel notes in nose and initial...
Bottled 2013 - this bottle as a gift from my mate Stuart Arnold in NC. #3 in the Windowpane series, aged in NC Apple Brandy barrels. I took a look at some of the online reviews for this to get a feel for what I might be expecting. I'm not a fan of...
750 mL corked and caged bottle, with a pink label motif that indicates part of the proceeds go toward a fund that helps folk with breast cancer to meet expenses. Not a massive fan of Dubbels in general, but wanted to give this a whirl if only for...
OK, here we go with another Dogfish Head experiment. The second one, Noble Rot being the first, that I have tried in their newly designed bottles. Brown, slightly garnet colored pour with a thin, smooth, nitro-like mocha head sitting atop the beer....
It never ceases to amaze me, how a fairly limited set of ingredients, plus the brewing process and the brewers intent, can so often produce a beer that does something quite different to that intent, and seemingly something significantly different...
If the truth be known, over the years I have found the Mutiny Series a pretty average collection of beers, and I've said as much in my reviews. Underwhelming taste profiles have led to some pretty disappointing efforts in my book, so for some time...
Corked & caged bottle with an unusual shape around the neck. Opens with a fearful pop with a button mushroom like cork - I suggest great care opening this one, but to be honest I would rather have it that way than without sufficient...
Without question my favorite of all of the First Growth Series so far. 22 oz bottle from Hop City, Atlanta, GA, the usual First Growth presentation. Not an especially attractive pour that generates a murky, reddish brown body, a nice, thick, creamy...
Older bottle (Best before 16/09/09). Interesting (again) in the non-beer/beer category. Pour is a lively, fairly well carbonated affair that yields a Dubbel-like, murky brown body and a little, thin foam that hangs around. It even produces a small...
22 oz boxed, foiled and capped bottle into the (appropriate) Chimay chalice. Typical Dubbel color with a burned orange appearance with a better than average head. Some creamy remnants form on the sides of the glass and on the surface of the beer....
12 oz single from Jungle Jim's, Cincinnati, OH, USA. 2009 vintage. Bottled pictured is a 22 oz version in 2011. Bottled on 10/05/09. Also has 2019 printed next to it which I first thought might be a BB date, but that would contradict the text on...
Additional notes 01/25/23 Bottled on 01/05/22 from Bine and Vine (I believe the old South Bay Drugs), San Diego, CA. Almost 14 years on and the pop on opening is still modest, BUT in this case the carbonation is OK - and it should be noted that...
Popped in for a lunchtime brew today and decided to give the Black Beauty a run. Described on the beer menu as a Dubbel, this looks, tastes and drinks much more like a Quad, and even has a few RIS notes. I spoke to Crawford and he agreed about the...
12 oz single from The Charleston Beer Exchange, Charleston, SC, USA. Solid garnet pour with a standard (typical) Dubbel cloudiness but a little more red color than the traditional dirty brown. Thin foam and some sticky lace. I must admit I wasn't...
22 oz bomber from Tower on Piedmont, Atlanta, GA, USA. $4.99, I *think*. A little more attractive than your average Dubbel. More clarity and a slightly more reddish tinge rather than the dirty brown dishwater note that often accompanies the style....
750 mL corked and caged bottle. Slightly strange beast this. It's been at Green's for a little while now, but in the $15 range it makes me a little wary so I was happy to be a recipient of brickstoredave's generosity for a sampling at the pub...
750mL corked & caged from Green's on Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA. Non-descript cork. I was a little wary of this simply because I am not a big fan of Dubbels, but this (at least HALF) broke the mould. Poured into the Ommegang Chalice, the beer...
$7.99 from Merchant Package, Johnson Ferry Road, Marietta, GA, USA. 11/03 on the cork from the corked & caged, 750 mL bottle. As usual that ugly, dirty brown murky pour - GOD I HATE the way Dubbel's look. Fine carbonation on the surface of the...
I HAVE DELIBERATELY MOVED THIS REVIEW TO THIS NEW LISTING (from the old Blue Moon Winter Ale), because I *think* that this is a NEW recipe for 2007 and should be listed separately. Maybe this is an error, but for now I think this is the right thing...
11.2 oz single from Total Wine in Kennesaw, GA, USA. As usual, a horrible looking pour. Nasty, old dishwater color, no head, lifeless look and tobacco like floaties. Yuk. Aroma has some yeasty sweetness, but not much else. Tastes are better than...
Pictured 09/19/25 Presentation has changed slightly over the years, now "Bottled BeBop". Still weighing-in at 9.4% and North Coast still says this is a BSDA, but for me it seems like a lighter, fruity Dubbel. Original notes 08/18/06 *Since my...
Additional notes 09/13/23 (Pictured) I've drunk this a 100 times since those original notes from 17 years ago, but with the recent changes in the status of the brewery I wanted to go back and make some extra visits. It's ASTONISHING to me have...
On-tap, Taco Mac, Decatur, GA. Small tulip serving. If this truly is a Dubbel it's the best looking one that I have seen ever! It was a mid-brown, with a small head and most delightfully, it was crystal clear. It lacked the nasty, murky dishwater...
Additional notes 11/27/22 (pictured) This bottle has a great head; deep and pitted. The Westvleteren creamy mouthfeel and richness as the trademark is stronger in this bottle than I've seen in a number of others. Very robust beer that wipes the...
Extermely nice, surpassed my expectations by some distance. Nice authentic brown color with some spotty head and a little lacing. This could be improved with a better pour, the presentation let it down a bit. Very creamy in the mouth, with a solid...
330 mL Stubbie. Nice presentation. Typical dirty brown pour, with that distinctive light, frothy head and fairly severe carbonation that can both come with the style quite often. The lacing is fairly reserved, and does not stick. Kind of watery...
Quite a dark pour, much more so than I expected. Lots of floaties that took some time to settle down. Some head, but it is airy and then disappears quickly to leave some lacing and a spotty, creamy thin head. Aroma is pretty non-descript, some...
***Originally on BA this was classified as a Tripel and was the re-classified (correctly) as a Dubbel. Amber pour, with some chill haze, good initial head and some lacing. I'm looking for a lighter, more golden color in my Tripel's*** though. Very...
Good looking deep brown pour with a quick fading head and a little bit of lacing. Aroma is a little bit of prune juice and some over-ripe bananas. Tastes reflect some alcohol and some mixed, soft, ripe, indistinguishable fruits. Nice warm alcohol...
Typical of the relatively unattractive nature of many Dubbels, this shows a dirty, drab, brown body, but a nice looking head. The head is small but leaves a nice film of lace on the surface, and some additional lace on the St. Bernardus goblet....
Updated notes 07/01/25 (pictured) Had a couple of bottles of this recently and it still absolutely rocks. Rich garnet color, a touch of licorice up front that dials back to give a rich, classically focus, raisin and malt based Belgian Dark. To me,...
Somewhat disappointed by this. Novelty of the "ceramic" appearance "bottle" is lost quickly, although I do like the flip top potential of keeping the beer in the fridge for a couple of hours after it has been opened. Very malty, sweet nose, almost...
Additional notes 04/15/23 (pictured): Best Before 08 07 23 - Honestly, head isn't great. This always feels to me like a cross between a Dubbel and something more. I'm not a huge fan of Dubbels in general, but this one bites less so there must be...
Additional notes 04/16/24 (pictured) 750 mL corked and caged bottle from a recent Colorado trip. Increasingly hard to find this is many parts of the USA. There's a yellow/orange hue to the head, and the usual, relatively unattractive color on the...
Pictured 05/03/26 Original Notes 01/23/05 Masssive flavors are present from the get go, with a solid malt backbone and alcohol holding the whole thing together. No messing about here, this is a solid, powerful brew with no punches pulled and...
Flavorful certainly, but rather rough around the edges. This beer lacks a certain subtlety that detracts from its drinkability. That's not to say that it's not a decent drink, but if you are expect a drinkable, smooth, classic Dubbel you're going...
Additional notes: Over time this has become my favorite Dubbel by light years, but mainly because it doesn't have many of the characteristics of many others in the style, especially the appearance. The beautiful, deep red clarity on it belies the...
Additional notes 06/06/25 330 ml bottle, directly from Belgium. I've always loved this beer, and on top of the annihilation of distribution in the USA it's become less and less easy to source from Belgian retailers that ship to the States. Added to...
Pictured 04/15/23 Notes added 08/07/21 Best Before 04/10/21. Dubbels are what they are for me. Considering the notes below, these days I get a lot less alcohol from Prior 8 than I apparently used to. The bread malt of course is still the dominant...
Additional Notes 07/28/22 Great example of a Dubbel in my book, but I'm not a huge fan of Dubbels in general, so my notes are always slightly tainted. It's an easy drinker with the malts breaking constantly over the tongue, and a satisfying body to...
Additional notes 07/28/23 It's great to witness the change over time that this beer has undergone. I bought this for $13.25 from the brewery in July of 2023 (compare prices below). They've done a decent job on the newer label, BUT the old one was...
Additional Notes 08/23/22 As is sometimes the case, the original notes that I made about this beer are a bit naive to say the least, even if some of they do ring true to this day. My palate has changed a lot in the eighteen years since those words...
Coffee, coffee, coffee - that is the overwhelming experience that I got from this brew. In fact very heavily sugared coffee. It poured a very dark, chocolate brown color with an initial sweet coffee taste. The mouthfeel is very smooth, almost...