Anderson Valley Brother Davids Double

Brewed by Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Boonville, California USA

As I pour this the beer shows a brilliantly clear brown color, but it sits in my glass a completely opaque dark brown color. The beer has an initially two-finger thick, brownish tinged tan head. As I pour this a fruity note similar to rum wafts from my tulip glass. Concentrated sweet malt notes are found initially in the nose. The nose is a melange of caramelized malts, brown sugar, toasted glazed bread and an underlying fruitiness reminiscent of raisins and prunes. The aroma is definitely missing the spicy notes that are in a good Belgian Dubbel.

Thick and sweet up front, almost a shock to the palate. One expects a double to be rich yes, but with a certain lightness and quaffability that this brew doesn’t even remotely have. Sweet with sticky caramelized malt notes, raisin like fruitiness and a touch of toasted grain character. The toasted grain notes help to add a touch of balance to the otherwise dominant sweet character.

This is not a bad beer, there are certainly no flavor flaws, but one expects an entirely different beer from a Belgian styled Dubbel; adding some spiciness and substantially drying this beer out would certainly be a good place to start. As is it might pair well with a chocolate dessert.

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A little hops in the aroma. Taste starts out a bit thin but then improves mightily. Pretty sugary finish. A good beer and a nice rep of the style.

Bottle: Dark brown, tan head, no lacing, sugary aroma, dark fruits, and yeast. Flavor is sweet, hint of plum and raisin, and alcohol. Decent.

Bottled. Poured dark brown, with a lacy tan head. The nose had notes of cherries, malt, and currents. The flavor had an undertone of alcohol up front, with cherry and malt coming through as well. The finish was alcohol, bitter, and very dry. The mouthfeel was a bit too thin. Perhaps I had a bad bottle, but I thought it was bitter in a bad, non-hoppy way, and the mouthfeel was too thin for this style.

Purchased at the brwery on my road trip out west we stumbled upon Anderson Valley Brewing. Drank 1 year later so my sample was aged at least a year. Pours with a small quickly disapating head. Aromas of figs, dried fruit, spice, ceder, and a hint of sandelwood and hops. The mouth feel is a prickly carbonation and some astringency. Got more complex as it warmed up some. The more I sipped it the more I warmed up to this beer. The alcohol is well hidden for 9%, they must use alot of sugar in this beer because it finishes extreamly dry for a 9%er. I would have never guessed if they did not label it 9%. Well attenuated! Similar to Westmalle Double but not as refined. Same yeast I believe, White Labs Abbey ale it tasted like witch is cropped for Westmalle. Good effort in a hard style to brew!

Sweet malty aroma emanates from this very dark reddish brown liquid. It tastes like lightly astringent rum soaked fruitcake. Somewhere between a dubbel and an english barleywine $6//22oz

On first sip, there seemed to be an almost brown ale quality to this but then I captured a fruity mix of raisins and plums with a natural yeasty grassy spiciness going on. The carbonation is medium and the flavors seem a bit unbalanced. I like the complexity but this doesn’t look like a repeat beer to me.

22oz bottle pours dark brown with ruby highlights and a pretty good sized tan head that fades rather quickly. Aromas of raisin, chocolate, caramel, yeast, and some spice. Flavor is yeasty with notes of raisin, chocolate, caramel, and light spice on the finish. Nice smooth palate without much carbonation. Alcohol is well covered. Not too bad.