Bièropholie Double

Formerly brewed at Bièropholie
Style: Abbey Dubbel
, Canada

Light brown, hazy. Slightly plummy, bubblegummy aroma with hints of brown sugar. Fairly thin, but with some smokey notes. Vague plum and a fairly sketchy alcohol finish.

Never-ending uniform beige head thrones over the opaque caramel hue. The foam actually produces lacing, a characteristic I don’t remember encountering in a Bièropholie. Estery and full-malted nose where strong banana bread flavours are complemented by subsequent pepper, grapes and figs. Certainly quite sweet in mouth, sucre d’orge and dried fruits dominate the trace leafy hops. Minimal earthiness is never a match for the sweetness in the finish that stays malty, spicy and long. No wateriness, very soft foamy mouthfeel, airy and with no hard edges. I’m impressed, I rarely enjoy dubbels and Belgian-inspired beers are not what I’d expect Bièropholie to excel at. Kudos.

My Bottom Line:
A basket full of raisins, dates, dried cranberries and cherries is doused in cocoa and able caramel, before earthy yeast and roasted malts seal this Dubbel’s finale.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A lofty head of foam dissipates atop the cloudy, brown-laced blood red.
-Alcohol is not much of a factor in the flavor profile.
-Roasted malt bitterness is light and achieves enough dryness to cut through the plump body.
-The flavor profile is not super complex, but it is very enjoyable nonetheless.
-Carbonation is levelled and the body quite round, making for a valiant mouthfeel for the style.
-A green malt character (Frontenac?) is found alongside the yeast.

Bottle.

Sampled from 355 ml bottle and shared by MatSciGuy. Pours a semi-hazy reddish amber brew with a thin tan head that quickly dissipates to an off-white ring. Aroma of dark caramel, raisins, flowery hops, some banana esters, yeast and dark pitted fruits. Taste is medium to full bodied, fruity, with flavors of roasted caramel malt, raisins, a hint of brown sugar and yeast. Finish has a mild yeast and brown sugar aftertaste.

Bottle (341ml). Shared by blankboy with me and garthicus. Deep clear ruby with a very large, long-lasting straw-coloured foamy head. Solid roast caramel malt with pear and peach sweetness, lovely yeast and green herbal bitterness in behind. Taste follows, wow that’s grassy-bitter, which really balances the sweetness and the building alcohol presence - quite a lot going on with fruity roast malt and the pungent yeast - an interesting take on the style. Thick, mild carbonation, quite pungent yet sweet on the palate, long bitter linger - trés bien!!

Thanks to MattSciGuy. Dark brown color with no head. Light bubblegum aroma. Flavor is mostly dark candi sugar. Light Noble hop bite on the finish. Not much yeast character.

My bottle (341ml) shared with HogTownHarry & garthicus -- c/o Viper666. Pours a murky dark ruby-brown with a large mostly-lasting creamy tan head -- looks pretty good. Nice aroma of yeast, some alcohol, caramel malt, brown sugar, fruit, herbal hops and more. Sweet, yeasty, fruity flavour along with alcohol and hops -- a nice bitterness to go along with your typical Dubbel flavour. Good body. I really like this.

This is an excellent dubbel, one of the best I have had. It is indistinguisable from a real Belgian, and this is due to the yeast, which is very Belgian in flavor and aroma. Yeast and fruit aroma. Flavor is full with malt, and some dried fruit. Thick palate, a little sweet.