Bornem Dubbel

Brewed by Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Ertvelde, Belgium

Brown-amber pour, thick tan head, and nice lacing. Warming aroma of raspberries and grapes with a sweet, heavy malt and yeast scent. Solid mouth feel that seems earthy. Creamy with a mild finish. Dark fruits and lots of musty yeast. Licorice, molasses, and other gritty sugary treats. Flavor finishes with a hint of banana. Made for a real tasty night cap.

Poured from the bottle into a trappist glass. The beer was a very dark brown color with a copper tint. It had a huge, creamy-bubbly tan head with great retention and a lot of cling on the glass. The aroma is a mixture of a caramel, fruity malt blend, with some earthy and grainy hops; hard to pick out the fruits, maybe some raisin and banana. The taste is initially sweet, and some fruity flavors are present, but quickly gives way to a more harsh, bitter flavor. A foamy, lively mouthfeel, with a slightly creamy effect. Not a ton of feel in the mouth, with a somewhat thin texture, and somewhat dry with a slight alcohol tingle at the end.

Pours copper, beige head. Aroma yeasty, dark fruits, hoppy. Taste, high carbonation, yesaty, dark fruits (cherry / raisin) dry sour finish with light tingly feel on palate.

A darl belgian dubbel tasting like a dark chech lager you say? Yes! In the beginning I didn’t think of it, but as I drank it one of my friends noticed it - and he was right. Nice color, nice bottle, but in the end a tad thinnish.

Bottle. Dark amber. Huge head, can’t even pour whole bottle no matter how slowly. Initial aroma is pure banana. Dark malt and then grape and yeasty aromas come through but banana dominates. Some tartness. Extremely high carbonation, acidic bite...not very pleasant. Taste is sour with light malt flavors and hints of syrupy fruits. Does not improve much. Not impressed.

Unfortunately, this one does not stand up to the world class dubbels despite being from Belgium, I would have expected something better from the makers of Gulden Draak and Piraat. It is still a decent beer and was not totally disappointed, just will not race to the store to get it again. It kind of tasted like an alchoholized Dr. Pepper with prickley carbonation. Next up 100 ratings, so what will I drink, hmmmm?

Bottle, Hop Devil, Zagreb; drunk in the bizarre enviorons of a mocked up trappist monastery in the bowels of a shopping centre, prior to heading to the Maksimir Stadium to witness Theo Walcott’s hat-trick for England !!!! Poured a hazy dark brown with a big ol’ rocky head. Aroma had yeast and sweet malt with a hint of fruit. Flavour was sweetish with some spice. Bit sticky. Drinkable, but lacking in wow factor.

Bottled. Light beige head is large and long lasting. Nice lace formation. Liquid is dark brown to amber. Aroma has quite intese banana, yeast and sweet caramel. Malts are medium roasted, dark and caramelly in the finish. Peppery spiciness and some sour fruitness of fermented fruits. Alcohol is well hidden. Flavor is quite only medium sweet, more like sour to me. Some bitterness in the finish. Palate is carbonated and foaming and a bit thin. Sticky texture in the finish, otherwise slick and quite oily. Simple but quite OK duppel. A bit too carbonated.