Boulevard Abbey Dubbel

Bottle courtesy of customercopy. Pours a murky dark brown with a thin beige head and orange tint/highlights when held to light; spotty lacing. The nose is of raisins, brown sugar, spicy phenols and Juicy Fruit-y esters and alcohol. This beer smell more, to me, like a dunkelweizen than a dubbel. On the light side of medium-bodied and slick with a lightly spicy and mildly dry finish. Raisin, apple and pepper with a mildly dry, almost tannic, finish. This is pretty solid stuff, and I’m not generally a huge fan of dubbels. Thanks again for the bottle, JB.

12oz. bottle from 2006, cheers to JB for supplying us with some of the last of this, one I’d been curious about for some time now. Decanted into a Smokestack goblet. Sweet and darkly fruity aroma, full of raisin/grape and brown sugar along with lighter notes of spice, cherry, milky chocolate and floral perfume. Thoroughly cloudy rusty brown-red color with a lasting, fine, uneven, ivory head, plenty of sediment left behind in the bottle. Flavor profile is well-balanced between its various elements, beginning with a subtle spicy bitterness, becoming sweeter and maltier with suggestions of toffee and cocoa, and finishing very long with a blend of estery yeast, dark, dried fruits, cola and faint anise. Palate shows the merest hint of sharp alcoholic warmth and a light-moderate degree of effervescence to go with the medium-full body. Lingering bubblegum and fruity tartness. This has certainly held up nicely, what a shame the world may never see it.

2006 Bottle provided by JB. Served in my smokestack chalice. Aroma is dates (very ripe dates), raisins, dried figs, light spice, a touch of alcohol (not harsh, but rather very smooth), and slight amount of tanginess, not unlike unripe blue or blackberries. Color is dark red with a smallish tan head. Malt dominates the flavor early on and the mouthfeel is fairly substantial. The flavors are dark, overripe fruit, much like a high quality dates and dried figs, black and white pepper-like phenols, a rich dulce de leche sweetness, some alcohol and some spiciness. Seems to be nicely balanced, which make it very easy to drink. I had this one back in ’06 when it was served at a GABF party and provided by Denver Logan. There was a fridge full of it but I only grabbed a single bottle, what the fuck was I thinking? The last two years have been very kind to this beer, too bad it never really made it into the lineup.

2006 Vintage 12 oz. test bottle courtesy of the always generous JB. Poured into my Boulevard Chalice, served at ~55 degrees, the body is a cloudy orange brown with a nice one inch tan head. Nice lacing revealed as the head retreats. Tons of sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Aroma of rich caramel goodness. Some fruity raisin present. Cane sugar and earthy Belgian yeast round out a very inviting nose. Taste is the components of the nose, starting with rich caramel maltiness, sweet fruity cane sugar and finishing with a spicy earthy yeastiness. There is some tangy ginger present in the aftertaste as well. As the beer warms, it really picks up focus and intensity of flavor. Nothing new, really, just better integration of all the flavors. This was a nicely made beer, and had some very unique flavors. Thanks for digging these out for the locals, JB!

2005 bottle tasted at http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eventID=5918 with DenverLogan, and Quaff members. 1yr old bottle I believe. What a treat. Looks like the last time this was rated was a year ago. Should retire this beer. I think Logan has an incredible stock of old beers. Interesting fruity aroma. Brown amber color. 1/2 finger head.

Bottle from the pre-GABF party: Murky and dark amber with a beige-yellow head. Fruity nose (baked apples). Mouthfeel was creamy and weighty up front; lively carbonation toward the finish. Malts were pretty tasty, with elements of cooked brown sugar, toffee, dark caramel and faint cocoa. Fruity alcohol and fermented apple juice surfaces in the finish and lingers a little. Hints of earthy, estery yeast and some spices (perhaps some cinnamon, allspice and something else, which is evident but I can’t define) in the background. Overall, not a bad brew at all, but some flavors and aromas were slightly awkward.

another one i brought back from the pregabf party. if you bring cases of the same beer people will take one home. thanks to the blvd folks for making a great night better. i taste this beer almost a week after i first had it at the party. i remember telling the brewer that his trippel is good to go, but the dubbel is not. this pours a nice cloudy maroon with a lasting sticky yellow head. strong spice aroma with cinnamon,lemon peel, something like corriander or fake vanilla scented candles. this is thin, mouthfeel wise mainly, the flavor is a bit one sided too, but it has some depth. mainly sweet caramel, and banana with black pepper. this is not really a beer to make me smile, it makes me furrow my brow and try to figure out exactly what i don’t like. that would be the waxy lemon mainly. i just don’t like the spices, the way they try to mingle with the caramel sweetness is not good. while not a bad beer, i would drink this again, i would not buy it again or recommend to anyone else. and the alcohol is too dominant.

Aroma:spicy,rosted malt,chocolate and caramel... Appearance:Hazy brown,good beige head... Flavor:spicy,alcohol,light toffe flavor...