De Dolle Dulle Teve 10º (Mad Bitch)

Brewed by De Dolle Brouwers
Style: Abbey Tripel
Diksmuide, Belgium

Bottle. Pours a cloudy orange, with a finger of bubbly tan head. Smells like bananas, with hints of citrus and apples. Malty, tingles the mouth and throat as it trickles down. Tastes like a banana laffy taffy. Wow, this is tasty, and it warms ya right up. Can’t wait to try more brews from De Dolle.

Imagine all the oozing, corpulent zombies you like. Envisage haunting specters roaming down hall ways to your heart’s content. Ruminate on swamp monsters, vampires, werewolves, scientific abominations and uncanny murders until you turn cold and clammy, but we all know that there is something supremely scarier than all these blood curling thoughts: the angry termagant, or as it’s known in the beer community, the Mad Bitch! It was hardly a choice which beer would be most appropriate for Halloween night. But it’s a sardonic beer on any occasion. I distinctly recall a woman coming into a local wine shop and asking for a “Joke beer, maybe something funny in the name”. Sure enough, Mad Bitch was suggested and, rather than take offense the woman seemed rather intrigued. The label attempts to drill into the psychological core of women’s rage but even its confusing colors and alarming visage fail to do justice to the great purging anger of the better sex. The acrimonious words and bellicose saber rattling of a truly fearsome warrior of the XX clan simply can’t be conveyed in image. From the bottle issues forth a cloudy and richly colored beverage the hue of bees wax with a nigh uncontrollable whipped egg white head. I had to pace the pour for about five minutes to fit the whole drink in my glass – uncontrollable! The nose is far more charming, gracing the nose with pear, sour apple, butter, lemon, clove, red grapes, fresh mountains stream, and a hint of generic sourness. With a little warmth this bouquet includes creamed honey, apricot, honey suckle and sweet yellow corn. The taste abandons all this deceptively sweet charm and burdens itself with savory seriousness, committing itself to a heavy biscuit theme flanked by yeast and white bread tastes. It is advised, then, that the Mad Bitch is enjoyed at a safe distance where the pleasing aroma can be appreciated and the coarse and mild mannered taste can be avoided. If we are to survive the horror of horrors that is a woman’s scorn (Greater than or equal to Hell’s fury and all that) then we must learn to keep our distance and, in some cases, find a heavy obstacle to duck behind so that we may later enjoy the lighter side of the same idyllic angel who only yesterday was called the Mad Bitch!

33cl bottle, no date. Pours a light caramel golden with a huge eggshell head. . Aroma of candy sugar, yeast, dusty bananas, peppery spicy hops, and a little vanilla. Taste is much the same with a little bit of caramel and sweet orange citrus. Dry finish with some warming ETOH in the back of the throat. Full bodied, mod-high carbonation. One of the better tripels.

Bottle. Dark golden/orange colour with a white head.Aroma is wheat, orange, yeast. Flavour is yeast, alcohol, orange, sweet, spices.

750 bottle poured in a gulden draak tulip. Aged at least 1 year. Drinking this with some very spicy habanero pepper jack cheese. Foam exploded out of the bottle when the cork was pulled. From the looks of it I think this is an old bottle (no date). Pours a very hazy gold with a huge white head. Excellent head. I can’t see anything through the beer, must be the ridiculous amount of belgian yeast in it. A very sweet and fruity aroma with spice and alcohol. As with the aroma this stuff has huge spice fruit flavors. Flavors of wheat, citrus, bitterness, and alcohol on top of the spice and fruit. Very carbonated and fairly light body.

Bottled. Hazy, golden-orange, with a nice white head. The aroma has citrus, spices, alcohol and dishwashing-water, but in a pleasant way. Fruity and bitter flavor with alcohol, sweetness, spices and wheat. Sweet, full body and a long finish. A nice tripel, not too sweet. (060928)

Shared a 750mL with Goob. aroma of bread. banana, doughy, alcohol. Flavors of smoke. finishes with hichory. golden orange in color. very bitter and very dry. goes much better with food. probably a smoked pork tenderloin or spicy thai.

Beautiful head, that disipates only slighty. Mildly sweet aroma, a touch nutty, malty. Wow, the taste is slightly sweet, slightly bitter, with a wonderful malt zest. The a after-zing is like a spicy food, don’t go too fast the bitch’ll get ya. The only downside is the 10% isn’t hidden well enough.