Grimbergen Double (Dubbel)

Brewed by Brasserie Union (Alken-Maes / Heineken)
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Jumet, Belgium

Enjoyed from an 11.2oz bottle in a hexagonal glass. The beer pours a medium to deep brown color that also shows some ruby highlights. A small off-white head evidences itself in the first several minutes. The nose shows characters of Belgian character malts, especially evidencing the malty/raisony/caramelly characters of CaraMunich and Special B. There is also a somewhat rough grainy character that comes in toward the back end. The palate begins nicely malty, showing the aforementioned characters again. This is followed up by some yeast esters that seem to given notes similar to Chimay’s strain. As with the nose, the grainy and almost insipid character comes in toward the finish, and ultimately keeps the beer from being much better than good.

Bottle thanks to daknole. Pours with a reddish dark brown with a fluffy tan head. Aroma of caramel, red apples, books, toffee, chocolate, earth and alcohol (calvados like). Taste is sticky with some rotten fruits, and brandy with a bit of fudge on the finish. Creamy bubbles. Decent.

33cl dark brown bottle, label as shown. Pours a dark, nutty clear brown, with a big, soapy off-white head, geneous lacing. Aroma of bananas and malt, with a light citrus edge. Medium-bodied dubbel with low carbonation, smooth mouth feel. Ripe bananas also feature strongly in the taste, some roasted malts make themselves felt towards the finish. Alcoholic, slightly medicinal after taste. A smooth, fairly streamlined dubbel. Not as complex as some, but also less oppressive and self-indulgent. Medium sweet dark ale, sessionable, not terribly characterful.

This one pours the traditional deep dark reddish brown of a dubbel. A very authentic aroma of banana, raisin and spice with an underlying sweetness. The beer is quite dry in the mouth, the 6.5% alcohol makes itself known. Classic dubbel flavours though, sweet and dark flavours mingle making a fruitcakey mouthful.

clear brown colour, beige head (very small and not lasting), low - medium carbonation. Aroma: hoppy, caramel, roasted. Flavor: sweet, fruity, roasted, light metallic aftertaste. Quite watery. 330 ml bottle @ supermarkt in Utrecht

Tap. It’s good, but not the best dubbel I had. Caramel in the aroma, and a sweet flavour with lingering bitterness. It’s thin and watery in the palate. Dark red colour, with a white and long-lasting head.

This is a typical dark brown dubbel style beer with a decent beige head and a chocolate cherry aroma. The flavor is funky plum and toffee. I seem to remember this being a better beer in the pre-Heineken days.

Frothy off white head on top of a clear red brown pour. Smells sweetly of sherry and faintly of cherries. Tastes fresh plums and prunes. Sweet and sour. Caramel. Quite abrubt finish. Decent.