Iron Hill Abbey Dubbel

Brewed by Iron Hill Newark
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Newark, Delaware USA

#1 [Blind tasting @ Papsoe] Small light creamy off-white head that mostly diminished. Fair display of lacework. Light cloudy dark amber colour. Some fruit in the initial sniff. Hint of sweet floral notes. Light spicy feel as well. Moderated sweet caramel and toasted malt feel over the palate. Hint of hops can also be detected. Light to medium bodied with a hint of dry texture and a soft carbonation. Light to moderated sweet flavour with a hint of bitterness. Sweet toasted finish. 3 / 6 / 6 / 3 / 12 = 3.0

No to my taste. Not sure who brought this or how long it sat around but became watery as per prior descriptions. Not much body or flavor. Very watery Dubbel. Will have to try this again to make sure.

Label states it is brewed at the Wilmington location
Pours with a four finger thick, brownish to amber tinged, tan colored head that is a fairly large bubbled froth and . The beer is clear, brilliantly ruby-hued, red color when held up to the light, but sits in my glass a drab, dark amber to brown color. The aroma has a nice chewy fruitiness to it reminiscent of caramelized raisins, concentrated plum and touches of figs. The dark fruit notes are certainly the most noticeable aspect of the aroma, but there is a touch of spiciness (clove, hints of dusty pepper & maybe mace) and a solid malty backdrop that is almost toasty, definitely caramelized, a touch like browned bread crust and even some hints of chocolate aromatics once you start digging around. After drinking for a bit the aroma picks up a touch of hot alcohol too.

The beer is sweet up front, but is still quite light bodied. The sweetness accentuates a fruit note, that is the most noticeable part of the flavor profile, of plums, raisins & fresh figs. The beer seems almost a bit too thin; the light body seems to accentuated some alcohol notes that are fruity, somewhat rum-like, but still a bit hot. The beer finishes with a malt presence of dark caramel, toasted bread crust, brown sugar and a chewy, fresh, dark bread flavor that is quite appetizing. As the beer warms up a bit it leans a bit more towards the tart side of the fruit notes, especially the plum character and even reminds me at times of tamarind.

This has my preference for the Dubbel style profile as far as the light body, yet still rich flavors go; in fact this is actually quite a well made Dubbel, but for some reason the more I dig into this style the more under-whelmed I am by it. The more I dig into this 750ml bottle the more I can appreciate how well this has captured the essence of a Dubbel, but it is still not pushing me onto the plateau of flavor excellence. Flavorful, yet light Abbey Singles, Triples & Quads I can’t get enough of, but the poor Dubbels consistently don’t inspire me. This one is a great Dubbel though, so if you like Dubbels definitely try and get some of this. I will say this, the beer gets more enjoyable the farther into the 750 that I get.

Sampled on 7/15/06 at the RBSG ’06 Grand Tasting: Pours a clear dark copper bronze with a thin, wispy-lacing off-white head. Has a rich, sweet, caramel malty complex bready and authentic Belgian yeasty aroma. Body starts with a pretty full sweet toasty and bready caramel flavor with good yeasty balance. Very authentic and enjoyable.

Bottle from North Wales. Pours copper/brown, with a small head. Aromas are sugar, fruit, malt, and yeast. Flavor is sweet malt, brown sugar, fruit..a little banana, and some bread, too. I like this one alot.

Draught @ Brewpub: This one pours a hazy mahogany color. Mine came out with not much of a head on it. The aroma was nice. A bit of a sweetness to it. Notes of plums, pears, caramel, a yeasty breadiness and corriander. The taste is also quite good and has similar notes to the aroma. Spicy with a hint of corriander. You can also taste the plums and pears as well as the breadiness. Nice.

RBSG 2006 - DC Grand Tasting Lineup Bottom pour, murky brown color, nice head and lacing though. Nose of raisin, bread, rye, molasses and banana. The flavor is balanced, nice tart, sour sweet, bitter combo. Creamy finish, nice carbonation level and surprisingly decent. Thanks Whaleman!

Sampled at RBSG 2006- Grand Tasting. Pours a cloudy dark gold. delicious amalgam of toffee and caramel apples infused with plums and raisins. The alcohol seemed way bigger in this than 8% abv, so I guess it hides the heat well.