New Belgium Abbey

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

A nice Belgian aroma, and deep brick red color, this has a complex caramel malt and toast flavor with a rich spicy malt and yeast finish. Nice full body. A bit shy of hops.

A very good chimay look alike. Its not near as good as chimay though. A strong bannana taste and a great smell. Lots of yeast in the bottom but not as bad as most real belgium ales.

Poured a deep brown-red color with slight haze and a respectable initial head that thinned quickly but still covered the beer. The aroma was yeasty and spicey with some dark fruits. Flavor was excellent, the best (with La Folie) New Belgium product I’ve had so far. Along with the aroma elements, the flavor was of light caramel malts mixed in with some spicing (cinnamon, something else), light bready notes, and a lightly hopped somewhat nutty finished. Only downfall from making this a primo dubbel was the underplayed dark fruit presence in the flavor, otherwise outstanding. Mouthfeel was creamy, due to the carbonation, a very nice beer.

Pours a brown color with red edges. Nice initial head that settles to a nice film that lasts. Light lacing. Has an estery aroma from the yeast. Flavor is fruity with some residual sweetness. Neutral hop bitterness doing its part in the background. Medium to full body. A nice beer.

12oz bottle from lee’s liquor: Definite aroma of belgian ale, but more like the homebrewed variety-not a bad thing though, just the typical belgian aromas which are good. Lighter deep red with a thin white head. Great Belgian flavor but still missing that special something the best ones have. Overall, a truly great tasting brew for the money-if you don’t want to splurge for Chimay ;)

Bottle. Pours a deep reddish brown with a nice off-white head. Very malty nose mixed with fruit. Creamy and silky, thought it was smooth but overwhelmingly malty. Sweet apples, a freh apple cider reduction beer. Thanks to jhammerly for the bottle.

Little head on pour, sort of looks like soda head. Floral/soapy aroma. A bit thin in the mouth. Some drinks are spicy (when I let it sit below my tongue for a second). Some drinks are are fruity (normal drinks). Some end up sort of yeasty (swishing). Started too sugary when it was cold, went to nice spice and fruit (pears/bananas maybe), then warmed up to yeasty/spicy/sugary with more noticeable alcohol. Middle third was great.

Fairly decent reproduction of an Abbey-style dubbel, although I will say that doesn’t compare to the real thing. It’s lacking in body compared to Belgian dubbels and has a slightly funky after-palate. Still, it is a perfectly drinkable beer with pronounced banana and other fruity notes. Yeasty with a great head, almost creamy. I think it’s more complex than I give it credit for, although I can’t tell what else is going on. The Abbey Grand Cru that you could only get at the brewery was way more fulfilling, richer, and more complex. I would still give it a try if you like dubbels, just to compare to the real deal. (And it’s cheaper)