t Smisje Dubbel

Brewed by Brouwerij De Regenboog
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Assebroek-Brugge, Belgium

Thoroughly murky, dense sepia (with golden highlights at the thinner parts) a tan ring and a hint of film form above. Well-malted aromas hold caramel & toffee with a sharp, ketchupy yeast. Could not find the honey nor the dates. A fluffy mouthfeel finishes dry, flavored with stale caramels and pears on top of an oat-like background. The tiny 11.2 oz. bottle was consumed too quickly to appreciate this beer... a 750 would have been better received.

<font size=-4>Purchased from <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/illinois/chicag Wine & Spirits, Chicago, IL 60614<font size=-1>

11.2oz. bottle. Cloudy light brown color with red highlights and a small tan head. Fruity aroma of raisins, brown sugar and spice cake. Flavor starts off mildly sweet with the aforementioned raisins and brown sugar, before turning somewhat bitter and tart from the hops. Enjoyable.

A sweet aroma that has a heavy honey presence, a little vinegar can be smelled. A taste very similar to an apple cider.

Pours a transparent copper mahogany with a thin covering of wispy off-white head. Nice, rich sweet caramely malty aroma has some mild dark fruity complexity and earthy, bready yeast. Body starts with some toasty malty sweetness, revealing more earthy bitterness and some hay toward a bittersweet, grassy finish. An interesting dubbel that has more hops than I’m used to in the style.

This pours like a flat Pepsi and has a serious fresh fruit aroma - apples and peaches and tangerines - and a helping of dark brown sugar. The flavor does an about face. Initially sweet, a dirty malt takes over and the fruit seems to have aged too long. There’s a slight nutty bitterness and a dry roasted feel in the finish. Two ales at one drinking.

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Apple brown color. Perfect Belgian froth. Brandy soaked lavender, dates, honey and fruit in the aroma. Initially nutty and husky, a bit overly crisp. Velvety malt glides underneath, with hints of coffee cream and spoiled fruit. Fairly nice and drinkable, but ultimately unexciting in numerous ways.

12.21.05 330ml bottle. Dark amber pour with lasting beige head. Lightly hazed. Aroma is a curious of dried fruits, orange, bitters (liquor), muddled but inviting savory spice, and cakey malts. Very flavorful and satisfying brew is sweet, full bodied, and finishing with a nutmeg/tree bark bitter bite. Plenty of sweet flavors like dates (huh, there’s dates in the stuff, no wonder), caramel, brown sugar -- but the sweetness is never overpowering. Buttery, but not in a diacetyl way, and spicy, but not overdone. The finish lingers with more dates, molasses, and an emerging foral hop zing. Nice.

Bottle: Aroma is very sweet with lots of honey, raisin, and dark fruits. Pours a cloudy reddish-orange with virtually no transparency, although some sediment shows thru when held to the light. Moderate creamy off-white head lasts a minute or so. Excellent lacing. Lots of raisin and dark fruits in the flavor with moderate caramel that starts in the middle and lasts thru the finish. Light flowery bitterness and the slightest hints of tartness in the finish. I was expecting a big honey and residual sugar flavor, but none. Not nearly as sweet as the aroma would lead you to believe.