Westmalle Dubbel

Deep brown and cloudy with a huge head. Musty and old aroma of plums and cardboard. Good palate, with the usual alcohol-like trappist flavor, and also some plum and woody characteristics

Bottle. Aroma of sweet, darkish fruits, murky, musty yeast, light maltiness. Flavor basic sweet fruits and Belgian yeastiness, pretty basic-seeming at this point. Solid, but didn’t find anything super special here.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy brown with a thick light tan head. Aroma of sweet malt, sweet fruits (applesauce and fig), some cola-like notes. Flavor of bitter hops initially with lots of malt and sweet fruits, even some soda-like notes. Hmm, not what I expected from the #2 dubbel in the world. The flavor is bland and the palate a touch heavy. I would have liked more fruity notes or spices....oh well. 7/4/6/3/14 (3.4/5)

11.2 ounce bottle from the Hillcrest Whole Foods (San Diego, CA). Pours a cloud brown with red highlights. Huge frothy off-white head with major staying power. The cola-like effervescence keeps adding more bubbles so that there is an almost constant one finger of head. Aroma of yeast, real raspberries, and plum. Tastes of malt, dark fruit, yeast, and a bit of alcohol. Taste improved a little as it warmed up, but overall I was not impressed. Definitely not as sweet as others in the style. The dry finish also has a noticeable hop sharpness to it. A good enough beer, but I really expected much more complexity and depth from this, being a Trappist and all.

Malty on the nose, caramel, bready, fruity with figs, dates, dark cherries. Pours dark brown with a thick tan head. Caramelly malts, a light toasted flavor, highly carbonated, slightly fruity with raisons, light figs with hints of spicy hops. Great trappist yeast flavors. Thinner than some dubbels but not bad at all.

Cloudy mahogany brown body, very thin brown cap produced during pour reduced to just a skiff after thirty seconds, bla, bla, bla boring looking. I’m disappointed in the total lack of cap here, the body has such great color but just looks boring with no crown floating on top. Very sweet aroma, grape juice, touch of alcohol, some nice spiciness, and just maybe even a hint of citrus, the brew smells awesome. Flavor contains some oakiness, grape but the grape isn’t nearly as strong as in the aroma, the alcohol comes across fairly harsh but its hidden under the sweetness of the brew. Beer finishes with a touch of spice and some floral notes and comes across very light. Beer becomes way more smooth and maltier the closer to room temperature it gets compared to the 12 degrees it started at. Mouth feel felt surprisingly thin maybe even to thin. Beer is very tasty but still light and not to filling, I can see myself stalking one or two in the fridge at all times.

Dark copper pour with ruby highlights. Off white, small, persistent head. Aroma is amazing - sweet plums and red apples, some cloves, cinnamon, sweet caramel malt and a hint of chocolate. Flavours are not as diverse - complex roasted malts with chocolate notes and some noticeable alcohol. Quite sweet up front but finishes rather dry. Too much carbonation detracts from flavour! Otherwise quite enjoyable!

Bottle. Aroma is spicy, raisin, and caramel. Dark amber/brown with a thick off white head. Not as rich as I suspected, but has a medium sweetness and a typical Belgian sourness. Smooth mouth feel with a clean sweet finish and actively carbonated. This is a fantastic beer, just a bit lighter than other Dubbel’s in my opinion.