Westmalle Dubbel

Very dark color, but red appears when its held up to the light. Head is a light tan cream. Aroma is pretty complex. Spicy and estery. The flavor is very dynamic and changes considerably from the time it hits your lips to the semi-dry finish. The begining is the spicy esters evident in the aroma, but the finish is a more subtle dark chocolate. The palate is full bodied and carries itself very well. I like this beer.

Dark sludgy brown with rusty, tawny reddish edges, great cap of fluffy firm tan foam ever so tall and present, creepingly settling to an ever present murky skim and finely stitched lace sticks. Aroma is intially soft and ripe of fruits giving a blend of mango, grapes, passion, and pear skins. A nice earthy dusting of dry yeast and bread crusts settles across the top after a bit with ever so present gleams of candied sugars. Taste is plump and a bit overcarbonated which gets in the way for me with every sip, as soon as I begin to get something out of it taste wise, the carbonation wipes it away far to quickly. A bit too sharp for my tastes. Perhaps an aged bottle of a year or more would help as this was bottled 2004. What is there for tastes are some dullish fruity malts in a darker realm of plum, raisin, and dry figs, mixing a bit inbetween some pear and cherry pieces. Slight cocoa and a firm earthy yeasty dryness with just a pinch of spice and walnut skin dryness finish it out. Very nice finish. Body is full with a bit much on the carbonation scale which has a scratchy/chalky-like coat on the way down which sorta blends into the complex drying qualities in the finish after awhile, which I actually liked, so that made up for some of my dissatisfaction in the carbonation dept.. Overall, this is one to come back too, with age, I think this might round or smooth out and be one fun and fine ale to behold.

Bottle. Nice dark brown cloudy body topped with a good off-white foamy head. Superb vineous aroma with yeasty and fruity notes. Enjoyable hoppy taste that perfectly hides the alcohol. It carries various sweet and fruity notes. Ends with a decent and warming bittersweet finish. Excellent Dubbel!

(Bottle, 0.33 l BBE 04/11/09, at Hilpeä Hauki, Helsinki, on 2008-09-27) Dark reddish brown. Hazy, Small white quickly disappearing head. Malts, raisin and chocolate in nose. Full bodied palate with quite lot of carbonation. Malts, chocolate, raisin, bitterness and sweetness in taste. Long lasting aftertaste with chocolate, malts and bitterness.

Amber brown in color with a medium sized beige head. Aroma is of malt, caramelized sugar, toffee, and fruit. Taste is of toffee, toast and alcohol. Suprisingly smooth going down.

Dark mahogany pour with soda like sudsy beige head. Slightly nutty, sweet fruit, and pleasant alcohol aroma. I like this one much much more than the tripel. Rich sweet malt with a really nice bitter, nutty, dark-fruit aftertaste. Like the tripel its somewhat one-dimensional for the style and maybe a tad sweet. Lively fluffy body. 8.4.8.4.17 [rerate 10.25.09] 11.2 oz bottle. Pours a darker shinny brown with a huge foamy root-beer float like rocky head. Aroma is sweet and bready, dark sugar, raisins, hint of plums, touch metallic, trappist yeast note is nice. First taste is a bit bready, dark rye, bitter, plummy yeast, odd metallicness, subtle sweetness, flavor vacantly detached from the airy body, lightly nutty, bitter plumy yeast aftertaste and long lingering dry charcoal. Medium bodied, big corse fluffy airy carbonation. I appreciate this in a different way after trying the Westvleteren offerings. Age has dried it out in a nice way, but some of the oxidation notes are distracting 7.4.8.4.15

Available in Ontario at the LCBO folks!!! great dubbel style . lotsa sweetness, dark brown slightly ruby, choc , fruit spice aroma. similar flavours on the palate. great beer