Mike Loves Beer

Name – Westmalle Dubbel
Country – Belgium
Type – Dubbel

Appearance – Poured a dark mahogany type color with some red highlights.  A big tan head tops it off.

Smell – Pretty traditional Belgian smells with the dark fruits and candi sugar.

Taste – I usually hate saying it’s the same as the smell but it really is.  Very nice dark fruits like grapes and figs and plums mixed with a sweet candi sugar.  You get a bit of the booze as it warms up some.

This is one I’ve really meant to try for quite a long time but just never got around to it.  The nearly $5 price tag kind of put me off too.  But I figured it was time to indulge on this being one of the true Trappist breweries.  I really enjoyed it.  I typically like the quadrupels more but this was very pleasant and drinkable.  Will definitely go back to it again.

Overall Grade – A

Name – Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale
Country – Belgium
Type – Dubbel

Appearance – Poured a deep brown that looked like cola.  Had a tan head that was gone pretty quick.

Smell – Dark fruits and candy sugar dominate the nose.

Taste – Sweet malts with dark fruits, raisins and a little bit of candy sugar.

I wanted to have Corsendonk’s Christmas Ale during the holidays but I balked and missed out on it.  So I went ahead and got what seems to be the flagship ale of the brewery.  I was not disappointed.  A very straight forward dubbel with many of the characteristics you would expect.  Now some might as why I rate a straight forward dubbel higher than an average saison like yesterday’s review.  It’s just my taste I guess.

Overall Grade – B

Name – Ommegang Abbey Ale
Country – United States
Type – Dubbel

Appearance – Poured a brown to almost dark red color with a big tannish head.

Smell – Cherries, raisins, grapes and some scent of caramel.

Taste – As I have seen with most Belgian styled beers the taste is pretty on with the smell and very slight alcohol burn at the end.

This is a pretty good American made version of a Belgian dubbel.  Ommegang are pretty damn good at making the Belgian style beers so I was not surprised.  The taste was quite warming.  It just felt good drinking it.

Overall Grade – B+