UPDATED: SEP 24, 2022 Bottle online from Beers Of Europe. Label: 7.5% abv. Pours a murky chestnut brown colour with no head. Aromas of dry dark fruits, caramel, brown bread and flowers. Quite a unique musky aroma. Taste has more dry dark fruits (figs, raisins, prunes), more caramel, more flowery notes and a lot of peppery spice. Thin body, low carbonation and smooth oily mouthfeel. Could do with more body but has big dark fruity and caramel flavours with lots of warm spices and alcohol on the finish. Very good unique beer I like it.

UPDATED: JUN 12, 2022 (Bottle) Pours slightly hazy brown with small head. Lovely rich spicy aroma. Nice mouthfeel - medium bodied with plenty of soft bright carbonation. Nice rich complex taste. Quite boozy. Spices that I cannot name that remind me of Christmas. Some funky and peppery hints. Unusual and very enjoyable.

UPDATED: MAY 18, 2022 500ml bottle purchased from Beers of Europe and drunk at home. Mahogany/dark amber and only a little translucent with a small film of beige head. Overwhelming aroma of dates and figs with a little bit of woodsmoke. Taste is sweet with a medicinal hoppy bitter/sour character and a surprisingly dry finish. More fig appears fleetingly in the aftertaste. Big body with heavy carbonation. A dubbel? Hmmmm. It's very English, which is not what you want from a supposed Abbey style. If I'd been out drinking cask ale all day in traditional pubs and this one was the last of the night, I might be raving about it. But as it stands it's a bit messy, of an indeterminate style. It is close to the Best Before date to be fair. All in all: drinkable, bordering on good, but doesn't hit the bullseye.

UPDATED: NOV 22, 2020 500ml glass bottle from Beers of Europe. Served having been out of refrigeration for nearly an hour into a La Trappe Trappist glass. Dated as best before March 2021. The beer pours a dark ruby colour, murky with a one finger thick tight head. The head thins out very slowly, leaving a thick consistent lacing as the drink goes down. Visually stunning. On the nose the beer is sweet like candy. Dried cherry, cherry haribo, cooked fruit. Molasses, and slight yeast. It smells like when you open a bag of cherry flavoured jelly sweets. The sweet flavours dominate the early taste. Cherry, yeast, some sweet lemon. Suddenly, a sour quality akin to a Flanders red ale with the flavour turned down somewhat becomes noticeable. As the beer sits an underlying English hop presence develops. I feel like the sour quality detracts from what could be a decent Dubbel. The taste is confused. I can’t really comment on the mouth feel as I was too distracted by the weird combination of flavours. However, the beer does have a dry mouth feel. A white wine quality. Overall, the visual and aroma are fantastic. The confused taste with all the sour quality doesn’t work for me. I feel I did a disservice to the glass by pouring this beer into it. Whatever you think this beer definitely should not be labelled as a Dubbel.

UPDATED: JUL 22, 2020 Bottle from Beers of Europe - looks like I had this before with friends at my house, as their ratings are there, but must've been too pissed to rate it. Anyway.... Appearance - dark honey to brown colour. Very slightly off white head. Nose - sultanas, honey and syrup. Taste - more honey, sultanas, orange peel. Palate - rich bodied, tangy sour texture. Bittersweet, tangy finish. Overall - very interesting beer, though not really a Dubbel. A bit challenging but interesting all the same.

UPDATED: JUN 7, 2020 Slightly ruddy brown with a tan head. Aroma raisins, bread and yeast. Taste is sweetish, berries, lots of yeast bits. Lively carbonation. Underwhelming.

UPDATED: JUL 19, 2019 Bottle: Poured a rusty copper brown with huge tan head. Aroma is sticky sweet caramel malt. Taste is fruity, strong candy malts.

Bottle at ash's. Pours deep reddish Amber, nose is fruity, malty, slightly nutty, taste is sweet, fruity, malty, toffee, caramel.

UPDATED: MAY 7, 2019 Bottle shared with Stuu666 and Ashton McCobb. Pours clear red-brown with a thin white head. Aromas of stewed fruit, apples, raisins. Taste is tea tannins, stewed fruit. No Belgian notes. Terrible label.

UPDATED: FEB 12, 2019 11-Nov-13 (500-ml bottle, Best before March 2007: Obtained 17-Jul-06 in trade with HogTownHarry, thanks Harry!)
Ha, found this one while rummaging through some boxes. And while drinking this beer, I read about the brewery's (relatively) brief history, then about the famous bridge that once ended at the entrance to the building, and then finally into a full-on session about the history of Burton-on-Trent, the important battles that took place here, and the two different bridges that have occupied this location for at least the past 800 years (and perhaps dating back to Roman times). Fascinating read, and all the while, I've been sipping on this tasty beer. It pours (well, poured!) a hazy, ruddy brown body with half an inch of tan head that settles to an unbroken sheet and tall ring that leaves some large patches of lace on the glass. The nose is very fruity in the English way, and offers lots of caramel, toffee, raisin, and fig. On the palate, it lives up to the expectations created by the aromas, delivering malty and yeasty flavors of caramel candy, brown sugar, toffee, lightly toasted bread, dried fruit, fig, a hint of date, and raisin. It's medium sweet, perhaps a touch higher, but isn't cloying, and the medium-full weight isn't heavy or rich, so this is a damn drinkable beer. Carbonation is light-medium, just enough to provide necessary life to the beer. Overall, for a 7+ year old beer, this is pretty terrific. It appears this beer is not pasteurized as there is a heavy layer coating the bottom of the bottle, so that's certainly helped with the cellaring. Deliciously malty, easy to drink, but better to sip over a history lesson. Cheers! to burton-on-trent.org.uk for the excellent written and visual details.