Abita Abbey Ale

Brewed by Abita Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Covington, Louisiana USA

Serve in Trappist glass

Tap: Pours a pale bronze color, nice white head. The nose is fresh and yeasty with a sweet biscuit and honey note. The esters are strong, the malts and hops are not, but it’s light enough in alcohol that it doesn’t seem overburdening. A bit big with the yeast in the finish, but the aroma is well put together.

An amber/burgandy color. Hazy with an off white head that had a burgandy tint to it. Smooth and creamy with nice size and retention. Some real nice lacing. Smells fruity in the nose with a hint of booze coming through. Smells a bit like sour dough bread. Dark cherries. Some clove. Not getting any caramel as mentioned on the bottle however. Just a bit strong with the sweet dark fruit, but still very nice. The taste is fruity with nary a hint of alcohol. Very sweet in flavor. Decent bit of bitterness, but nothing too strong. Rich and malty. Bready. Dark fruit. Starts to get a bit sugary as it warms. Pretty nice actually. Nicely balanced. Medium to medium/full mouthfeel. Very dry. Leaves a welcome alcohol warmth at the back end. Very nice carbonation. Covers the palate very well. As this beer warms, the alcohol vanishes and it becomes very easy to drink. It is a bit sweet and rich, so I might not make a night of it. It’s still very good and worth a try if available. The ease of drinkability and high ABV makes for a dangerous combination at first, but as I go along I started to sip.

Bottle with Andrew. Pours a lightly cloudy red with off-white foam. Smells sweet with hints of beets and alcohol. Tastes sweet with beets, alcohol and mesquite.

I thought this was a pretty standard abbey double that was pretty light in flavor and taste. A good amount of alcohol gave it a good kick but just didn’t have too much to it.

Deep, translucent dark amber color with a lacing off-white head. Aroma of grapes, yeast, caramel and V8 juice. The taste is cloyingly sweet and yeasty with a vegetable-juice aspect. Body is medium and lightly carbonated. There are ok points to this, but finishing the bottle will be a chore. We’ll see... Nope..it’s sugar and vegetable juice..I don’t think so.

From a bomber, purchased from Siciliano’s in Grand Rapids, February 2011. No dating on bottle, so not sure of vintage.

Pours deep garnet with a medium head, moderate lacing that leaves a nice trail on the glass. Nose is ripe fruit, grape, bready malt. Medium body, slightly oily, a bit creamy. Nice, zippy carbonation. Palate starts with some nice fruity sweetness and finishes slightly tart and malty with some Belgian yeast notes. Hints of pepper and clove underlay the fruity, malty characteristics. A really solidly composed dubbel and a good beer overall.

22 ounce bottle purchased at BevMo in Natomas, CA. The aroma is extraordinarily sweet, syrupy, and brown sugary. Some light dustiness with banana Belgian yeast esters. Not much else going on here in the aroma. Transparent orangey-amber body that is rather attractive. This has a strong off-yellow head, that leaves some pretty lacing. The start is pretty poorly defined, before some ethanol makes an appearance in the middle. Finishes roasted with some chocolate malt hints and a little sour funk astringency. Lingering dry woodiness late. Not sure what they were trying to accomplish with this beer, but the end result is a mess.

15-Jul-09 (22-oz bottle: Purchased 28-Jun-09 for $4.49 at BevMo in La Jolla, CA) Red-amber in color and only slightly hazy, the beer is capped by an inch of tan head, but retention is only fair as the head fades rapidly to a dense dusting of powder. The nose isn’t especially appealing, with good and bad mix of aromas such as overripe fruit starting to rot, dates, sweet spices, earth, wet leaves, brown sugar and ammonia. Things don’t improve too much on the palate as the spices dominate and add unpleasant bitterness, the date-like fruitiness is less "rotting", malts are bready, and the earthiness is still quite apparent. It’s moderately bitter, but still very sweet, syrupy and cloying. Full-bodied it seems, but much of that is just sugar, and carbonation is medium. Overall, this beer has potential to be decent, but two things plague it: it’s far too sweet, and there are some odd and unpleasant flavors in the mix. In the end, it’s just not a beer I am enjoying drinking, and finishing the entire bomber is out of the question.