Allagash Dubbel Reserve

750 ml Batch 58. Pours dark brown with off white head. Aroma of sweet fruit and malt. Taste of malt with small bitter after taste.

Batch #33. As soon as I popped the cork, I could smell it, so I will start with the aroma: a nice mixture of sweet honey and plum or cherry. The aroma wasn’t exceptionally strong, but still it smells very nice. It pours a slightly hazy auburn/brown, with a ton of soft sudsy tan foam. A lot of thick foamy lace remains on the the glass as I slowly savor the beer. The first sip is quite sweet, with a mixture of maltiness, candi sugar, and a slight but thoroughly enjoyable graininess. There is a subtle aftertaste of light brown sugar and dark sweet Traverse City cherry. A nice residual bitterness and some more candi compete with each other to dominate the aftertaste. The bitterness wins, and as it turns out, the bitterness is like a strong black tea, lightly spicy. I’m thinking it comes from both the grain and the hops. Softly carbonated, the body is just a tad on the thin side. Nice Belgian character for a North American beer.

I’ve long overlooked rating this beer despite having it many times. Batch 45. The aroma is sweet and slightly boozy, almost like bourbon. It has an ample yeasty element along with some sherry notes and a bit of musty cork, oak and pepper. The body is a murky brown and holds a diminishing fluffy tan head head that is initially two fingers thick and craggy atop. <P> Fore is nutty, yeasty and only mildly sweet. Has a muted honey flavor as well along with a dry peanut skin flavor and very ample liquor soaked bread notes. Finish is soft and round though at times the flavor seems to drop and become watery. It’s a very good beer, but I personally pine for a little more in the mouthfeel.

(750 ml bottle (batch 52) from <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/maine/portland/downeast-beverage-co/974.htm target=blank>Downeast Beverage Co., cellared for 13 mos. after purchase) Outstanding...Pours dark, hazy rubyish brown with one finger of soft, rich biege head. Pretty much perfect-looking. Aroma is yeast and notes of dark fruits and wine, hint of sour. Mouthfeel very smooth, soft, silky, full. Beautiful bottle-conditioned carbonation. Nice sheets of lacing. Flavor is layers of dark fruits, port and light yeast. Would definitely recommend cellaring as this bottle just seems so perfectly rounded. UPDATE 11/6/09: The greatness that I found in that 750 ml bottle in ’07 was not there in a couple of 12 oz. bottles I recently tried. Is the 12 oz. version inferior or is it something else? Certainly the appearance wasn’t too remarkable this time around, and the aroma had some light hints of complexity, but again not too remarkable. The palate seemed thinner and drier. Finally the flavor just did not have near the richness or complexity. There were more hints of chocolate and red wine than I remember but there was also a troublesome phenolic quality. Not really bad but nowhere near the 4.3 I originally had. Seemed more like an average to even below average Belgian. Current score will be an average of the two ratings.

Bottle. Cloudy brown, white head. Aroma: yeast. Thin and carbonated in mouth. Flavor: Clean and malty. Sourness.

This dark brown ale poured with a lacy tan head, eliciting a strong malty aroma. The malty flavor is very pleasantly laced with chocolate, toffee and cloves, with a long dry finish. I really like this one.

Bottle (Batch #44). Poured brown with a frothy off-white head that produced nice lacing. The aroma was mainly of fruits but some light alcohol was present also. The flavor found dark fruits mixed with sweet malts. Medium body. Very enjoyable.

June 2003, 750ml Bottle (batch 39). Consumed New Year’s Day. 3.5 years old. Dark plum colored pour with a thin white ring of cream. Aroma is dark fruit and chocolate. Flavor includes the fruit and chocolate but also a bit of a spicy bite in the finish, almost like ginger. A very nice example of a delicious style. Hats off to Allagash!