Bornem Dubbel

Brewed by Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Ertvelde, Belgium

33 cl bottle. Pours a dark brown color, kicks up a big tan head in my tulip glass. Smells lightly sweet without the extra sugar smell of some Belgians. Takes me a while to get to the beer through all that foam, but what I get is a slightly fizzy body surrounding a pretty fresh malt taste. This bottle sat in the un-air-conditioned Foremost Liquors for goodness knows how long, but it’s held up pretty nicely. Definite brown malts at work, with fruitiness and slight tart of apple and vanilla. A bit of stickiness on my lip shows that this is still sweet, but well balanced. Background notes of ginger, lemon and nutmeg, too. A nice, complex brew.

sweet malt aroma ... nicely carbonated .... fresh tasting, fruits and figs ... enjoyable

This is ok and while better than Chimay Red, it is an example of what I don’t like in dubbels and doesn’t remotely come close to the likes of Westmalle. It has a huge, out-of-control light tan head that dominates the drink entirely - not a real surprise but it is even more foamy than others, with the slightest, gentlest pour filling the chalice with a huge head. The head lasts forevy and leaves lasting even rigns and lace - very nice. The body, once one can actually discern it, is dark red-brown & sparkly. The aroma is vanilla, apple pie, caramel syrup, with hints of flowers and pine. Teh taste is lightly burnt caramel, a nice acloholic quality, caramelized grain, toast, black pepper, Dr.Pepper, fruit, wine, and a defintie light quality similar to an English barleywine (not a shock). It is overall rather dry, with sweetness and bitterness both leing muted. There is light sourness and tanginess as well. However, despite the range of different flavours I can detect, they are all muted and overtime tend to become blurred while the ovwerall flavour is very light and dry, also a bit soft. It’s ok, but not at all exciting to me.

Cola color with a frothy tan head. Yeasty earthy cellar smell. Frothy, airy mouthfeel. Taste is dusty dark malts and musty cellar, not much sweetness here, i need more sweetness than this has to enjoy a dubbel. 11177

330ml bottle (alko) (in a blind horizontal dubbel tasting)
Rich brown, small tight creamy head. Sweet whiteboard-marker ester and sweetcorny aroma, also slightly vegetal malty too. Soft but lively carbonation. Very nice burnt malts in the taste, decent dry whole noble hops. Finish is pleasant combination of bitterness from both burnt grains and hops. As it warms the esters in the aroma converge onto banana. Good full body and covers the 7% well. One of the better things to come out of Steenberge (alongside Gentse).

Dark brown colour with a large thick foamy head that lasts long. Sweet malty aroma with coffee, dark chocolate, brown sugar and dried fruits. A bit roasted taste. Wide, velvety mouthfeel.

poured a dark amber color with a huge head . Not to much in the aroma but I did smell a slightly bread smell. The first thing that hit me with this beer was that it was sour, then metallic and then earthy. Not always what I look for in a beer... But the sour was refreshing and after the initial first few sips it wasn’t bad. Overall I don’t think I will buy this again. It was also a little over-carbonated.

This bottle has been with me for a while. Quite tart and deep brown, big rocky head. As the rating below me staets, very flemish sour-like. Some fruit roll-up type flavors as well. It’s alright...