Bornem Dubbel

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

Nov. 2007 - Pour was dark brown and just out of control head. Even a careful pour yielded so much foam that it took 3 pours with minutes between to get into my Duvel glass. This beer is overwhelmingly sour...very flemish souresque, but with a strong hop bitterness as well. Sweetness was very subdued, but almost winelike. I wasn’t crazy about it, but I’m sure others would find it tasty.

750 mL bottle. Pours rusty red-orange with large beige head. The aroma is plum, raisin, general spice, and a hint of cheese. The flavor is sweet and fruity with plum, some berries, very mild banana, honey, and raisin. There is a bit of floral hoppiness in the finish, but not really enough to cope with the sweetness. Drinkable, but unremarkable.

Bottled. Picked up this random guy at BevMo. Opaque dark brown color, nearly a gusher upon opening. Huge effervescent vanilla-colored head that is nearly impossible to avoid while pouring. Actually, it was too much head. I had to scoop off the top layers with a spoon to get to the beer. Not much of an aroma, only slight hints of raisin and plum with a bit of honey. Letdown flavor dominated by an astringent hops tone that ends up very metallic, with some cinnamon-sugar malts hanging around somewhere. Highly carbonated, I didn’t finish the bottle. Not recommended.

330 ml. Huge sugary head on the clear dark brown body. Sugary lace all over the glass. Bubblegum, slight wood smoke, beef jerky, and tobacco in the interesting aroma. Flavor is dates, salty smoked beef jerky, bubblegum, blackstrap molasses, aged leather and some alcohol. Surprisingly unsweet, salty and smoky for a dubbel. Light-medium body is too frothy with carbonation, but is otherwise nicely balanced. Seems I may have gotten an aged bottle, with a black and blue label

Bottle. Boring sweet aroma, non-dubbel-like. Hazy ruby with small head. Very thin for the style, dry mild malty banana, kind of characterless.

Bornem Dubbel is dark red-brown beer with medium beige head. Aroma is complex and pleasant: lot of sweetness, dried fruits and little christmas feelings. Flavour is quite sweet, slightly fruitfull and it dries in the end. There are too much carbonation and it together with light body is not convince me. Great Regal Christmas -style aroma but weaken flavour and palate makes this just medium beer. I expect more after first sniff... sad.

nice, yeasty aroma. pleasantly dark color, my pour didn’t yield much head. bitter on the finish, but not unpleasantly so.

Pours a dark translucent brown with a huge foamy head, with some slight lacing. Sweet malty aroma once the head dissipated. Nice caramel sweet flavors with the slightest bit of hops. Not bad, but I like the Ommegang better.