Brooklyn Local 1

(750ml Bottle) Pours a lightly hazy golden body with a medium white head. Aroma of orange peel, coriander, fireworks fumes, and mustiness. Flavor of spicy yeast, earthiness, light citrus, black pepper, and mild hops.

Incredible appearance - nice big yoked and embossed bottle, mostly clear gold beer with a lacy white head. Soft, wit aroma with alcohol vapors. The dried residue on the top of the bottle smells oddly of sweet, burnt pipe tobacco. Nice lemon-peachy fruitiness, moderate sweetness, vanilla. Lightly sour and acidic on the tip of the tongue. A very good mouth and finish with a musty bitterness in the back corners of the mouth on the finish. Moderately, but pleasantly, astringent. A formidable brew from a brewery that’s earned its reputation.

Bottle consumed on 8/25/07
Very nice-duvel-esque appearance boasting a large, well-retained, dense white head that laces well. Clear golden-bronze body with just a touch of chill haze. Natural carbonation in the liquid is quite pervasive.
Aggressive yellow fruit esters combined with prominent (for the style) hops pack a punch up front, with cookie dough and honey not far behind. Warm, gooey, sweet baked-bread and tons of peaches, nectarines and such. Very aromatic and round, perhaps a bit too much of a sensory overload (and quite sweet) but some pepper-like phenols appropriately dry it out on the end, as does a bit of breadiness/graininess from the malts and light yeast acidity. Floral hops and suggestions of vanilla add welcome complexity. No flaws and no more alcohol warmth than is inevitable.
Honey and bread are the main force of the malt notes, giving a very substantial, full body that is further buttressed by the carbonation, giving it a very fluffy, creamy texture. The attenuation seems about right, as Duvel is intended as a slightly sweet beer. It’s not overdone, and the yeast acidity and phenolic spiciness definitely help dry things, while the floral and spicy hops give it some crispness. Supple and warming, but still drinkable, I thought, and very well-brewed. I kept my bottle a while after it was released (5 or 6 months) and that may have helped allow the yeast to clean things up a bit, though the hops have probably died off a bit.

Hazy, pale body with a large fluffy white head. The aroma is herbal, bread, grass, pepper and tropical fruits. The flavor is moderately sweet, cotton candy, herbs, pepper, apricot, grapes and dough. Medium body is round and lightly carbonated with a slightly medicinal end.

3rd LCRBM. Citric aroma with some earthy yeast and flowery hops. Pasle yellow coloured with a white head. Taste is sweet, citric with yeast and some malts. Dry finish. Nice, but unimpressive.

Brew pours a slightly hazed, pale golden color w/ a full, semi creamy froth. A lasting head finally reduces to a thick, downy canopy of sticky lacework. Bright and creamy aromas of tropical vanilla malts. Medium nectar w/ ample residual effers. The texture is pillowy soft like a big cotton ball. Tropical malts set the scene for this classic novel. Only mildly sweet w/ cameo appearances from Mr Vanilla Bean, Madame Citrus Rind, and the mild Banana Spice mistress. It’s not a complex novel but the story line is solid and the talent is timeless. The finish is bittered w/ a peach pit style and leaves a lingers parchment on the palate.

Bottle from some place in Chicago. Pours a pale and hazy golden with a white head. Huge yeasty and spicy aroma. Lively carbonation and very light texture. Initial flavor of pale belgian malts that transitions to a middle of yeast, white pepper, and a hint of citrus. Very little sweetness. Dry finish with a wisp of alcohol. Well done, but I would have preferred less dryness and a little more sweetness to balance this out.

3rd LCRBM. Blonde. Vanilla and flowery hops in the aroma. Cardemom, citrus and malt in the flavor. Rather alcoholic brew, that is really decent, but not great.