DuClaw Repent

Brewed by DuClaw Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Abingdon, Maryland USA

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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Bottle 224/500, at the Knoxville Spring(ish) tasting. Very intimidating bottle. Pours a hazy mahogany with a wispy beige head. The aroma is oak, sour berries, raisin, and faint dark molasses. The flavor is prune juice with some citrus tones, then some raisins and earth. A cake-like maltiness develops before too long. A pleasant prickliness lingers after the warming finish. The alcohol is unbelievably well masked; the warmth is there, but the taste is completely indetectable. This is a little sweet to drink very much of it, but all around an impressive brew.

Bottle 224/500 brought to Knoxville by Springslicker. Thanks Jay. First off, this whole beer seems to be intimidating when you first look at the bottle. The bottle is rather large, more than a liter, and the top is covered with wax. It pours out a dark brownish red color with a little bit of a head which goes away quick. The smell is full of plums, raisins, vanilla, some bourbon flavors too. The taste is overly sweet, lightly carbonated, however the alcohol is not detected in the least, only giving a little burn as it finishes. This stuff is good, in a small dose, but towards the end of my glass it became too sweet. Belgian strong? I doubt it. Port? Probably. Get 30 friends and split a bottle of this, more than an ounce becomes overwhelming. Thanks for letting me try this rare beer Jay.

UPDATED: MAR 12, 2007 Bottle 224/500 brought by Springslicker to the Nashville tasting (via Kmweaver). Nice looking bottle. I love the graphics branding style of their beers and brewpubs, and this bottle ties into it. Pours deep amber red with a quickly diminishing off white head. Aroma of maple syrup, dark fruit, and perhaps a wiff of vanilla. Soft and fine carbonation, and medium thick mouthfeel. Initial flavor has a lot of complexity, with notes of maple, brown sugar, raisen, and vanilla. I pick up a faint amount of peatiness or tobacco mid palate. This is a sweet beer, but not overdone. Nice mildly bitter finish with a faint but pleasant booziness. You don’t really taste the well hidden alcohol, you just feel it down the wind pipe. Somewhat port like, and parts of this remind me of Sam Adams Utopias. But man, what the hell were they thinking putting this in a 1L bottle? Repent is a sipper. This could be a weapon. These need to be in 6 oz bottles. Good beer. Jim and the boys are brewing some good beers at Duclaw. Hopefully they will someday have a bottling line that will allow them to make an appearance on retail shelves. Now I just need to try Devils Milk, the beer that I keep missing

UPDATED: MAR 12, 2007 Brown, decent foamy head that quickly dissisiisispates (I hate trying to spell that word). Really nice aroma of baked apples and bourbon. Very sweet, but the 14% is hidden surprisingly well. I swear I got a vague Dr. Pepper flavor it first, but I was informed but the other folks at the tasting that I was crazy. (I’m not). Smooth flavor of brown sugar and toffee, perhaps a hint of licorace, too. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. Bottle 224.

Bottle sampled with the fine gentlemen at the Knoxville Spring(ish) tasting. Wow, this is a super cloudy burgundy brew with no real head. The nose is massively sweet, but in a pleasant, natural, complex way. This is very dense and viscous, alcohol is not tasted at all. Sure, I’d guess it’s pretty high abv just based on the density and sweet character, but I wouldn’t estimate 14%! This is malty, fruity, bready with hints of port, raisins, brown sugar, earth, a defined flavor of honey among a plethora of goodness. This is one of the most over-the-top interpretations of a Belgian ale I’ve ever had, though some of the nuances are lost in the sheer strength. This makes a superior slow sippin’ brew. I don’t think I would enjoy more than a port-glass full.

1L bottle, courtesy of scraff. Thanks, Scott! Pours a clear, reddish-amber appearance; light tan head, dissipating quickly. Plenty of candy sugar, red fruits in the aroma. Full, viscous mouthfeel: enormous amounts of candy sugar (almost like a hard candy), syrupy and sticky sweet; somehow maintains a semblance of balance. Long, sticky, sugar and chewy fruit finish.

On tap at. Pours a deep ruby color, slightly hazy with a thin off white head. Aroma is thickly sweet with fruits and fruit-like esters- deep red plums, sugary raisins, along with caramel, molasses, candy sugar and slightly yeasty as it warms. Flavor is also very sweet- loaded with caramel, deep dark stewed crystal malts- probably special B. More fruits, molasses, toffee, a bit of tobacco, and more belgina yeast in there. The belgian quality actually gets hidden behind all the malt and sweetness. I bet they were trying to go higher but the yeast crapped out and they were stuck with a very high FG. Still a pretty good beer, if just to sip on- unique. The last part of my notes just says "diabetes". haha.

Oh, wow! Remembering this from the sampler appetizer brings some sweet memories. Didn’t realize what I was getting into, however, I liked it. Sweetness could have been toned down a little, but I can’t wait for this year’s offering!

Hand bottled sample: Pours a transparent dark copper mahogany with a thin ring of off-white head. Aroma has lots of rich, sweet caramely malt wtih some dark fruit complexity and bready Belgian yeast. Starts with lots of sweet sticky malt, dark fruity complexity and a touch of candi sugar and yeastiness. Nicely balanced and very flavorful.

Growler courtesy of BuckNaked. Clear dark mahogany color, with only a ring of film for head. Huge sticky-sweet aroma. Lots of sweet malt, all kinds of dark fruit, and some burning alcohol. Flavor even sweter than the aroma indicates, tons of sticky sweet malt. Huge mollasses and syrup like flavor. Through the middle get all kinds of fruit. Raisin, apple and cherry come to mind. Tons of residuel sugar towards the finish. Almost no alcohol detectable in the flavor whatsoever. Great sticky-oily mouthfeel. Really enjoyed this beer. Falls into the after dinner-sipper category for all the sweetness though. A couple ounces would be plenty.