Great Waters Pain in the Abbey Belgian Dubbel

Formerly brewed at Great Waters Brewing
Style: Abbey Dubbel
St. Paul, Minnesota USA

Serve in Trappist glass

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Pour is a reddish tinted cola color, very nice looking in the glass. About a 1" or 1.5" deep tan head. The head did not stick around for long, and left minimal traces of lace. Big sniff - unfortunately not what I was hoping for. I caught a very faint whiff of something rather unpleasant, something like a burnt rubber odor. It was only on the very first sniff, I could not detect it on subsequent sniffs, even when I poured a second glass. Further sniffs provide only very faint malt and some alcohol. Not very Belgian. The taste is only OK at first, a bit underwhelming, though. Alcohol is prevalent, with a little bit of roastiness. No candi sweetness, no sweet maltiness, no hops at all (the last comment isn’t a knock). No yeastiness (that is a knock). After it warmed up a bit more, there was a hint of black tea, and a little bit of raisin. I would have liked these to be bolder. The mouthfeel was thinner and more alcoholic than I wanted, and also very light on the carbonation.

Caveat, before we begin: cleverness is good and all, but I have a hard time with the naming of this beer. Apparently, there were problems in the brewing process, and it was a pain in the a--, ah, ha, ha! But I’ll say it now, and I’ll say it again. Why name a something that should be thoroughly pleasant, beer, after something totally un-, i.e., pain? But, the beer. Appearance, a bright garnet hue, with little head. Well, I saw some on others, but it left my glass before it got to me. Aroma: full of fruit, cherries, and berries, vinous and sweet. Taste: sharp and alcoholic, and full of sweetness, fruit aplenty. Very full in body, tasty finish, almost barleywine-like. Wish I knew the ABV here, for I could feel it sneaking up to me. Major flaw, though, was a lack of complexity, missing were earthier, darker, chocolate-y flavors that I enjoy in my favorite dubbels, if that’s really what they were trying to do. I liked it okay, but it didn’t thrill me much. Nice try. [ edit your review ]

Had this one on cask at Great Waters on 2/13/2004 (I assume this is the same as the Pain in the Abbey, which was also offered as a pushed beer). Not very Belgian in my opinion, but it was a cask ale served in a snifter with a nice head. The aroma was too hoppy for a Dubbel, and the flavor too. The body was a bit watery. I felt that it lacked much of the Belgian yeastiness. Overall, it was OK.

Aroma of malt. red brown. no head, but there was a lace on the glass. Malt and alcohol in the aroma. A good attempt.

On-tap:Served way too cold and in a small 10oz heavy tulip glass - Plummy reddish tone in color with a gem like glow, fluffy thick tan head about a finger high leaves lot of thin sheets of lace after subsiding to a slight haze after a while. Smell is light but complex of malty sweetness with some raisin, plum and starfruit, has a touch of hops and yeasty spicyness thats a bit like pepper, but hints more towards cinnamon or paprika. As it warms it picks up small phenolic notes. Taste has a nice start upfront of sweetly rendered malts lending dark fruityness of raisin, plum, and starfruit, but that is short lived as it falls thin quite quickly with the midway hitting some yeasty spices and very light hops then drys a bit in the finsih with some very light spice and cocoa maybe. Feel is a bit bland for a dubble, has a nice start will a solid carbonation and slight fullness, but as it is now it falls flat very quickly ending with an empty palate and mouth. It may need a bit more maturation as we discussed while drinking many of them, so its drinkability was good, but its character in flavor length and body needs some work.