Grottenbier Bruin

Brewed by St. Bernard Brouwerij
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Watou, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass

Impressively headed murky chestnut specimen. Sweet, dank, licorice-and- soy sauce snout. Smells decidedly cooked and foody. A sourish hint of Rodenbach’s barrelly strangeness. Medium sweet caramel malt with a restrained Orval-like herbal note lurking in the background. That tangily metallic sensation on the tongue again. A creamily smooth and tasty hybrid of Flemish sour ale and Dubbel. More beers should be brewed in caves.

Draught > Gingerman. Good appearnace & good fruity cherry aroma. Nice creamy palate. Very drinakble and tasty.

(33 cl bottle at The Rover, Göteborg) Clear dark red color, dense tan head. Acidic to sour, some Belgian ale yeast also, scent. Spicy and a bit yeasty and alcohol taste. Sweet aftertaste. Medium bitterness, spritzy mouthfeel.

Bottle, 33 cl. A couple of months past "best-before"-date.. Good, solid dark Belgian ale (perhaps the most atypical dubbel sampled so far), wonderful nose, lacking in flavour and palate though. Wonderful Bretty note lingering in background.

UPDATED: SEP 21, 2010 Draft at the FW GingerMan. Pours a dark brown with a creamy off-white head. Aroma of light caramel, leaves, some vinegar, and light cocoa. Great yeast presence. FIrst thing I notice is actually the wonderfully creamy body, and it’s not as high-carbonated as expected. Great for me. Tastes of sugar, pear, grapes, earthy dust, and a light sour taste. Finishes dry and pretty full, with some roast and an almost salty/sour taste. I couldn’t help but notice the very light sour tones in this beer, mainly cause it was giving me flashbacks to my first gueuze and flemish sour beers. But I like the sourness here, cause it was so much lighter and fit with the beer, rather than completely overtaking it. This beer loses some points for not having quite enough flavor to justify the creamy and almost thick texture, and not tasting all that unique in the malts. But the yeast flavors and body were wonderful.

This beer loses points for nothing other than not being perfect. The flavor is all there, and it ages with grace. My original rating was from tap, but I’m revising my rating with a bottle nearby. Malt flavor MAY be a little light, but the flavor is so seemless and fascinating, I don’t care. Greatness.

Bottle. Brown with thin white head. Spicy aroma with dried fruit. Flavour is a little sweet (brown sugar) and malty, spicy, with yeasty notes. Perhaps a little thin.

Bottle. Amber-brown an off-white head Malty, spicy, yeasty and roasty aroma. Flavour is nicely bready and malty with yeast, corriander, bit chocolate, nutty and nice sweetness.

Smells okay, looks nice. Taste is just okay, not overall spicy, and not amazing in flavor. Kind of an average doulbe to me.