Grottenbier Bruin

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

Serve in Trappist glass

Bottle from Alko, rated 4.2.2010. Poured brown color with a nice huge white head. Aroma is fruity yeasty and spicy. Flavor similar, quite mostly spicy with some yeasty notes and malt. Creamy mouthfeel, almost oily.

Opened it and beer starts pouring out onto the table. Quickly I pour it into my trusted snifter. There is a good amount of white, slightly brown, thick head. This beer is dark brown. Bitter and a little sweet. Aroma of a mixture of herbs. It has quite a strong taste of yeast and a good amount of alcohol too. Some fruits and herbs.

Bottle looks simple, but good, the beer in the glass dark brown, nice head. Starts malty, modest dry, fruity notes of plum, a bit rusty. Finish well balanced, a bit softer than the beginning. Drinkable, but notes could be more intense in the end. Okay.

330 ml bottle. Rated @ 10.6.2010.
Clear brown colour with a big head. Dubbel-like aroma of fruits, Belgian yeast and spices. The taste is quite similar; fruits, spices, citrus and caramel malts. Medium bodied, oily/creamy texture and soft carbonation. A Dubbel above average.

Bottle. Pours with a dense foamy off white head over an effervescent clear red brown body. Aroma-taste of cinammon, cloves, desert apples, sour cherries and leather/wood with a balanced finish. Medium bodied. Complex.

Bottle @ In ’t Spinnekopke, Brussels. Pours a murky brown body with a fluffy off-white, quickly disappearing head. Aroma is dark plumes, figs, candy sugar and dark malts. Taste seems much more discreet and "lagered" than most other dubbels; perhaps due to the extended storage and temperature? Light toffee going into hints of plumes and raisins, warming alcohol finish. While this is a good and slightly original dubbel, it’s also pretty straightforward. Nice though.

This was an exciting find in a small store in the Finnish countryside. Color is deep brown with a thick and creamy tan head. Aroma is loaded with dark fruit, herbs, cloves and yeast. Rich flavor of toasted malt, dark fruit, cloves and yeast.

I tasted the Pierre Celis edition. First remark, not all the bottles at a tasting were the same, that’s why my rating is a little lower. The beer smell very brown malty with hints of citrus. Overall the beer is rather dull, brown sweet and no complexity at all.