Hargreaves Hill AD

Brewed by Hargreaves Hill Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Steels Creek, Victoria, Australia

Serve in Trappist glass

Bottle. Clear copper with a bare coat of light beige head. Dried fruit, grapes, dough and licorice - OK, sasparilla - aroma. Fruity taste with apples and grapes as well as dried fruit. Some sourness that’s a bit applish too. A little like some Dubbels I’ve had, but rather clean in the yeast department. A second glass is murkier and has a little more body. Original and pretty good.

Misty copper coloured ale small head medium carbonation aromas yeast some dark fruit grape brown sugar flavour yeast wine fruity caramel note grape light sourness finish smooth dubbel wine taste fruity hop light sourness and sweetness

Tap at the Local Taphouse. Good, but I wanted even more from these guys. Aromas of apple, and caramel. Taste is sweet, with bitter notes, and long duration. Palate is silky, with a medium-to-full body. Red colour, with a frothy white head.

Not bad at all. Whilst dubbel is probably the most accurate descriptor this version is much lighter, in terms of palate weight, and fruitier than one would typically encounter. In fact, the base flavours appeared to have a lot in common with the excellent ESB, that is, a very lifted sweet hop character, but in this case some sweeter malts are also added to the mix. If you can get your head around this different take on the style then I think its a beer that is hard not to like.

I didn’t really go for this too much... pours really light for a dubbel, small off-white head. Pretty non-descript aroma, a bit of prunes, toffee bit not really in a sweet way. Medium body, way too thin for a dubbel, smooth enough but severly lacking in depth and completixy, the dryness doesn’t help either. Flavours of toffee and some simple dried fruit. No yeast character. Small moderately bitter finish. I couldnt help but to be a bit dissapointed.

On tap at brewery. This is a highly complex dubbel with dense dark appearance. leans towards the sweet end of the specturm, but with a tart after-taste. Look forward to this being put in bottles (it’s a long drive out to the brewery).