Posted: April 17th, 2009 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Beer Reviews, Craft Brew, Dubbel | Tags: abbey, Belgian, Dubbel, Hopworks | No Comments »
Since I can’t make it to the Cheers to Belgian Beers festival this year, I’m taking a little time out to try Hopworks’ brew for the event. The Dubbel Suplex is a rich Belgian Abbey-style ale brewed with the Wyeast 3822, Ingelmunster yeast strain per this year’s festival rules.
Served in a tulip glass (they called it a chalice) on account of being 8.1% alcohol (can you imagine a couple of pints of that?), it sure is a pretty beer. Dark amber, red hues, clear like a ruby, with little head retention (a little foam around the rim of the glass). The up front aroma is of alcohol then warm malt and a hint of spice, like cloves or nutmeg.
It has a bubbly medium mouthfeel appropriate for the style, not too creamy or flat, but not too effervescent for the flavor. There’s a lot of malt and spice flavor, with a little caramel sweetness. A bit rich, but not overwhelming. There’s a slight tartness or tang in the finish that clears the palate and keeps the beer from being too sweet and sticky.
The Dubbel Suplex is pretty right-on for abbey style, and has matured nicely. I almost wonder what it would be like if aged in a bourbon barrel, but that might be over the top, making it too sweet and rich to drink in any quantity.
8.1%
Posted: February 20th, 2008 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Beer Reviews, Craft Brew, Dubbel, Gluten-free, What's that in your fridge? | No Comments »
Green’s Endeavour does look nice in a proper glass.Apparently, Green’s has
nine gluten-free beer styles, but
Merchant duVin only imports three of them in the US. Bummer, kind of.
Today’s selection is the Endeavour Dubbel Ale. What a weird beer. On pouring, the color is just right for a dubbel, it smells right, the head is a little more convincing that in the Quest. But this beer is like Two-Face; one beer when cold, another when warmed to around 50 degrees.
Fresh out of the fridge, Endeavour tastes more like a Flemish Red Ale than anything else. Grape soda flavors, large carbonated bubbles, a strange savory/sweet tang, and raisiny esters abound. A bit off-putting if what you’re looking for is a dubbel and not a weird Flemish Red. (If you’ve never had that style before, I do recommend Duchesse De Bourgogne from Brouwerij Verhaeghe — it’ll make your taste buds freak out)
Once it warms up, this does begin to taste like a dubbel. The carbonation is finer, I can taste more of the subtle sweetness and there’s a banana ester nose. There’s still some tartness in the finish that’s not quite right, but it’s still probably the sorghum adding it’s weird tart/bitter flavor to the beer. At last, this is not so bad to drink!
Kathy reports that she saw Green’s being sold at our local Fred Meyer, which is interesting but not entirely surprising. Since we live in the hippie/nutty-crunchy part of town, the Hawthorne Fred Meyer tends to carry lots of gluten-free and alternative options. But at $6 for a 16.9oz bottle, it won’t be a frequent repeat purchase.
Next up, Green’s tripel!