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Toil & Trouble
Bellwoods Brewery
This ruby coloured trappist style ale is mostly about tradition. Inspired by the simple but incredibly refined recipes devised by Belgian monks, Toil and Trouble is about showcasing the vast range of flavours that comprise “malty”. True to our affinity for boozy sipping beers, this dubbel is a great gateway beer for red wine drinkers.
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Ratings by WeedKing4:
Reviewed by WeedKing4 from Canada (ON)
4.15/5 rDev +6.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.15/5 rDev +6.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Thanks to a buddy for picking this up at the brewery. Pours a dark brown with good carbonation. Tastes of brown sugar with some dark fruits lingering in the finish. Very nice mouthfeel overall and the over 8.0% is well masked, making this a very enjoyable belgian strong dark ale. All great beers from this brewery so far.
Jul 02, 2012More User Ratings:
Reviewed by biegaman from Canada (ON)
3.85/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.85/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Toil and Trouble is a much prettier beer the first pour around; its blushing and clear red saffron tone loses all its flash and becomes an opaque almond skin colour with the introduction of whatever little sediment was lurking in those last couple ounces. Its head looks like a scoop of mocha ice cream (and correspondingly eventually melts away).
The aroma is sweet and spicy enough to be baked and decorated; it smells like a Christmas fruitcake. Notes of rum-raisin combine with an entire baking rack of spices (clove, anise, pepper, mace) as well as caramelized brown sugar and a garnish of candied pecans to be one of the most dessert-worthy beers not brewed with or smelling of chocolate or coffee.
Toil and Trouble has a flavour the Grinch would be proud of; it tastes like a banana with a greasy black peel. This profile is full of fruitiness and nearly all of it is over-ripe or outright festering: bruised apples, plums, and apricots. It tastes like it was made from discounted produce. There's a definite red grape flavour too that in the aftertaste becomes raisin- and date-like.
I like a beer that's sweet and concentrated but a solid maltiness is needed to beef up those fruity esters (to say nothing of the spicy phenols). Fruitcake-like notes of toffee and spice are great but a real fruitcake has a spongy breadiness to act as vessel - this lacks the hearty grain equivalent. Without it this can border on caramelized sugar syrup (with alcohol).
Dubbels have no shortage of flavours, and Toil and Trouble is no exception. But the style is also characterized by a rich, complex maltiness - the lack of which is the one thing keeping me from calling this a great example of the style. But this is still a wonderfully enjoyable beer and is in keeping with Bellwoods' usual standard of quality. With these guys you can't go wrong.
Mar 30, 2014The aroma is sweet and spicy enough to be baked and decorated; it smells like a Christmas fruitcake. Notes of rum-raisin combine with an entire baking rack of spices (clove, anise, pepper, mace) as well as caramelized brown sugar and a garnish of candied pecans to be one of the most dessert-worthy beers not brewed with or smelling of chocolate or coffee.
Toil and Trouble has a flavour the Grinch would be proud of; it tastes like a banana with a greasy black peel. This profile is full of fruitiness and nearly all of it is over-ripe or outright festering: bruised apples, plums, and apricots. It tastes like it was made from discounted produce. There's a definite red grape flavour too that in the aftertaste becomes raisin- and date-like.
I like a beer that's sweet and concentrated but a solid maltiness is needed to beef up those fruity esters (to say nothing of the spicy phenols). Fruitcake-like notes of toffee and spice are great but a real fruitcake has a spongy breadiness to act as vessel - this lacks the hearty grain equivalent. Without it this can border on caramelized sugar syrup (with alcohol).
Dubbels have no shortage of flavours, and Toil and Trouble is no exception. But the style is also characterized by a rich, complex maltiness - the lack of which is the one thing keeping me from calling this a great example of the style. But this is still a wonderfully enjoyable beer and is in keeping with Bellwoods' usual standard of quality. With these guys you can't go wrong.
Reviewed by TheSevenDuffs from Canada (ON)
4/5 rDev +2.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4/5 rDev +2.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
On tap @ Bellwoods.
A - Very dark amber with a thin layer of dirty white head.
S - Clove, Belgian yeast, dark fruit, caramel.
T - Dark caramel, toffee, figs, raisins, dark fruit, spice, Belgian yeast.
M - Medium body. Smooth. Light carbonation.
Dec 07, 2012A - Very dark amber with a thin layer of dirty white head.
S - Clove, Belgian yeast, dark fruit, caramel.
T - Dark caramel, toffee, figs, raisins, dark fruit, spice, Belgian yeast.
M - Medium body. Smooth. Light carbonation.
Reviewed by Sammy from Canada (ON)
3.95/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
3.95/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Enjoyed on tap at the brewpub. Darker coloured, rich aroma. a good yeast workmanship. Some smoke and roastiness. Sweet, with candi sugar, but overall not that sweet which made it a good sipper. Dark fruit, chocolate, Chimay yeast.banana there and not overwhelming.
Apr 16, 2012Reviewed by jrenihan from Canada (ON)
3.58/5 rDev -8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
3.58/5 rDev -8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
On tap at Bellwoods.
Beer is dark brown with a moderately-sized tan head. Dissipates almost immediately.
Smell is malty, bready. Some yeast present as well.
Like the nose, the taste is bready and malty, with expected dubbel flavours. A bit of spice, some yeast, and very mild dark fruit. Certainly closer to the malty side of the dubbel spectrum than the fruity side. Quite dry, especially for the style.
Full bodied, moderate carbonation, bready and chewy.
Overall, a pretty decent dubbel but not a standout. For me, this is a style where the best are incredible but the rest fall off quickly. This is not one of the best - a decent beer but not a great example of the style.
Apr 16, 2012Beer is dark brown with a moderately-sized tan head. Dissipates almost immediately.
Smell is malty, bready. Some yeast present as well.
Like the nose, the taste is bready and malty, with expected dubbel flavours. A bit of spice, some yeast, and very mild dark fruit. Certainly closer to the malty side of the dubbel spectrum than the fruity side. Quite dry, especially for the style.
Full bodied, moderate carbonation, bready and chewy.
Overall, a pretty decent dubbel but not a standout. For me, this is a style where the best are incredible but the rest fall off quickly. This is not one of the best - a decent beer but not a great example of the style.
Toil & Trouble from Bellwoods Brewery
Beer rating:
87 out of
100 with
20 ratings
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