1er Anniversaire
Brasserie Dunham

500ml Bottle

This Canadian specialty comes my way courtesy of northyorksammy, thanks Sammy! This has been in the cellar for a good year now and from previous reviews looks like it was released a couple years back. Let's see how it's doin'. A soft pour produces an airy, beige head immediately. The crown stands tall at over a finger in height in this big ass DFH snifter and makes itself comfortable. Ruby red glows through the chestnut body with barely any light to back it up. The head leaves behind some uber sticky lacing. She sure is purty!

The aroma hits with a decent amount of spice upfront that run along the lines of pumpkin pie spices. Nutmeg is in the forefront but mild clove and ginger make a showing too. The spiciness fades quickly into big notes of brandy macerated raisins with doughy brown bread being the biggest contributing factor. A touch of mustiness brings up the rear and is welcomed. Prunes and Bing cherries come along in their own time. This is a complex smelling brew. My only knock is that all the complexity seems to get muddled.

The flavor follows the aroma closely with a ton of gooey, doughy, raisin clustered brown bread. Did I mention doughy? Mostly cooked through but there's some doughy, soft spots in the middle of the loaf. There's a little bit of an earthy quality that the nose led me to believe was musty. I actually like the earthiness more in the flavor than I would have liked the mustiness. The finish shows a lot of brown sugar sweetness that with time tends to wear on my tastebuds. Besides that it's a fine beer.

The body is light and the carbonation adds that airiness that's unique to Belgians. Oddly enough, this beer is not from Belgium but Canadia. The feel is smooth and rich before that airiness hits and it froths everything up!

Sweetness declines the drinkability for me but that goes for most dubbels I've ever had. That's the reason it's one of my least favorite styles. This one seems to go down fairly well though. Not a bad lil' sipper.

This is a solid example of the style from a brewery I've never heard of and will most likely never drink from again, although not by choice but location. Thanks for the extra Sammy, it's much appreciated!

Bottle: Poured a medium copper/brown color ale with a large foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of caramel and toffee malt is quite sweet. Taste is also a mix between some caramel and toffee malt with a very sweet ending. Definitely not a pure dubbel as per style guideline but more of mix between a dubbel and a scotch ale. Body is quite full with some good carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Well done overall and something I wouldn't mind having more regularly.

bouteille brune de 500ml au prix prohibitif de 5,99$

belle couleur rouge cuivrée, la mousse était épaisse mais elle a disparu assez vite, nez de fruit et de levure, goût sucré, alcool, de malt caramélisé, manque un petit quelque chose, le sucre agresse quelque peu.

Sweetish Belgium, with sugary and fresh aroma but very nice bubbly white head. Light colour body. Very drinkable. Creamy mouthfeel, some fruit in this yogurt. Above average carbonation. Just too sweet for me to have more than once in a while. Nice job.