Duvel Barrel Aged
Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat NV

 

 

750 ml bottle, as Duvel Barrel Aged Batch No. 2 Bourbon, at Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 11.5%. Deep golden colour, small white head. Aroma of bourbon and American oak, but still fairly light and fruity. The flavour has distinct notes of bourbon and oak, hints of caramel and vanilla, some hops.

Bottle at Coriasso's, served in a Duvel glass.
Amber colour, medium head with short retention, no lacing.
Aroma of bourbon, wood, vanilla, caramel and some notes of chocolate.
Unexpected light body, oily texture, flat carbonation. Woody finish.
Taste follows the aroma.
It really does not feel that alcoholic, and the body is too flat. I expected some more.

 

 

 

Beautiful golden ale. Poured into a trip glass with the curving flow of bubbles coming from middle of the bottom of the glass. Sipped and savored on a mild winter day, perfect conditions for this one.
Nice rich, sweet citrus caramel on the nose. It is not an obvious 11.5% and it is deceptively strong.
No head, but nice natural carbonation. Like a real ale.
Sweet full bodied barley wine style, caramel with lovely notes of English toffee and a smooth lingering slight bitterness.
The bourbon aging gives hints of vanilla. The hops are subtle and two of my favorites when I brew, Goldings and Saaz. So you have a nice earthy and herbal touch with that combo.

The bottle states: "9 MONTHS AGED IN OAK BARRELS" and "BATCH No. 4" with "Bottle N° 07438/79023"

Appearance: The body is a deep amber that looks a bit like sun tea. It has good clarity. The head is an eggshell off-white color that is short and has good retention. Nice lacing.

Aroma: There is a sour wood aroma to the beer, mixed with a sweet maple aroma and bourbon.

Taste: It has a very smooth delivery of flavors which start out with a hint of vanilla and light caramel, then transform to bourbon and brown sugar. It finishes with a light earthy character that washes off the palate very quickly. Flavors don't linger long with this beer.

Mouthfeel: It is light bodied and very smooth. It does a wonderful job of delivering the flavors to the palate. The bottle states that this is "11.5% Alc./Vol." and it does an excellent job of wrangling that high alcohol content in, while also leaving the beer with a nice light body that finishes clean and semi-dry.

Overall: It's really an enjoyable beer, and it does an amazing job of showcasing the barrel, the bourbon, and the beer. A majority of the base beer is left behind when it comes to flavor and aroma, but the beer replaces a lot of that with the wonderful vanilla flavor and this light woody aroma. It's worth looking for this if you enjoy bourbon barrel-aged beers. What stands this beer apart from others is that it has a lighter body and a cleaner finish. It really does wonders for the beer. I'd drink it again. This would make a great special occasion beer, or a gift.

Batch #4. Poured from a bomber into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Crystal clear honey copper pour with thick foamy white head. Nice lacing.

S: Bourbon, vanilla, and Belgian hops.

T.F: Caramel and bourbon up front. Vanilla, oak, and Belgian candy sugars. Some sweetness... herbal hops and light yeast/esters. Fruit and barrel. Medium bodied... well carbonated.

O: Bourbon barrel aging Duvel worked out better than expected. A tasty beer... complex and flavorful. Really enjoyed this one.

A-Pours a nice amber color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has Bourbon hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a Bourbon flavor
M-A light bodied well carbonated beer
O-A good Belgian Strong Ale

Be prepared for this to be something other than Duvel, just "barrel-ier". Smell is OK, noticeable barrel characteristic, not so much bourbon though, more or less just a sweetness. Taste is about the same with a woody sweetness. Look is a nice copper color. But, what's missing in all of these is the carbonation level. For a Belgian Strong Golden like Duvel, there is an expectation of a relatively high level of carbonation that not only helps to produce a nice head, but has a balancing affect to the heavier. stronger beer. Carbonation for this is way too low (almost cask like) and this beer suffers for it. If the carbonation profile had been here, this would have been a much better and worthwhile beer.
Other than that, if you got the gift box, it also came with a nice stemless Duvel glass. Kind of like Duval's interpretation of a whisky glass.

an embarrassment to the name Duvel, astoundingly poor considering the pedigree
colossally mediocre, this is not the base Duvel
you don't jump from 8.5 to 11.5 just because you put it in a barrel regardless of freshness
I love Duvel, it is #9 in my top 1,000

 

Dramatically different from regular Duvel. Missing the mousse, but the aroma is off the charts. Sweet fruit, pear is dominant. Flavor follows,very good but not as amazing. Mouthfeel pretty ordinary given the expectation. Glad I got this, but it's hard to justify the price point.

 

Bottle: Poured a clear golden color ale with a rather large foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of sweet malt notes with some vanilla and strong bourbon notes with some light candi and fusel ester is intense. Taste is also a mix of residual sugar notes with Belgian malt, some candi ester with fusel notes with some strong bourbon, woody notes also discernible. Body is pretty full for style with good carbonation with some warming alcohol clearly present. Interesting but pretty intense and somewhat unbalanced.