How Do You Say Monkey In Latin?
Sawdust City Brewing Co.

 

Serving: Bottle
Bottled: Nov-29-2018 (Consumed Sep-12)

A:
Pours a cloudy brownish color with a towering tan head of 3+ fingers. Great retention; rings of foam insulation lace. (4.5)

S:
Smooth, sweet malty notes. Toasted brown bread, dark fruits, green hop bite, light baking spice, caramelized sugar. (4.25)

T:
Initially it is shocking how not like the nose at all the taste is. Straight slap of earthy, woodsy hop bitterness, a touch of harsh astringency/oxidation, as this dissipates there barely starts to be a suggestion of toast crust, but there is not much else. (2.5)

M:
Very dry, shellacey, dirty-hoppy feel with super effervescence. (3)

O:
This is overall a little disappointing, but really only because it started out so strong. Why do you build me up just to bring me down?
It pours and smells great. Textbook in appearance. The aroma is nice and balanced between a lot of classic dubbel notes with a nice placement of hop bite. As it warms there starts to be some noticeable oxidation, but even this is pretty complementary in my opinion. The flavor though, is completely dominated by old, old school, earthy, herbal hop bitterness and almost astringency. The mouthfeel follows suit. On first glance I rolled my eyes and sighed at the idea of a dubbel IPA. However on pouring and smelling it my optimism grew. Upon drinking it, though, it was what I had feared. The only real reason I am not going to totally slam it is that in a way if it didn't taste and feel like this is would be a very nice dubbel (which Charlevoix already brews) but it was in fact a dubbel IPA. So I guess you can't really be surprised that it is the way it is. Lived up to my fears.
Decently promising on first glance, but not for me, nor a good example of either style due to the influence of the other. This one was also pretty old which I admit may have affected things a little, but since it came from the brewery itself I am going to believe that this is how they wanted it to be experienced. (2.75)

Much different than my normal fare, but a fascinating beer I'm delighted to have been able to try - and would recommend should anyone get the chance!

Bottle pours a dark and dusty amber with golden red highlights; impressive head and lacing. Aroma of caramelized pineapple with a hint of peppered barrel and very mild Belgian yeast undertones. The flavour adds more tropical fruits, mango & melon sweetness with Belgian notes, before transitioning quickly to a dramatically bitter citrus finish. This finish lingers for an unexpectedly long time and focuses more on hops than yeast, so right up my (personal flavour choice) alley.

Although this is more challenging than I'd choose for more than a bottle (or two) – not a session ale - I had no idea that something classified as "Belgian" could meld so well with "American" i.e. that I would like it rather than just “appreciate it’s stylistic integrity”. Thank-you Ken & Black Oak for this opportunity!

A really nice gift from Hopsolutely. Cheers!

From a 375ml bottle into a snifter
IBU: 60
Best after 31 July 2012. Interesting to see a best after date on this.
Trappist yeast

APPEARANCE: Pours a two finger, medium looking, off-white head with very good retention. Head slowly fades to a full wisp and sticks to the sides of the glass. Burnt umber and opaque with medium levels of carbonation evident. A nice full wisp remains until the finish leaving dots of lacing down the glass.

SMELL: Pale malts, grapefruit and citrus lemon notes, as well as some piney hops and spicy Belgian yeast. Interesting and plenty forthcoming.

TASTE: Pale malts and caramel sweetness up front, with lots of piney hops and lemon citrus flavors at the swallow. Bold and lingering finish of piney bitter hops, spicy Belgian yeast and lemon grapefruit notes. Touches of caramel sweetness linger as well, but this is more about the bitter and spicy flavors.

PALATE: Lighter body and higher levels of carbonation. A little thin and airy on the palate, goes down somewhat prickly and finishes slightly dry. A little too thin and carbonated for my palate, unfortunately.

OVERALL: This was a really enjoyable beer with flavors that can compete, but the light and thin body didn't provide the needed foundation to let this beer shine the way it wants to. Lots of potential here that wasn't quite realized. Regardless, this was an enjoyable beer and I was happy to have the chance at it. Thanks again Hopsolutely. Hope to see you again next year.

On-tap at Milos' in London, ON. Served in a half pint.

A - White foam settles to a solid cap and splotchy lace. Transparent light bronze body.

S - Grassy and slightly herbal hops, Belgian yeast, honey and butter biscuit malts. Interesting stuff, although I'm not entirely convinced by the flavor combination.

T - I like the taste a bit better, as there's more orange citrus flavors along with the grassy hops, bready malts, and Belgian yeast. Some bitterness in the finish.

M - Zesty carbonation, medium body, dry finish.

D - Not exactly what I want from the style, be it Belgian IPA or Dubbel IPA, or whatever they call it. Sharing a half-pint with my brother-in-law was a sufficient serving.

 

375ml bottle shared by Steve. Into a tulip.

Unfiltered browned orange, offwhite head. Dense retention and mild lacing. Nose has an earthy 'dubbel-y' malt, sweet sugar notes, piney herbal hops and some citrus. Taste is bitter and herbal, some citrus but an earthier malt character. Yeasty dark bread notes. Full body and quite drying and bitter. An interesting hopped up dubbel, but I wasn't a huge fan.

I had this both on tap at Bar Volo and in a bottle from a brewer friend (with conditioning yeast). Hoppy aroma. The bottle was much better, very sweet with a decent bitterness. Worth trying. Medium mouthfeel,but a smoothness to it decent drinkability. Big lace.

On-tap at Volo. This is marketed as a "Dubbel IPA"- I suppose in contrast to the typical Belgian IPA which is more of a tripel amped up with hops.

Beer is dark amber with a big off-white head. Great retention and lacing.

Smell contains bread, yeast, orange and earthy hops.

Hops are upfront in the taste. Some pine and citrus fruit, notably orange. Bready, dry malt. Yeast. The 'Dubbel IPA' classification makes sense- it is clearly a different animal than a typical Belgian IPA but more hopped than any other Belgian style. Interesting. Fairly dry.

Full bodied, low to moderate carbonation. A bit heavy.

Overall, not bad. Some nice flavours, but not something I would eagerly return to. Got somewhat tired of it as the glass went.