Brother Jacob
New Holland Brewing Company

 

Pours a deep amber to brown in color with a light tan head. In the aroma, fig and licorice, a small sugary note too. In the taste, very smooth, with a mix of fig, licorice, and notes of caramel. A smooth and medium to lighter bodied mouthfeel, with a small dry, dark fruit in the aftertaste. Nice fruitiness and licorice is a bit different, but it works.

 

on tap at the bridge

A- pours a deep dark brown color. Lots of head, brown in color. Very opaque.

s- sweet, with a light yeast note. Raisins and caramel.

t- starts off lightly malty. Some yeast, phenolic burn. has an almost soda like flavor to it. Cherries maybe?

m- creamy and clinging. Very sweet and sugary texture. Carbonation is restrained.

d- deceivingly strong. Not filling. Easy on the palette, but sweetness is a little much.

Had on tap at Finnegans in Plainfield IL

Brown color with some auburn red dark bourbon color when held to the light. Tan head looks beautiful as it bubbles about a finger up... Then recedes at a moderate pace leaving just the slightest hint of lacing.

Smell is big on prune, raisin, fig, some black cherry and nice spices.

Taste follows nose well. Nice sweetness up front with a hint of sourness... Nothing strikes me as having a hoppy flavor, but it doesn't hurt this one at all. This is so full of complexity and flavor that I already want to order another!

Perfect amount of carbonation. This
slides effortlessly down my gullet. Not too thick or chewy, but certainly not watery... Seems perfect for style.

8% is just about perfect for 2 or 3 and a nice relaxing time.
If this were available in bottles, I would stock up! If you see
this on tap, do not pass it up. Such a rare and amazing find.

Poured from tap at the brewery into a pint glass during my visit there within the past week.

A Dark Chocolate Brown but translucent body under a nice, creamy head. Good lacing, really a curtain of lacing on the glass. Very nice looking dubbel indeed. 4.5

S Not a strong smell, some malt and very little if any hops. 3.5

T Nice malt, Belgian yeast, coffee notes, no hops tasted by me. Nice, solid dubbel taste but it lacks depth, interest. 3.5

M Syrupy, sticky and good feel. 4.0

D Good, drinkable but not my favorite dubbel. 3.5

On tap at TND in Wayne

Pours a brown to dark brown color with a tan colored head. Something not so appealing - do not know why

Huge nose, fig, prune, caramel, maltiness, and a load of spices

The flavor follows the nose, caramel, dark fruit, a lot of spices. Good, complex. The malt is well balanced.

Low carbonation, medium to full bodied.

Interesting, complex, not 100% put together, but worth experiencing.

I had this on tap at Crunchy's in East Lansing. The waitress told me it was a "dubbel ale". I would have no idea by drinking it that it was a dubbel. It kinda reminds of a english bitter (session beer) that has been amped up with hops and malt. Brother Jacob is prtty strong, but does not carry the sweetness necessary for a good belgian ale. The beer was poured dark dark brown into a pint glass with above average lacing and head retention, but it didn't present much head to begin with....this could be because the bartender poured it this way. Intial smell and taste was of english 2 row, german dark malts and astrigent hoppiness. Intially, I enjoyed the beer, but as it warmed it became harder and harder to stomach down. Definetely not a dubbel, but it could pass for an english strong ale with a heavy mouthfeel. All and all I wasn't very impressed with this offering and I won't look to try it again.

Had on tap at The Comet, poured into a tulip. I should state that I was originally told this was a brown ale by the bartender, and I guess by strict definition, he wasn't wrong, but yeah, he probably should have said dubbel, or at least Belgian.

Appearance: Very dark brown with a fair amount of ruby coming through when held to the light; had a fair one finger head that was light tan that slowly faded to a thick skim. Head is very much revived on the swirl.

Smell: Nutty, sweet malts that are a little toasty, not an overwhelming nose, faint whiff of alcohol.

Taste: Spicey and bold, like a belgian should (e.g., not so much a brown ale) -- likely coriander and nutmeg; slight taste of alcohol but still very well masked; a bit sweet (fig or raisin?) and a bit of a burnt sugary sweetness to it as well. Very nice overall.

Mouthfeel: Very lively with strong carbonation and alcohol; finishes a little dry on the roof of the mouth, but I still find to be watering just a bit as I would like to drink some more now.

Drinkability: Moderate. Not much else to say here - a pretty tasty offering but in terms of Belgians, I've had better.

Draft at Hew Holland.

Poured clear dark brown with a moderate creamy off-white head that lasted with excellent lacing. Moderate spicy, toast malt aroma. Medium body with a smooth texture and flat carbonation. Medium complex bittersweet flavor with a medium sweet finish of moderate duration.

Good spicy sweet brew.

On tap at the Beer Engine. Chocolate smell - almost like Bananas Foster - Belgian yeast plus chocolate. Mouthfeel is a bit thick for a dubbel but good. Nice taste - thought it would be blastphemy mixing Belgian style with chocolate but it work. Nice beer and no alcohol detectable - on iPhone so that's all for now! Cheers!

On tap at Bocktown outside of Pittsburgh during a tasting night of which new holland was a part of.

A: pours black/dark dark brown with a light khaki colored head that reduces down to just a film and edges

S: smells of dark fruits and spices, caramel malts

T: tastes like caramel and dark malts with a somewhat smokey or roasty flavor, some spices

M: full bodied bubbly bite from the carb despite not much head retention

D: solid flavor, not much alcohol in the taste