Dubbel
Red Collar Brewing Co.

A solid, spicey Trappist front, then a middle reminiscent of a chocolatey, smoked porter, seguing into a long dubbely finish. A credible dubbel, though a tad thinner and lower abv than typical; a session dubbel?

 

 

650ml bottle - oooh, made with a blend of 'Belgium [sic] Trappist yeasts'.

This beer pours a clear, dark red-brick brown colour, with three fingers of puffy, sort of rocky, and bubbly tan head, which leaves some eerie pitted looming iceberg profile lace around the glass as it gently subsides.

It smells of lightly roasted caramel malt, bittersweet chocolate, musty yeast, a bit of black licorice, muddled black orchard fruit, and a very tame earthy and dead leafy hop bitterness. The taste is semi-sweet caramel/toffee malt, chalky cocoa powder, some overripe black plum and raisin fruitiness, a twinge of dry ash, pithy dead yeast, and more weedy, earthy, and musty hops.

The carbonation is adequate in its barely supportive and occasionally flirtatious frothiness, the body a decent medium weight, and mostly smooth, but for that dirty-seeming, minor yeasty intransigence. It finishes trending dry, the yeast abetted by the devolving nature of the fruity essences, and the trailing off of the battened-down malt.

Overall, not a bad rendition of this venerable, and traditionally Trappist style - my biggest beefs would be to maybe dial down the downer yeast component, and maybe up the ABV to at least hit the bottom of the expected range. Simple, and as noted, it could use some touch-ups, but easy enough to put back.