Dubbel Merlau
Brewery Ommegang

Dark brown color. Medium-sized, beige head. Caramel malt, dark fruit, cocoa, wood, and grape must in the aroma. Malty, moderately sweet taste with notes of dark fruits.

Pours copper colored with a fine, half-finger head of foam. Aroma is unique, with grapes and wine dominant. Taste is very dry, with a wine finish. More tart, than sweet, mouthfeel is medium with very good carbonation.

12 oz bottle poured into a tulip glass. Pours a deep reddish-brown. Aroma and flavor feature tannic red wine, oak, and typical dubbel flavors of Belgian candi sugar, dark fruit, and yeast esters. The bottle was from 2019 so I think it was past its prime but you can tell it was a well-made beer.

 

 

 

Bought a 4-pack from Woodman's Kenosha. Poured this 8.7 ABV into my slender Ommegang tulip. Lively for 2 years old.
I'm guessing because of barrel-aging that this experiment did not perform to Ommegang's high standard. But, it is good a good enough recipe to bring back in another rendition. Dubbels are always welcome 8 months a year in my book.

Merlau pours a decent foam, but limited lace; and more ruby would be nice. Smells also are above average; a nice dark fruit medley with wine notes in the back nose. Tastes are balanced; no ingredients seeks domination, all play nice. Personally, I'd prefer a few less bubbles in my mouth so I can savor the flavor of this dubbel. (But, the trade-off today is the bubbles scrub my tongue for another bite of three day old ratatouille. And since that is never as good as the first two days, scrubbing my tongue is a good thing.)

I much like Ommegang (they are my #3 brewer on BA.) I'm saving the rest of this 4-pack because Merlau has this autumnal ambivalence about it. A Votre Sante' !

10/10/21 I much like Merlau with my autumn soup of root vegetables. Ommegang can bring Merlau back anytime. In the meantime, I'm satisfied with this review and am keep count over @ UnTappd.

 

 

12 oz. bottle. Deep brown. Smells of red wine, dark fruits, and cardboard oxidation. Tastes of brown bread, dark fruit, hefty red wine, and then cardboard. Back end is sharp, bitter and oxidized. Medium heavy with too much sharp red wine. First sips are ok, but the oxidation ruins it. Picked it up because I didn't think it was that old, so I wonder if it started off with a tinge of cardboard.

2019 "Limited Release". 12 ounce bottle.

Nice mahogany murky pour, under a lazy darker khaki cap. Leaving some fields, strands and blobs of lacing.

On the sniff its dark malts, honey, vanilla.

Super smooth and luxurious as it passes through the mouth.

Tasty dubbel, notes of brown sugar, and again maple, vanilla and honey. Also picking up some over ripe raisin notes.

Smooth, tasty and highly worthy.

 

 

12 ounce bottle - $5.79 at Total Wine & More in Kennesaw, Georgia.

2019 version.

Appearance: Pours a russet brown body, a little turbid, with a medium-sized, light beige head.

Smell: Fragrant Belgian yeast, abundant phenolics and fruity-scented esters boosted by the rich, bready, caramel coated maltiness, vinous qualities and touches of oak.

Taste: Deeply toasted breadcrusts, generously sweetened up with brown sugar and caramel ooze. Big cherry-plum-raisin-tar berries swing over to pepper, clove and star anise. Slight leathery earthiness, light woodsy oak, a hint of chewing gum, a pop of chocolate now and again. On the lightly spicy, lightly crisp finish is a bit of brandy/port-like heat without being hot or boozy.

Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body. Medium-plus carbonation.

Overall: A little knobby and obtuse, at times, but it held itself together enough for a twelve ounce helping.

Turbid brown-orange color, slightly lighter towards the surface. Thin beige head which leaves a lot of lacing around the glass. Extraordinary bouquet of grapes, grassy aromas, and cloves. On the palette, grape is obviously present, but not overpowering or too sweet. Other characteristics reminiscent of wine are present - tannic structure, notes of cherries, and blackberries, and maybe a hint of chocolate. The barrel aging is evident in the flavor as well, but again, it’s well balanced, and compliments the added grape juice quite nicely. This beer avoids the common barrel-aged pitfall that I see of being too boozy. Notes of bubblegum and yeast come out on the finish, reminding you that this is a Belgian Dubbel. Wonderfully structured, complex, and interesting. The only issue I have is it comes across as too carbonated. It makes the mouthfeel somewhat unpleasant, and sits a little too heavy in my stomach.

tasty and distinctive, but i had somewhat higher hopes for this. i have been loving grape wild beers and such latelty, cool to see a joint ferment with grape juice in a dubbel, but this does go a little sharp and tannic without every being sour or funky or anything, less vinous than i hoped for, but also sort of degrading to the base beer a little bit, still deep and complex and sweet and malt driven, but its less obviously belgian than the classic ommegang dubbel, and the yeast side of things doesnt really flourish in the taste here, at least not to the degree it does in their original. some raisin and brown sugar notes, a hint of anise and allspice, tart blackberry and dried cranberry fruitiness from the grapes, not obviously merlot to me, but certainly red wine, very well hidden alcohol too, i am surprised to see its so strong. good depth of flavor, a little astringency to it from the fruit, high carbonation and a nice rich fluffy texture too. almost tastes like it has a little wine yeast in the mix, still more beer than fruit to me, very autumnal in overall vibe so nice for this time of year. not epic, but another cool limited release from ommegang, glad to have found this on tap in idaho!

 

 

Look: It pours brown with a bit of clouding. It has an off white head. Head retention is moderate.

Smell: It has a grape and vinous aroma with some caramel. There are some dried cherries in the background with very light spice.

Taste: The flavors definitely has a wine quality with some grapes and caramel. There are very low levels of dried cherries and spices.

Feel: It has a medium full body with a dry finish.

Overall, the grapes and vinous qualities are more balance in the aroma that in the flavor. With the flavor the wine like qualities are dominate and squeeze out the dubbel elements.