Abbey Ale
Summit Brewing Company

 

 

Pours a deep reddish amber. Small head with no lacing
Smell is malty and sweet
Taste is the same. This is a malt bomb and sweet. Dark bread and dark fruits. Not much hop presence.
Mouthfeel is about right for a double..

Not a great abbey but OK. A strikeout in the usually good Unchained series.

 

 

Time for #10 in the Unchained Series from Summit, this time tackling my favorite style (if I had to choose), Belgian Abbey Dubbel, which apparently brewer Nate Siats is not intimately familiar with. Well, I've got a preview bottle, and it's cracked and poured and I'm ready to go!

Clear and dark crimson, not quite the dusky brown I'd be looking for, under a long-lasting, cream-toned head, leaving some lace.

Aroma: soft, and gently sweet, with a good huff of the Belgian yeast funk. Yeah, this is promising. Some dark fruit, raisin, plum, but just a touch, with a little banana, ..pear?...slightly nutty. I like it, but it's not what I expected. On to drink.

Taste: Very clean. Malty. Nutty. Low hops, minor bitterness, if any. Some sweetness, here comes the fruit and here comes the funk. And now, the candi sugar, as the 8% ABV roars in, overcoming the less-than-full body. I like dubbels to be heartier than this one, but I do like the flavor. I like this well enough to want more than one in a row, and I definitely want a keg to tap, soon. I like the complexity, the richness, the smooth malt and the bewitching yeast. This will not unseat any of my all-time favorite dubbels, not by a long shot, but it's going to take up some fridge space this summer, that I can guarantee you. Not bad, as well as pretty good. Good stab at the style, although I want to see improvements, Summit. I want to wonder where my socks went.

 

 

Served on-draught into a Summit pilsner glass at the Muddy Waters bar in Minneapolis. Reviewed from notes taken earlier this month.

A: Pours no head or floater at all. Colour is a refined vibrant ruby - very nice. No yeast particles are visible. No bubble show.

Sm: Cherry, Belgian biscuit malts, bright fermented fruit, cherry skin, and clean amber malts. A subtle, moderate strength aroma.

T: Cherry, clean well-layered Belgian malts, a hint of tart cherry on the climax, biscuit malt, and bright fruit. A bit simple, but nicely subtle. I like it. Tasty and pleasant.

Mf: Smooth and wet. Thickness is inadequate; more is needed. Decent carbonation. Nice presence on the palate. Suits the flavours pretty well.

Dr: Drinkable and enjoyable. but held back by its simplicity and relative lack of depth. I'd try it bottled at a better price. Not much of an abbey beer (in the St. Bernardus/Belgian connotation sense of the term), but a decent beer within the style.

B-

Dark amber to light copper color with a light tan 1/2 finger's worth of foam which fades pretty quickly. Smells like dark fruit, apples, and caramel.

The taste has apples, some dark fruit, caramel, spice, and light hop bitterness. The taste is mostly sweet, but this does not taste or smell like a very good interpretation of a Belgian Dubbel.

Light bodied with high carbonation. Has a borderline watery feel to it. I think Summit missed the mark with this one. Let's hope the next beer in the Unchained series is better.

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance: Cloudy, not much foam. Not even a finger's width. A slight bit of lacing that lasted long enough to tell one's fortune a la Turkish coffee cups. Coppery, reddish brown color.

Smell: Malt and roasted scents. A little flowery but spicy rather than sweet. Yum! Can't wait to taste it.

Taste: Definitely a strong malt taste and some alcohol. Also Belgian yeast phenols. Not much in the way of hops in the taste, but there's a hint of bitterness. Fruit taste, kind of like peaches, plums, or raisins.

Mouthfeel: Very light carbonation. Medium mouthfeel.

Drinkability: Very tasty and very drinkable, but take care. The higher alcohol (around 8%) prevents this one from being a session beer. However, I enjoyed it immensely and will have one more.

Newest Unchained beer from Summit. Pours a nice deep mahogany with ruby highlights. Smell is very fresh and deep, with dark fruit, molasses, grain, caramel, yeast, and a bit of a medicinal quality. Taste follows the nose, very flavorful, with some red fruits mixed in for good measure. Overall, a great dubbel.