Grand Cru Dubbel
Brewery Ardennes

Appearance: Poured with a thumbs worth of head that did not stick around very long or leave lace. The body is a deep dark, nearly opaque brown. Usually you get a lot more carbonation from the Trappist styles.

Smell: I get plum predominantly and sour cherry, but...like an almost spoiled cherry and that is also giving the caramel malt kind of a sour dough funky vibe. I don't think it's bad, but it certainly has something funky going on here. Weird bret maybe? No idea.

Taste: That cherry note appears at the start and then end of the beer, which is a bit of a peculiarity. It shifts to plum with a bit of a malt hit, with a bit of a wood note and a herbal hopping before that cherry finishes things off. It has a weird funkiness to it. That's not to say it's bad mind you, but I don't think this is hitting for me.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation seems to mask the flavors at the middle of the beer and pops up at the end. That cherry bookending things has a weird mixed effect on things, as it seems to dull the middle of the beer in terms of transisitioning. Aftertaste is mild dry wood and herb notes that never get out of control. Nothing bad, but it's a bumpy ride.

Drinkability: Well, it is hiding it's higher ABV quite well and comes across as medium body, but the dry wood end isn't making this offering easy to continue on with. Easy enough of the system I suppose, but for a beer style that's tends to be a special occasion or fireplace drinker, this isn't hitting enough of the more luxurious elements I'd associate with this style.

Final Thoughts: For some reason, my impression of this is, if this was home brewed, it would be impressive. However, that's not the case here. I guess the intent here was whatever is causing that funk was intended to make this unique. However, my experience this style is very hard to nail and it's certainly not nailed here.

Draft pour as part of a flight at the brewery. Pours a slightly cloudy amber color with a sudsy head. Aroma and flavor feature dark fruit, Belgian candi sugar, and some bready malt. Not very complex. Enjoyable enough, but I was hoping for more.

Very subtle flavors and for all 3 beers I had across different styles, not very noticeable Belgian yeast profile.

Poured from a bottle into a snifter
Appearance – The beer pours a clear dark brownish-amber red color with a small head of off-white foam. The head has a good level of retention, fading over time and leaving some light lacing on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma is heavy of a sweet candied sugar aroma mixed with some plum and cherry. Along with these smells comes notes of black currant and coffee, as well as some notes of brown bread and a whole lot of mustiness.
Taste – The taste begins with a dark cherry and plum flavor mixed with notes of coffee and a moderate showing of roastiness. There is a bit of candied sugar, along with some bitter wood flavors there as well, with the bitter getting more intense as the taste advances. At the same time there is some yeast, pepper, and char that join in, taking the taste to its finish, where it leaves a lightly bitter and roasty sorta wine like taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is medium in thickness and chewiness with a high and effervescent carbonation level. Ok for the style and tastes, but nothing too exceptional.
Overall – Ahh. Not really all that stellar. Won’t get this again.

Picked up bottle during a brewery visit. Poured into wide mouth grip shaped goblet, color is amber, head is light tan, head presents 1/2 finger thick, leaves light solid top and some lacing on glass sides.

Aroma is light caramel malt, toast, touch of phenol, light herbal hop.

Taste is similar with a forward malt flavor, caramel toast, lighter Belgian yeast character but some light phenol, lighter herbal tea like hops.

Mouthfeel is low/moderate carbonation, moderate sweetness, low bittterness.

Overall a pleasant malt Belgian style ale, maybe more bier de mars as the yeast aroma and flavor character is light.

 

 

A long-lasting chestnut foam transitions from creamy to a tight froth. Fine lace is deposited on the walls of a goblet after a few minutes. Each swirl raises a viscous film.

The aroma carries earthiness, raisins, and plums. Caramel and malt follow. Surprisingly, there is a note of light roasted malt.

For a Dubbel, this is less sweet than I expected. It is relatively well balanced with late bitterness tipping the scale. Raisins are a strong presence throughout, while malts have only a light presence.

The alcohol is as expected, with a light bite that may be a touch higher than expected. Carbonation is fine, fizzy, and abundant. The texture is similar to an Irish wool sweater. A long finish is bitter with raisins.

This is a decent beer with room for development. I found it a bit too bitter for the style and lacking in progressive layers. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable during a late-Spring afternoon on the deck.

 

On tap at Brewery Ardennes in Geneva, NY.

This one pours a dark-ish brown color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like brown bread, chocolate, caramel, clove, and slight fruitiness.

This is really impressive for an American brewery, and a new brewery at that. It doesn't quite have that awesome malt richness you get in the best Trappist versions, but it feels at least related to some of those beers. There's a nice roast and chocolate here. The parts that feel less-than compared to the Belgian classics are the breadiness and the dark fruit aspects - I want more richness in that department.

This is medium bodied, with a good carbonation and drinkability.

This is very impressive for a brewery this young. I can only imagine this will continue to get dialed in and get better. I'd love to try this one out of the bottle, too.

 

on draft at the brewery, in 10 oz tulip glass

very dark brown, thick cream colored head. dark malt aroma - caramel, chocolate, a little dark fruit. similar flavor- it's okay but not as much depth to the flavor as some of the classic Trappist versions of this style. medium bodied.