Hepie & Hepie
Brouwerij De Prael

 

Picked this up while in Amsterdam on my last trip. The bottle was labelled as "Grand Cru" but after seeing the abv and reviews of this, I believe it is this beer.

Pours a decent fizzy almost 1 finger head but fades semi quickly over hazy golden apple juice colored beer.

Nose is nice too, strong malts, golden malts with sweet aromas, some stone fruits with a pear and slight apple like aroma, little Belgian candi sugar and esters and very light phenols and a bit of booze, it also brings a nice effervescent citrus aroma, orange rind like.

Taste starts with rich yeast additions and alcohol flavors, plenty of esters with pear and apple like fruits as well as tingly warming booze and some phenols. That turns to sweet malts with some sweetness and a light golden candy flavor. Light bitterness thanks mostly to orange peel flavors from the yeast and possibly actual orange peel added, as well as light citrusy hops. Booze is a little tingly as well as warming. Malts also bring a bit of a toasted wheat or torrified wheat like character, it's quite interesting. Finish dries a bit, long lingering orange peel with pear and apple like esters, as well as some warming booze and a slight sticky like sweet candy malt flavor.

Mouth is med to heavier bodied, decent carb, nice warming slightly tingly booze.

Overall pretty nice. I can see why they call this their grand cru,

On-tap at De Prael Proeflokaal, Amaterdam, Netherlands

A: The beer is clear reddish amber in color. It poured with a thin beige head that died down, leaving delicate lacing covering the surface and a thin collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Sweet aromas of candi sugars and dark fruits are present in the nose.
T: The beer is slightly sweet and has initial hints of candi sugars followed by hints of spices and alcohol towards the finish. The spices become less apparent as the beer warms up.
M: It feels medium-bodied and slightly smooth on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer seems a little unusual for the style with hints of spices but after pondering this I realized that I liked it because it cut through the sweetness and cloying nature typical of some dubbels. The alcohol is very well hidden.

 

 

On tap in De Prael Proeflokaal/Tasting Room, Amsterdam.

Pours brown with chestnut highlights and a very clingy cream-colored film. Straight candle wax with some banana - yeastiest nose ever. Brown bread, black- and raspberries, and some wood in the malts, a bit phenol hit in the middle, then powdered ginger, clove and cinnamon stick hops. Dry finish, tingly linger. Medium to full, creamy but crisp, no heat.

Plenty to keep you warm in winter, and different enough from others of the same style to hold interest. A dubbel with facets.