Abbey Double
Southampton Publick House

 

 

 

 

A - A brown beer that yellows on the edges. Little bit of off-white foam that left the sides of the glass clean.

S - Smells of both candy and brown sugar with figs. Some belgian yeast finishes off the beer and is right for the style.

T - Tastes of burnt sugar and dark fruits. Quite sweet. Not a ton else to say on this.

M - Medium carbonation, syrupy, kind of feel sugar on my teeth, but that might just be my imagination.

O - It's okay, I didn't hate it, and it wasn't hard to drink. There wasn't anything that really made this beer special, but as I got it down okay and didn't dislike it, I'd say it's a little better than average for the style.

Another one courtesy of shaebs99. Served in a Heady Topper glass.

A - Pours with a finger of tan foam that settles to a thin cap, leaving no lace. Hazed brown body that seems a touch light for the style.

S - Candi sugar, brown sugar, berries, dark fruits, Belgian yeast. Pretty convincing take on the style, but nothing earth-shattering.

T - Taste has a burnt sugar quality, and verges on cloying at times. Significantly less interesting than the aroma. Alcohol is well-hidden and finish is surprisingly clean.

M - Medium-high carbonation. Body is medium, but seems a bit undersized for both style and ABV. Avoids being overly sticky, which would have been a lethal combination with the overly sweet taste. Alcohol is again well-hidden.

D - It's a bit lighter than your standard dubbel, and doesn't have an major flaw. Not bad, but not great either. A solid execution of a style that doesn't get a lot of love. I'd be curious to see how different it is fresh.

Southampton Mega Tasting!

A - Pours brown, off-white head, thin cap, thick ring.

S - Burnt sugars, brown sugar, cinnamon, oak.

T - Sweet malts, brown sugar, oak, cloves.

M - Medium, soft carbonation, smooth, creamy finish.

D - This one is okay, not great.

Another new one for me, in a string of a week long cellar emptying. This one has been in my fridge for a while and I am just getting around to trying it. Served chilled and poured into a tulip, this one was consumed on 07/06/2010.

Very nice look here, dark amber with an almost honey color to it that lets a huge and towering head of nearly three inches come up and over the glass, settling nicely into its spot I might add. After a few moments tons of lacing could be seen dripping down the sides of the glass. Aroma is light, bready with hints of raisins and plums that seem to drop in along with a light touch of earth hops and some nice spices along the way. Smooth, even flavor and a body that seems lighter then I would have expected all pull together and really do work quite well I have to admit. Dark fruits, earthy and interesting hop notes and a light spice along the edge of the tongue make for a really enjoyable and quite drinkable experience.

Overall a very nice dubbel, very smooth, very drinkable and finally something to break the doldrums of dubbel I have had as of late,

On tap, served into a snifter:
Pleasant, dark ruby-brown color with pretty much no head.
It's got some spices, a nice sweet malt presence up front, some modestly present hops, but it falls pretty flat.
The body is nice and modest, not overwhelming, not underwhelming.
It proves very drinkable, but really, from start to end, though it opens up slightly in time, it never really explodes to reach the upper tiers better dubbels reach.

On tap at SPH. It pours a cloudy brown with a small white head. Aroma of cinnamon, sweet fruits, and sweet tart candies. Flavor of sweet malt, yeast, melon, some roasted and charred malt. Very nice and complex, smooth and drinkable. Quite good on tap!

Pours dark brown, hazy, full tan head.

Nose is nose is raisiny, bread crusty, earthy.

Taste is dominated to the point of distraction by dark fruits, dry and raisiny, paired to a very firm, earthy bitterness. Brown sugar underneath, bit tart, but the dry, earthy, slightly bitter dark fruits are just dominant. Tone that back in a hurry and it may be decent.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied, light but crisp carbonation.

Drinkability is hurt by how one dimensional and, yes, bitter the beer is.

750ml bottle acquired in trade with EDA (thanks!).

Poured a dark brown color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of earth, yeast, some dark fruits, and cork. Tastes of sour and tart cherries, dark fruits, nutty and light caramel.

Notes from 1/12/07

Yeast gone apple juice in bulk. Believed to be 2006 bottle, Atlanta Ale meeting. I will give this another shot as this may be tainted, and can't be the only bottle that was.Tart, musty, maybe the last beer to have instead of one of the first. Bitter acidic.

Thanks to hopdog for popping open this bottle of one of my favorite styles from one of my favorite breweries...
Appears a dark mahogany with a red hue and an off white head that slowly fades into a small cap. Mild spots of lacing are left around the glass.
Smell is of roasted nuts, cocoa, light tartness, caramel, vanilla, chalk dust, and dirty ash trays with sugar dumped in them.
Taste is of the mentioned aromas with some caramel, grapes and a bit of cream.
Mouthfeel is of dry chalkiness with tartness and mild astringency.
Seemed a bit off. As a fan of the both Southampton, and Dubbels, I expected to be blown away.