Belgain Dark Ales and Dubbels

The carbonation being more so in belgian imports is that they could be bottle conditioned. You can find the style descriptors under the "beer and beer styles" tab.

The booziness in some are subjective.

My favorite American dubbel is from New Belgium. I also like Flying Fish Abbey from my homestate. Cheers.

 

Quads can be an acquired taste, as can a BBQ. I like them, but I also like BA beers. Not that I'm looking for drunk-for-the-buck value, it just seems like the quality beers I am drawn to are generally more expensive and it seems like they run up the ABV to help justify the higher cost. A quad of course is by design generally stronger than a tripel which is stronger than a dubel. And a strong dark ale is about as boozy as a quad. I like them all.

 

While it's not truly Belgian, Unibroue Trois Pistoles is a favorite of mine (though it may be heavier than you're looking for if you like dubbels more than Rochefort 10). Usually can find a four-pack relatively inexpensively, too.

 

Unibroue - Terrible, try it.

 

Since there are so many Unibroue suggestions (and I agree, well made and available); when you're ready for a third great Belgian style, try Unibroue's Fin du Monde, a tripel.

 

If you have a Trader Joe's nearby get their Vintage Ale. It's made by Unibroue but is usually a better price.

You can read the differences in the style descriptions here:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/

 

Belgian Strong Dark Ales are going to be heavier and richer than a dubbel. Sometimes a little sweeter too, but not always.

Sure, that's a fair way to look at it. The ingredients and profiles are similar but they are brewed to different strengths.

The Chimay Red and Ommegang Abbey that you tried are two of my favorites. I'd also recommend St. Bernardus Prior 8 and Westmalle Dubbel. You might like Rochefort 6 but I feel there's a big dropoff in that beer from the Rochefort 8. Worth a try though.

 

It's worth bearing in mind that the commonly-used division of Belgian beer styles was largely invented (AIUI) to make homebrew competitions in the US more manageable. Belgian brewers don't generally seem to have much interest in them, so they have limited use as a tool for understanding the style-relationships of actual Belgian beers.

The best overview of the general landscape of Belgian beer that I've read is in Tim Webb and Joe Stange's Good Beer Guide Belgium, although there might be something else out there that I don't know about.

 

Dubbel recommendations?

Every single one you can find.

Westmalle, Rochefort 6, St. Bernardus Prior 8, St. Feuillien are all good enough for a spin (Rochefort 6, Westmalle are fantastic).

If you like Chimay Red, my bet is you'll find all Belgian-made dubbels worth trying at least once and at least some American-made dubbels a fun sidetrack. From my experiences, we don't brew abbey ales very well in comparison to how well we nail many of the German styles, some of the English and even many of the other Belgian styles. Smarter BAs than me always point to the yeast as one of the biggest reasons, and there's no doubt that's true. Ommegang is by far the best American brewer of abbey ales of what I've tried, and again, most say it's because they've got the good yeast.

Happy to see another big dubbel fan! I love quads a ton, but I don't ever sleep on the good dubbel ... pound for pound it's as good a style as any of the 104 listed here on BA.com IMO.

 

Some good advice here. (Also Achel Bruin and Corsendonk Pater.)

 

I agree that the spectrum of Belgian Dark Ales to Belgian Strong Dark Ales is pretty analogous to the spectrum of APAs to DIPAs. Not sure that Dubbels then fall in the middle in the IPA slot, but what the hell do I know?

If you're into Dubbels though, Westmalle Dubbel should be first on your list to try. It's superb.

 

There certainly is a modicum of overlap. Not as much with the European producers, though, as compared to US ones, and certainly not to the extent that APAs, IPAs, and IIPAs overlap.

 

With Belgians generally I often prefer the '8' over the same brand's '10 or 12'.

 

While I don't agree with that, I do agree that the "8" tends to be much more overlooked.

Dubbels just aren't as cool as Quads, man.

 

I agree with @Jacobob10 when he stated this is a fair analogy.

Another thing to think about is cellaring/bottle aging. These beers will evolve with increasing bottle aging time. Over the years I have homebrewed Dubbels, Tripels and Quads/BSDA beers. These beers will evolve over time and with changing flavor profiles you may find you enjoy these beers more with time in the bottle. For example if you had cellared the bottle of Rochefort 10 for a few years you very well may have enjoyed the drinking experience more.

I brewed a batch of Quad (my second time brewing this beer) and bottled it last June. I have consumed a few bottles already but the bulk of these beer will be consumed between Christmas of this year and over the next 5 years.

Cheers!

 

If you are a patient person and have a cellar I would recommend that you try the "age them myself" method. In this way you have control of how the bottles are aged.

Cheers!

P.S. Also try other Quad/BSDA beers besides Rochefort 10. I am a fan of St. Bernardus Abt 12 with 1-2 years of aging. Maybe you would prefer that brand?

 

Westmalle Dubbel May be my favorite Abbey beer.

I would say my favorite Belgian, but there are so many amazing Saison, Lambic, Gueuze..

 

+2 for Ommegang.