Captain Lawrence St. Vincents Dubbel

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Bottle, kindly shared by gunnar. Brown colour, big off-white head. Aroma of Belgian ale yeast, brown sugar and spices, hints of camphorwood. The flavour has more fruity acidity than I expect from a dubbel, some spicy and woody notes too.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Pours with a clear, deep red body topped by a thick, off-white head with a good amount of lacing. It’s slightly sweet and malty with notes of dark fruit and a grassy hoppy note. Much more hoppiness showing through than expected. The aroma is a little more floral. Medium to full bodied, smooth and a touch tingly on the tongue.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Poured a nice brown/orange color with good head and great lacing. Aroma was tons of dark fruits plums mostly. Flavor was much the same some spices yeast in there as well.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Thanks to eaglefan538 for sharing this one. Pour was dark amber, frothy head but quickly dispersing, some lacing. The aroma was dark fruits. The flavor was dark fruit (plums, raisins). Mouthfeel was bubbly and airy, yet still sticky and thick. Not bad.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Bottle: Poured a medium brown color ale with a big foamy head with some good retention and some lacing. Aroma consist of sweet Belgian malt with some dry fruits characteristics such as dry figs and plums. Taste of sweet Belgian malt with some notes of dry fruits characteristics. Body is full with a creamy texture and some pretty good carbonation. I thought this was a bit too boozy overall to really enjoy on a regular basis thought.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

Porus a hazy brown with an ok head. The aroma is that of a bran muffin with maybe a few raisins thrown in for good measure. The flavor is a little hot. You’re tasting the alcohol more than you’d expect from a beer that’s 8% and fairly sweet from the malt. A little sticky.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Bottled 2006, Sampled September 2007
Pours with a frothy, initially three-finger thick, tightly beaded, tan colored head that sits atop a drab, opaque, dark plum colored beer, but which shows a brilliantly clear, bright cranberry color when held up to the light. The aroma is quite fruity smelling, with notes of blackberries, sweet plums and cherries being noticeable as the beer sits on the table in front of me. When I go in for a closer inspection of the nose, I get concentrated malt notes as well as the previously noticed fruit notes. Aromas of caramelized malt, brown sugar, a lightly concentrated malt note that evokes thoughts of an umami-like savoriness, toasty grain, lightly-browned soda crackers make up the distinctly malt derived components. The malt, obviously heavily influences the fruit aromatic components of this brew too. The fruit character also yields aromas of raisins, prunes, concentrated-caramelized apples and a bright berry like note. The aroma is quite nice and quite rich; I could certainly wish for a bit more spicy yeast influence, but it is really quite good.

Despite being fairly well carbonated, the beer has a soft creaminess to it up front. The carbonation then kicks in and helps to lighten the beers effect on the palate as well as adding a zippy frothiness to the brew as it flows past the tongue. It is fairly sweet and fruity tasting, though not overly so and in fact dries out to a soft sweetness after the first sip or so. The finish is interesting though, with a definite dark malt influence that leans towards darkly browned toasted bread and even an astringency from the toasted influence. This adds a bit of sharpness to the finish. Speaking of sharpness there is a spicy note in the finish as well; flavor notes from higher alcohols, a touch of phenolics and ginger/clove like note that gives me the sensation of a tongue numbing. Actually that tongue numbing note is really reminding me of the sensation I had last night when accidentally chewing on a clove that was in my bowl of Pho. This has ample fruit notes to it, with flavors of prunes, raisins, touches of dried figs and concentrated berry flavors all being noticeable. The body of this beer has a light-medium heft to it; it impacts the palate well with lingering flavors, yet remains quite light feeling. Strangely enough, I would not classify this beer as quaffable; it seems to have the body for that, but somehow the flavor impact is too large for me to feel comfortable with quaffing this brew (this is most definitely a good thing, given the alcohol percentage of this brew).

This is quite tasty, it has quite a bit more darker grain notes in it than is typical (especially towards the finish), but these notes mostly add another dimension to this brew. While the aroma is not overly so, the flavor definitely has some heavy spiciness to it (though I wouldn’t guess this is anything more than fermentation character). Fairly rich tasting, yet the overall experience of this beer remains surprisingly light. Either Dubbels are finally beginning to grow on me (Dubbels have been one of the few Belgian Styles I have not really been exited about), or this is just enough different from the typical example that I am really enjoying this right now.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Re-rate: Bottle courtesy jjpm74. Orangey brown in color, huge tan-orange head, great retention, lacing excellent. The aroma was bubblegum, chocolate, plumey. Flavor was much the same, some licorice, coriander notes, grapes, yeasty-spicey bitter finish. Mouthfeel was airy-creamy. A nice job on the style, although the style has slipped a little in my overall likes. Original rating: Bottle courtesy slob. Orangey light brown color, decent head, thinning quickly but steady. The lacing was ok. The aroma was light notes of smoke, roast, caramel, chocolate, harsh vinous notes (the latter almost a turn-off). The flavor picked up the pace, especially as this thing warmed: Nut caramel, chocoalte, light roast, yeast, light fruits (pears, grapes?). Mouthfeel not as full and airy/fluffy like a classic dubbel, yet with warmer temperatures, not too bad. Thanks, Bert.