Iron Hill Abbey Dubbel

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

On draft at the Newak location. Hazy amber, almost reddish pour, nice head on top, decent retention with steadily rising bubbles going on. Lacing pretty good. The aroma was very nice once it warmed up beyond the freezing cold serving temperature of the Newark location, coriander, cloves, sweet amber malts. The flavor was solid, great spicing (cloves and coriander), solid yeast presence in the flavor and finish, caramel and fruity malt aspects, highly drinkable, up there among my favorite dubbels experienced to-date. Body was airy fully, nothing sticky or thick about it, though. Nice job, Scott! Re-rate, 11/08, on draft at the WC location: A tad more smokey than remembered, bubblegum noticeable underneath. Not quite as impressive either as my first rating of 4.4, bumping numbers down a tad.

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

Label states it is brewed at the Wilmington location
Pours with a four finger thick, brownish to amber tinged, tan colored head that is a fairly large bubbled froth and . The beer is clear, brilliantly ruby-hued, red color when held up to the light, but sits in my glass a drab, dark amber to brown color. The aroma has a nice chewy fruitiness to it reminiscent of caramelized raisins, concentrated plum and touches of figs. The dark fruit notes are certainly the most noticeable aspect of the aroma, but there is a touch of spiciness (clove, hints of dusty pepper & maybe mace) and a solid malty backdrop that is almost toasty, definitely caramelized, a touch like browned bread crust and even some hints of chocolate aromatics once you start digging around. After drinking for a bit the aroma picks up a touch of hot alcohol too.

The beer is sweet up front, but is still quite light bodied. The sweetness accentuates a fruit note, that is the most noticeable part of the flavor profile, of plums, raisins & fresh figs. The beer seems almost a bit too thin; the light body seems to accentuated some alcohol notes that are fruity, somewhat rum-like, but still a bit hot. The beer finishes with a malt presence of dark caramel, toasted bread crust, brown sugar and a chewy, fresh, dark bread flavor that is quite appetizing. As the beer warms up a bit it leans a bit more towards the tart side of the fruit notes, especially the plum character and even reminds me at times of tamarind.

This has my preference for the Dubbel style profile as far as the light body, yet still rich flavors go; in fact this is actually quite a well made Dubbel, but for some reason the more I dig into this style the more under-whelmed I am by it. The more I dig into this 750ml bottle the more I can appreciate how well this has captured the essence of a Dubbel, but it is still not pushing me onto the plateau of flavor excellence. Flavorful, yet light Abbey Singles, Triples & Quads I can’t get enough of, but the poor Dubbels consistently don’t inspire me. This one is a great Dubbel though, so if you like Dubbels definitely try and get some of this. I will say this, the beer gets more enjoyable the farther into the 750 that I get.

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

A reddish brown appearance. The flavor was nutty with some citrus and sour cherries. A bit on the sweet side with molasses present in the aftertaste. A pretty good effort.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

North Wales... Poured a red, orange, brownish color with a pinkish white head, that left very spotty lacing on the glass. Aroma of cherry, citrus, wood, banana, clove, and yeast. Taste of sweet roasted cherries, yeast and light alcohol. This finished rather tame however.