Westmalle Dubbel

Today it is cold, well, cold for Virginia at least. We have a rather large (again, by Virginia standards) winter storm bearing down on us so that means stocking up on items designed to help me through the cold winter snow. I’ve got extra bottles of cognac, brandy and bourbon laid up and my wine rack is full. The only thing left to do is to load the beer fridge with…well…beer.

With that thought in mind, I’ve once again been sampling beers that I think would tend towards a more winterish theme. By that, I mean heavier beers with higher alcohol content. Also while I really like American IPAs, even the imperials and doubles, I find that those that come across very hoppy with what I like to call a “green” flavor, (piney or citrusy, not young) do not help me warm up that much during the cold weather. I like things darker and thicker during this time of the year. This includes the Belgian style ales.

With that thought in mind, I collected a dubbel and a tripel from Westmalle brewery in Belgium. These are traditional ales brewed by the monks of the Trappist Monastery of Westmalle. They are unfiltered ale and so have a layer of yeast at the bottom of the bottle. Now, let’s look a bit more closely at the dubbel.

I poured the beer into a large pint glass. I know, I don’t have a Belgian ale glass collection so I can’t appreciate what the glass does for the beer. Honestly, if the beer is dependant on the glass then maybe there is a problem with the beer. Regardless, I got a large head from this pour, about three fingers worth. It was a rather dense head, tan in color, that stuck around for quite some time. This head contrasted nicely with the dark amber color of the ale itself.

The aroma of this beer is not strong, but gives off notes of caramel, dates and the briefest of hints of cocoa. It is accompanied by some esters from the yeast which help to lend a send of bread to the whole package. The beer tastes of the flavors spoken of by the aroma, dates and figs malty caramel goodness. There is just a touch of hop bitterness that lingers on the palate. It has a nice silky mouthfeel that is counterpointed very nicely by the pop from the carbonation.

Clearly I missed the boat thinking this is a winter beer, it is not. It has higher alcohol at 7% ABV but the beer itself doesn’t carry great weight. That being said, this is a superb beer for a warm summer night and almost any other time that you’re not trying to get or stay warm. An excellent example of a Belgian dubbel.