Abbey Ale
Pours a lightly cloudy ruddy brown, with a reasonable, but not very boisterous head of beige foam. The colour is nice, but otherwise it looks a little insipid. Some genuine Belgian notes on the nose, sweet-savoury yeast characters, bread-and-spices, dark citrus, crackers with a light funky cheese note, which actually goes rather well. Certainly a pungent nose, and one that I respect. Some light sweetness on the palate, and lots of that big Belgian yeast character, skimming the border between sweet and savoury. Biscuit again, but quite luscious. The mouthfeel is light, but very smooth - a good sign in a dubbel. A fair bit of character to this one - perhaps not the layered complexity of some of the better examples, but the important elements are there. It's got the pleasant light body and hidden alcohol of a good dubbel, so at least it's readily drinkable. Not a bad drop at all.