Dubbel

Tier A · BJCP 26B · Ale, fermented warm with a Belgian yeast

ABV

6.0-7.6%

IBU

15-25

SRM

10-17

Serve

50-55F

Glass

Chalice

Identify

Dark amber to copper, and usually clear. Hold it against a light and the edge glows red brown rather than black. A thick creamy head the colour of old ivory, which stands up and then leaves rings down the glass as the level drops. It smells of raisin, plum, bread crust and a little chocolate, with black pepper behind all of it. Smooth and rounded at the front, medium to medium full, then the bubbles arrive and lift it off your tongue. Dried fruit leads. Bitterness is low and does not chase you. The finish turns dry and slightly warming, which is the part people do not expect.

Place

Westmalle Abbey, near Antwerp, Belgium. A strong brown beer from 1856, remade in 1926.

Cause

The yeast is the loudest ingredient in this beer. Belgian ale strains are fermented warm, often starting around 68F and climbing into the mid seventies, which is 20C rising past 23C. Warmth makes yeast produce two families of flavour compound that a cold fermented lager yeast barely makes at all. Esters give the fruit.

Confused with

Belgian Dark Strong Ale, which is the same idea at much greater strength. Dunkles Bock, which is the same colour with no fruit and no pepper. British Brown Ale, which is nuttier, weaker and barely carbonated. Belgian Blond Ale, which is the same strength and the same yeast in a pale beer.

Numbers

A Dubbel is a dark Belgian ale that tastes of dried fruit and finishes dry. Both halves of that sentence matter. The smell promises a sweet beer and the swallow does not deliver one. Take a mouthful and hold it for two seconds before you swallow. The bubbles will push the beer up off your tongue.

Will you like it and Try

Raisins, dates, prunes or fig rolls. That dried fruit flavour is the centre of the beer, and it arrives without any sweetness attached. Dark rye bread, or the dark crust at the end of a loaf. The malt sits underneath the fruit and does exactly this. Sticky toffee pudding, banana bread, or a hot cross bun.

Order and Pair

Order one bottle, or one glass, and take your time over it. This is not a beer you order in rounds. Ask for the proper glass if the bar has it, because a chalice gives the head somewhere to go and puts the smell where you can reach it. The useful question is about the sediment.

Judge, Myth and Remember

Dark amber with a red edge, and a thick ivory head that leaves rings as you drink. Raisin, plum, bread crust and pepper in the smell. Full and smooth for a moment, then the bubbles lift it and the finish goes dry. A little warmth at the end, and no burn.