As most of you have probably gathered, I hold a special place in my heart for the Trappist ales. Something about them really makes me feel like they should be better than other examples of the same style from a non-trappist brewery. I've also mentioned before that there are 6 Trappist breweries in Belgium: Achel, Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, and Westvleteren. Of these, I've gotten to try something from all of them but Westvleteren, which only bottles a limited amount per batch, and doesn't get exported to the US. However, I recently learned about a 7th trappist abbey, this one in the Netherlands. Over there, it's labeled as Le Trappe, but in the US it's imported as Koningshoeven. I picked up a bottle of the Dubbel, chosing it over their Tripel and Quadrupel. This is mostly simply because out of the beers that I've had, I've generally liked the Dubbels best.
One interesting thing I noticed about Koningshoeven is that for a period of 5 years they lost their status as a trappist brewery. This was due to the fact that they licensed their brewery to a limited liability company. However in 2005 a settlement was reached with the International Trappist Association, which allowed them to regain the trappist label.
The beer poured a deep brownish red, with a tan head. It started to dissipate at a moderate pace, but the last bit covering the beer held on and stuck around through most of the glass. There was pretty much no lacing on the glass as the beer was consumed.
The smell was a bit faint, and I was really having a difficult time picking anything in particular out. I definitely detected a cherry fruit scent, along with some sweet malty characteristics. Underneath this was a trace of alcohol. However, I did notice a slight chocolate smell as well.
The taste was domintated by chocolate and cherry at first. However, this changed a bit as I got through the first sips, and turned a little more to the sweetness of the malt. I noticed a bit of bitterness towards the back of my mouth. There was a warming sensation as I swallowed the beer. The brew didn't have very much of an aftertaste... in fact, less than I'm used to. However I did find there was a touch of bitterness that remained behind for a few moments along with a trace of alcohol.
The mouthfeel was fairly dominated by the carbonation. This is possibly one of the highest carbonated beers I've had. This threw me off a bit as I would tend to say the beer was a medium body drink, but the carbonation made it feel lighter than I though it actually was. I didn't notice it coating my mouth at all, which is something I've become more aware of lately. The one thing I noticed in particular is that as I swallowed, the beer was extremly tingly in my throat, and had an almost burning effect, but not painful or unpleasant, just unexpected.
I'm not sure what to make of the drinkability of this beer. It wasn't the best beer I've had, and seemed to be a little unbalanced towards the sweet side. I thought that personally the sweetness dominated a bit too much and I would get sick of it if I tried to have more than one glass. However, it was still tasty, I don't want to indicate that it was a bad drink. It was definitely way better than Orval. Overall, a good drink, but not great. I'm glad Dan was around to drink the other half of the 750 ml bottle, because I wouldn't have wanted to. At least now I've tried something from every Trappist you can get in the US without trading with individuals.
- Adam
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