Westmalle Dubbel

I figured I might as well go ahead and finish up with the trappists. The final remaining brew I was able to get my hands on for this trip was Westmalle Dubbel. The brewery in the Westmalle abbey opened in 1836, but it wasn't until 1921 that they started selling it commercially. In addition to the brewery, the abbey also has a farm and a cheese making facility.

The beer's appearance is a deep reddish/purple color, kind of murky and slightly opaque. The head is tan but dissipates quickly and has no lacing.

The aroma is sweet. There's cherry and liquor scents. I think there's some chocolate as well.. maybe chocolate covered cherries. A very faint grassyness.

Taste is somewhat chocolatey. There's a mild cherry flavor as well. The beer is neither too sweet or too bitter. It's sweet on the tip of the tongue but I'm also getting a bit of alcohol in the flavor. The second bottle of this I had appears to be bad despite the freshness date of 2/26/10. There's a medicinal quality to it as well that's slightly unpleasant. Tastes like Vick's vapor rub smells.

The mouthfeel is thick and juicy on the tongue. It's a bit dry, but good. The first one I had was not very carbonated, but the second was overpoweringly so.

The drinkability of the beer was not too high. The first was so heavy that it was like a meal in itself. My second go at this beer was obviously bad, and I ended up pouring it down the sink after a few sips. I was severly dissapointed because this was one of my favorites of the entire outer banks trip. At some point I'll have to give this one another shot.

Actually what's most dissapointing is that this is the 2nd bad bottle of beer I've gotten from State Line in the last month or so. The first was Gulden Draak, which I've yet to review because I haven't had a decent sized portion of it that wasn't bad. I discovered that it was a bad bottle because they had it at their Belgium vs. North America tasting event and it was actually quite good. I don't think this was State Line's fault as the beer was clearly not expired, but I wish I knew how to avoid this in the future.

- Adam