Right now I'm working on my 3rd post today. The first 2 have been deleted as it's been so long since I had these beers, looking at my notes just isn't bringing back the experience for me, and I don't think I could do justice to the beers. Maredsous 8 stood out to me though, and my notes were quite ample. This beer was possibly the most complex I've ever tasted, each sip yielded a new flavor.
The beer is brewed by Duvel Moortgat, brewers of my all-time favorite, Duvel. Upon learning that they had additional lines of beer besides Duvel, I made a point of picking it out the next time I went over to State-Line. As a Dubbel, this beer is the same style as Westmalle Dubble, Achel Brune, Chimay Red, and Westvleteren 8... meaning it has some fierce competition to live up to.
The beer poured a dark brown color, and had a moderately sized off-white head. When held up to the light, I noticed a slight reddish tinge around the edges. Throughout the glass it had good retention and decent lacing as well.
The aroma contained a number of scents, starting with a nice combination of roast malt, coffee, cherries, and chocolate. Underneath there's hints of caramel, alcohol, biscuit, and apple. Needless to say, it's a complex aroma that just hints at the flavors that the beer contains.
At first the beer tasted strongly of coffee and dark chocolate. It had a sweetness to it, as well as a round bitterness at the back of the mouth. However, I also detected a fruity flavor underneath that I thought was cherry. There was a strong hop flavor on the sides of the tongue. I didn't notice much alcohol in it, but it did have a warming quality. The beer developed even more as I continued drinking, yielding flavors of roast, dark breads like pumpernickel, cider, and a wooden/earthy flavor that I quite enjoyed. It's hard to even describe how these flavors worked together to form this incredible beer.
I tried this beer in two different glasses, first was my Duvel glass, which I felt would be appropriate. However, after reading an article on glassware, I disagreed with Beer Advocate on their recommendation for drinking it out of a goblet style glass, so I tried it with my Pauwel Kwak stirrup. In the Duvel glass the beer felt very highly carbonated, and was light (almost airy) in the mouth. It was thinner in feel than I expected. I also noted that it was a little dry. I had read (can't remember where) that for beers with higher carbonation, a narrower glass is more appropriate. After trying it in the Kwak glass, I have to agree that this beer was better with a narrower glass. The main difference I noticed was that the beer didn't feel quite as light in the mouth. It was still light, but it had a more tangible quality to it that helped me appreciate the flavors more. I also noticed that the roast flavor came out more (roast what I'm not sure, but it was definitely roasted), and the chocolate flavor got stronger towards the end. Visually, it also left incredible lacing on the narrower glass.
All in all, the beer was highly enjoyable. However, I didn't feel like it would be a good beer to pound back. For one thing, it's 8% ABV, so it's too strong to drink end to end. More importantly though, the flavors are so complex and interesting that I felt it was really designed to sit down and enjoy sip by sip. Savor this one, take it slow, and it will be a wonderful experience.
- Adam
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