Solemn Oath Big Box Make Magic

Brewed By: Solemn Oath Brewing in Naperville, IL  

Purchased: 64oz Growler Fill bought at Solemn Oath in Naperville, IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: Belgian Dubbel, 7.5%

Reported IBUs: 20

Tonight's beer is fresh off the tap, and should be delicious. About Solemn Oath:

Solemn Oath is a brewery based out of Naperville, IL, and was founded in 2012 by brothers John and Joe Barley, and former Rock Bottom employee Tim Marshall. Marshall's experience was with Belgian-style beers and barrel aging. After John and Tim scouted out the location, they began to install the brewery and on-site taproom. The first brew day was on April 21, 2012. Prior to that, the brewery signed a distribution deal with the Windy City Distribution, and launched three beers during the Chicago Craft Beer Week in 2012. The brewery already has expanded, adding additional barrels (up to 3,200 barrels) in January 2013. While the brewery currently does not bottle their beer, they have an on-site taproom where you can get a beer, grab some food from one of the many food trucks that stops by, and watch them brew their beer on site. For more information, definitely check out the brewery's ABOUT page or main website.

Tonight's beer, the Big Box Make Magic, is a collaboration between Solemn Oath and the Chicago craft beer bar, Hopleaf. Described as having, "rich toffee and caramel malt flavor is balanced by Belgian yeast notes of raisin and dried cherry with a subtle earthy, grassy hop balance," this Belgian Ale clocks in at 7.5% ABV and packs 20 IBUs. Let's get this into a glass and see how it stacks up.

Solemn Oath Big Box Make Magic

The beer pours into a reddish/brown body, and kicks up one to two fingers of creamy and dense amber/tan head. The head is leaving some nice lacing on my glass. The body on this is mostly transparent, or dare I say fully transparent. There's some nice carbonation kicking up in the middle of the glass. 

The aroma on this beer is really nice. I'm pulling off a lot of Belgian Yeast, some bread/dough, sweet and perfume candi sugars, and lots of sweet sugary fruits. Notable is the aroma of cherries, and some fruit puree. It's a sweet, sugary aroma...and right about what you'd expect from an American take on a Belgain-style Dubbel.

Yum. This is a good beer...it's not as good as a lot of the stylistic Belgian Dubbels you can get, but there's a nice blend of hop bitterness and sweet cherries, candi sugar, and complex burnt sugars. I'm getting a lot of toffee, caramel, toast, bread, and even some brown sugar. There's some Belgian Yeast spice/funk as well. The big cherry flavors make this all worth it.

If you like cherries, or the dark depths of toffee, caramel, brown sugar, and bread, then this beer is going to work for you. There's also a nice interplay between hop bitterness and malt complexity. The beer itself is medium to full-bodied, with very good palate depth, and moderate complexity. This is a bit more bitter (IMO) then some of the Belgian Dubbels, but it works. At 7.5%, this is very drinkable, and goes down well. You get sweet dark fruits up front, followed by a blast of cherries and raisins; that rolls into big hop bitterness, and huge malt complexity (dark sugars, caramel, toffee, bread); the back end continues with the bitterness, and throws some peppery spice and Belgian funk in the mix. As that fades away you're left with a dry finish, with lingering cherry goodness. An all-around solid twist on the classic style.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average on this. At the brewery/bar I sampled this and the La Grippe. The La Grippe was actually pretty fantastic, but I went with the sweeter, lower-ABV Belgian. This is a Dubbel for people who like bitter, malty Dubbels. BUT, there is a nice cherry kick that elevates this beer. It's quite drinkable, and would pair well with red pasta, steak, crème brûlée, or even something off-the-cuff like a Monte Cristo. I would definitely recommend checking this out if you swing by Solemn Oath. Get it while you can. 

Random Thought: I fucking love Solemn Oath. Talk about underrated stuff. These guys are already collaborating with Hopleaf and the Lost Abbey. Their beer is CLEAN and refined. These guys are right up there with Two Brothers and Goose Island in terms of cranking out clean, polished beer. Not to dismiss Pipeworks or Spiteful or whatever. It's a good time to hunt #MidWestWhalez