Purchased: 330ml bottle from a St. Feuillien Gift Set bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013
Style/ABV: Abbey Dubbel, 7.5%...8.5%?
Style/ABV: Abbey Dubbel, 7.5%...8.5%?
Reported IBUs: ?
This one pours a murky brown color, with a couple of finger's worth of tan head depending on how aggressive you pour. The head settles into a finger of creamy, sustaining, tan-colored foam. There is some lacing, and as you might expect, head retention is great. In bright light this beer is a reddish/ruby color, with some orange tones, and lots of visible setiment floating around in the murky body. If I had to guess, this will be well carbonated.
The aroma on this is big and bright, and very fruity. I'm getting plums, grapes, caramel, sweet molasses, brown sugar, Twizzlers, licorice, and lots of perfume-like phenols. I love the aroma on these big, brazen Belgian Ales, and this one is great.
This is a big, boozy beer...with lots of hop kick, big phenols, and a ton of complexity. This veers into Quad or Dark Strong complex, and reminds me a bit of the Maredsous Tripel. I'm getting a lot of dusty spice, giant phenol/medicinal/herbal, brown sugar, clove; big sweet molasses, caramel, and light licorice; and plenty of plums, raisin, and dark fruits. There's some ghostly chocolate booze complexity on the back end, and this beer brings some seductive and boozy heat without veering into hot. I'm also getting some slight hints of funk, grass, and even cheese?
This one is creamy, oily, dusty, and full-bodied. It lays on the body thick, and throws in some hop bitterness mid-palate, and booze in the back. The finish is malty, hoppy, and then dry. Complexity is very high, palate depth is okay. Up front is carbonation, medicinal bitterness, phenol spice, herbal, clove, brown sugar; this rolls into caramel, molasses, malt roundness, more spice, dark fruits; the back end trails dark fruits, bitterness, booze, ghostly chocolate...fade to dry, malty, and bitter...
Rating: Above-Average (4/5 Untappd)
Continuing on with the St. Feuillien beers...tonight we jump from their Blond to the Dubbel. Dat dark fruit twist...should be nice. About St. Feuillien:
St. Feuillien is is an Abbey-stye brewery based out of Le Roeulx, Belgium, founded in 1873. The brewery's history goes back to the 7th century, when an Irish monk by the name Feuillien came to Belgium to preach the Gospel. Unfortunately...while traveling through Le Roeulx, Feuillien was martyred and beheaded. In memory of Feuillien, his disciples built a chapel in 1125, which became the Abbey of Prémontrés, later known as the Abbaye St-Feuillien du Roeulx. The Abbey prospered until the French Revolution. St. Feuillien makes use of natural ingredients, centuries-old brewing methods, and (I believe) all their beers are bottle conditioned. You can read more about them HERE.
Tonight's beer, the St. Feuillien Brune, is a Belgian/Abbey-style Dubbel. Interestingly, my bottle states 7.5%, but the website states that this clocks in at 8.5%. I suppose it doesn't matter too much. The website describes this beer as a brown ale with big fruit, malt, "liquorice," and caramel flavors. Let's glass it up and see what we got.
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| St. Feuillien Brune |
This one pours a murky brown color, with a couple of finger's worth of tan head depending on how aggressive you pour. The head settles into a finger of creamy, sustaining, tan-colored foam. There is some lacing, and as you might expect, head retention is great. In bright light this beer is a reddish/ruby color, with some orange tones, and lots of visible setiment floating around in the murky body. If I had to guess, this will be well carbonated.
The aroma on this is big and bright, and very fruity. I'm getting plums, grapes, caramel, sweet molasses, brown sugar, Twizzlers, licorice, and lots of perfume-like phenols. I love the aroma on these big, brazen Belgian Ales, and this one is great.
This is a big, boozy beer...with lots of hop kick, big phenols, and a ton of complexity. This veers into Quad or Dark Strong complex, and reminds me a bit of the Maredsous Tripel. I'm getting a lot of dusty spice, giant phenol/medicinal/herbal, brown sugar, clove; big sweet molasses, caramel, and light licorice; and plenty of plums, raisin, and dark fruits. There's some ghostly chocolate booze complexity on the back end, and this beer brings some seductive and boozy heat without veering into hot. I'm also getting some slight hints of funk, grass, and even cheese?
This one is creamy, oily, dusty, and full-bodied. It lays on the body thick, and throws in some hop bitterness mid-palate, and booze in the back. The finish is malty, hoppy, and then dry. Complexity is very high, palate depth is okay. Up front is carbonation, medicinal bitterness, phenol spice, herbal, clove, brown sugar; this rolls into caramel, molasses, malt roundness, more spice, dark fruits; the back end trails dark fruits, bitterness, booze, ghostly chocolate...fade to dry, malty, and bitter...
Rating: Above-Average (4/5 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. This is pretty damn complex, with really nice boozy complexity and tons of subtleties in the taste and aroma. I let this one get pretty warm, which...worked out well. A true compliment to what is surely a sipping beer at 7.5% (or 8.5%). This beer would be a great compliment to peppery chicken, turkey, soups, stews, and hearty dishes. I can't help but associate this beer with winter weather, which is ironic as today was the warmest day of the year so far. The vinous qualities inherent to this style also work well with muscles and certain pasta dishes, in my opinion. And this also would hold up to cheeses, burgers, etc. This is very solid stuff, and possibly better than very solid. I would recommend this.
Random Thought: Okay, so the Bulls lost yesterday, but the Blackhawks won today and the Bulls play tomorrow...I'm not saying it's a good time to be a Chicago fan, but it's a good time to be a Chicago fan.
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