Affligem Dubbel

Brewed By: Brouwerij Affligem / De Smedt (Heineken) in Opwijk, Belgium

Purchased: 750ml bottle bought at Friar Tucks in Urbana, IL; 2014 

Style/ABV: Belgian Dubbel, 7.0% 

Reported IBUs: ?

TIL Affligem is Heineken's bitch....about Affligem:

Affligem has a long history as an Abbey, going back to 1074 when six knights quit their day job of kicking ass, and traded their swords for a more peaceful life. Ten years later, and the Abbey was born. Like most Abbeys, Affligem was subject to numerous take downs and rebuildings. In 1796, the French state shut down the Abbey. It was not restored until 1887.

The Monks at Affligem were brewing beer since the early days of the Abbey. During World War II they handed over their recipe to sustain/preserve the business. The brewery is located in Opwijk, Belgium, and is owned by Heineken. For more info, check out the brewery's website. 

The Affligem Dubbel is an...Abbey Dubbel. This one really needs no explanation. Described as dark and spicy, this one should feature lots of clove, spice, anise, raisins, molasses, and bananas. The bottle is cool, and the glass is no slouch...let's see how she stacks up.

Affligem Dubbel

Wow...this is a raw, rustic Dubbel. I'm digging this from the onset, with the beer's dark reddish-brown/orange body. The body is hazy, and you can see yeast suspended in the beer, along with a stream of carbonation rising upwards from the chalice's nucleation point. This one kicks up one to two fingers of thick, bready, caramel-tinted head. This just looks the part of an Abbey Ale, all rustic and conditioned...nice. [there's good, clingy head retention/glossy alcohol legs]

The aroma is even better than the appearance. I'm getting some apples and wheat up front, with some caramel sugars. If you dig deeper you get rich raisins, breads, brown sugars, bready desserts (I think raisin bread is a safe call), mild anise, clove, green bananas, perfumed dark fruits...it's just deep and layered, and goes way beyond the apple and wheat notes you initially get.

The taste follows through with the nose, almost spot on. That's not a bad thing, as you get blasted with sweet caramel, raisins/molasses, apples, and wheat up front. There are figs and stone fruits abound in here, with perfumed dark fruits firing on all cylinders across the tongue through the beer's velvety-smooth and perfectly carbonated body. I'm getting some hints of bread in here, brown sugar, raisin bread, dark fruits, dried dark berries, and tons of spicy phenols ala clove and cinnamon. Finally, I'm getting a dash of light anise/licorice.

This is classic Abbey through and through. Maybe it plays things a little safe, but the execution is flawless. And this feels rustic and vintage. I wonder how old this recipe is. I'm not getting any of the beer's 7.0%, but this is full-bodied and authoritative. The mouthfeel is perfect, with great duration, and tons of creamy, carbonated goodness. Complexity is fairly high as well. This expands in layers, with apples, raisins, wheat, caramel, and molasses up front; the mids hit carbonated figs, dark fruits, perfume, clove spice; the back end has malts, with breads, cakes, raisin bread, brown sugar, cinnamon, clove...the finish is dry and lightly dusty. This is well-balanced, and big. Nice... 

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

I can't believe I'm saying this about a Heineken-owned product, but this is a Light Divine Brew and one of the better Abbey Dubbels I have had. What pushes this beer over the top is the absolutely PERFECT and MEMORABLE mouthfeel, and the layers of complexity. This beer is also perfectly balanced, with good bitterness, tons of spice, lots of malts, and a dry clean finish. As this warms up the spice and malts are popping, and adding the yeast from the bottom of the bottle seems to add character. I'm just enjoying the heck out of this beer, and I could see myself buying this beer again in the Winter months. I feel like this is the perfect beer to pair with a meat and cheese tray, preferably during a football game. You could also pair this beer with stews, hearty soups, grilled meats, and ham. This is just some rustic and refined goodness. I'm surprised...I'm intrigued...I give this a VERY STRONG RECOMMENDATION, especially at around $10 a bottle. Check it out. 

Random Thought: I feel like classic Abbey/Belgian Dubbels are quite different from the candi sugar overload American counterparts. There is nothing wrong with that, but surely this style distinction is worth noting. Compare something like Solemn Oath's Big Box Make Magic to the beer that we have in front of us, and yeah. Two awesome beers with completely different experiences. 

The Bruery Autumn Maple

Brewed By: The Bruery in Placentia, California  

Purchased: 750ml bottle bought at Binny's in IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: Spice/Herb/Vegetable, 10.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

In keeping with the Fall and Autumn beers, I thought I would deviate from the pumpkin beers for a bit and try a beer brewed with another Fall staple, yams. But first, about The Bruery: 

The Bruery are based out of Placentia, California. As with many craft breweries, The Bruery began as a homebrewing adventure when Patrick Rue, his brother Chris, and his wife Rachel brewed their fast batch of beer. Patrick Rue continued to homebrew during his first year of law school, until he decided that he had a passion for brewing beer. The Bruery opened up in 2008, and since then, they have built a reputation around their experimental, and wild ales brewed with a Belgian flair. To read more, check out the Breuery's website.

The Autumn Maple is an Autumn seasonal brewed with 17 pounds of yams per barrel. In addition to the yams, this beer features cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla, molasses, and maple syrup, and is fermented out with a Belgian yeast strain. 

The Bruery Autumn Maple

The Autumn Maple pours into a dark, brownish/amber body, and kicks up two fingers of thick, bready, Belgian-esque head. The head is khaki/tan in low light, and an amber color in bright light. The beer is a deep, hazy orange color in bright light, with nice streams of peppery carbonation. Head retention is good, there is some lacing, and there are some alcohol legs. 

You get a lot of spices on the aroma...nutmeg, namely, along with some allspice, clove, and cinnamon. There's a mulled wine thing going on with the spices, and beneath all that is some Belgian funk and band-aid/vanilla/clove. There's a vinous quality to this beer, and I'm picking up on some vegetal tannins on the aroma...you definitely get some of the yams on the aroma. It's a strange, spicy aroma.

As this beer warms up...it really progresses. You get a lot of fruity bitterness and spices in the mix, but there's also a lot of sugars in this. I'm getting molasses, yams, allspice/nutmeg/cinnamon, clove, and some vanilla. There's some shades of fruit, grass/lemongrass, and Belgian funk in this as well. 

This isn't bad...but it's not blowing me away. This beer is full-bodied, but at 10% the alcohol is well hidden and drinkability is good thanks to the high levels of carbonation. Palate depth and complexity are both okay. You get some Belgian yeast funk, molasses, and nutmeg/cinnamon/allspice up front; that rolls into clove, more molasses, big yams, maple syrup, vanilla; and the back end lays on some trailing sweetness. Some fruity and bitter hops show up from time to time.

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. I really want to love this beer, but I feel like it's kind of just doing the style justice. That's not a bad thing by any means, but this isn't blowing me away at the moment. I'm also hesitant to age a beer like this, because I feel like the big yam and spice character is going to drop off unfavorably. At around...what was it? Ten, maybe fifteen bucks a bottle, this is a tad bit pricey, but what can you do. I'd pair this beer with turkey, Thanksgiving dinner, sweet potatoes or yams, or a hearty beef and potato dish or stew. This is good stuff, and would taste good on a Fall/Autumn evening.

Random Thought: I'm really pulling for the 100 games lost for the White Sox, but they have some work to do if they are going to suck that much over the next few games. They are off to a good start after tonight's game, but we still have a few more to go. 100...come on, baby!!!

Val-Dieu Brune (The Brown Val-Dieu)

Brewed By: Brasserie de l’Abbaye du Val-Dieu in Aubel, Belgium 

Purchased: 11.2oz/330ml bottle bought at Binny's in IL; 2013

Style/ABV: Belgian Dubbel, 8.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

Ah, the infamous doubleheader. Much more enjoyable when your team isn't the 2013 White Sox and they don't suck. About Val-Dieu:

The Cistercian Abbey “Notre Dame du Val-Dieu” was founded in 1216 by monks from Hocht, near Maastricht (the capital city of the Dutch province of Limburg) and the county of Dalhem. The legend goes that the uninhabited valley into which they settled was so hostile the locals called it the "valley of the devil." The monks renamed it "Valley of God," or Val-Dieu in French. Val-Dieu was the only Belgian abbey to survive the French Revolution. Today, the abbey is still linked to the Cistercian Order, and the abbey of Lérins.  

According to Wikipedia, the abbey's original church was destroyed in 1287 during the War of Limburg Succession, and again in 1574 during the Eighty Years' War, and again in 1683 by the armies of Louis XIV. Under Abbot Jean Dubois, from 1711 to 1749, the abbey flourished, until the church was destroyed again in the French Revolution. 

The brewery (Brasserie de l'Abbaye du Val-Dieu) was established in 1997 at the abbey farm. Originally, the monks of Val-Dieu brewed beer to make the water drinkable and to avoid diseases like dysentery, cholera, and typhoid. The beers brewed at the abbey today are inspired by the original recipes of the monks. The abbey emphasizes basic ingredients, a rigorous brewing process, and straight up legit water from the regional Gileppe dam. For more info, check out the abbey's website, or the Val-Dieu website.

The Brown Val-Dieu is described as having a coffee/mocha character, with some roasted malt character and spice.

Val-Dieu Brune (The Brown Val-Dieu)

Like the Blond, this beer was eager to leave the bottle, and poured with crackling, cackling carbonation. The beer pours into a cola-black body, and a centimeter of head quickly peaced out like some Date Sugar Yeast Magik shit. In bright light this beer is a hazy raisin-purple, and there's a brown ring of carbonation clinging to the edge of the glass. Agitating the beer does kick up some head.

The aroma here is more of the same stuff you get on the Blond: lots of wheat, perfume, fruity esters, and Belgian phenol stuff. There's a heavier chalky aroma coming from this, along with some hints of underlying booze, roast, and dark fruits. I'm getting some grapes, plums, raisins, and hints of rum.

You get a lot of chalky dark fruits in this, with some big boozy phenols, and some smoke and roast in the back. The surprise twist in this? The blast of mocha and chocolate towards the back. I'm getting rum, grapes, plums, perfume/phenols, hints of pepper, boozy depth, some powder/dust, and that malty blast of anise/smoke/roast/mocha/chocolate. The depth of flavors is nice.

It's apples and oranges to compare this Brown to the Blond, but the Blond was middling compared to similar beers. This beer is a legit contender in the Abbey Dubbel ring. The mouthfeel is medium-full to full-bodied, with creamy carbonation smoothing everything over, and chalky density with some hints of powder/dust and spice in the back. Palate depth is outstanding, with each sip taking you on a journey, and each journey lasting 15-30 seconds. Complexity is also good. I'm getting a blast of wheat/stone fruits, and then dark fruits up front with some rum; that rolls into boozy perfume and phenol, peppery spice, chalky density; the back has chalky malts, anise, smoke, roast, mocha, chocolate, and finishes seductively boozy with lingering spice. At 8.0%, this has seductive booziness, but drinkability is high.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. Hot damn, this is a good Belgian Dubbel. The expansion of flavors across the palate is top notch. I would buy this beer in a 4-pack or 6-pack format, or by the bomber. Like the Blond, this has a vinous quality that might work with Parmesan chicken and spaghetti with a red sauce, anything with a red wine sauce, purple potatoes or potatoes in general, rustic dishes, and meats and cheese, of course.

Random Thought: Does anyone else remember the second Sox game in that double header that went until 1am? No? I don't either, and I doubt the 7 people that were left in the stands at 1am remember either. 2014, baby.