Duvel Barrel Aged (Jamaican Rum) (2021)
Duvel Moortgat in Breendonk, Antwerp, Belgium 🇧🇪
Belgian Style - Strong Ale Series|
Score
6.87
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In 2017 zag de eerste Duvel Barrel Aged het levenslicht. Een uniek degustatiebier gerijpt op houten whiskyvaten, afkomstig van gerenommeerde Amerikaanse bourbon distilleries. Vier jaar en vijf succesvolle edities Duvel Barrel Aged later, wilden de Duvelbrouwers het ietwat anders aanpakken. Geen bourbonvaten deze keer, wél rumvaten net als vorig jaar. Waar Duvelmeesterbrouwer Hedwig Neven in 2020 nog houten vaten van The West Indies Rum Distillery in Barbados in de Duvelkelders liet plaatsen, zocht hij ditmaal inspiratie in Jamaica.
Na maandenlang rijpen, kan je dit najaar een gezellig diner met vrienden en familie afsluiten met een glas Duvel Barrel Aged, The Jamaican Edition.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
75cl bottle (bought in December 2021, 390 barrels = 101 325 bottles, bottle nËš 43316) from Carrefour market @ in Tervuren near Brussels. F: big, egg-white, good retention. C: amber, clear. A: malty, banana, white rum, mellow fruity, bit vinous, vanilla, bit woody, coconut touch, bit toffee. T: full malty base, mellow fruity, bit vinous, white rum, bit toffee, light woody tannins, spicy, banana, vanilla touch, bit warming alcohol, bready touch, medium carbonation, not so complex but good for sure, enjoyed.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
75cl bottle from Delhaize. Clear dark golden, small, off-white head. Aroma of marmalade, candied apricot, Napoléon bonbon, orange peel, honey, bourbon, white rum, bordering on 'pure alcohol'. Taste has sweet apple, apricot & orange peel; honeyish malt base carrying residual white sugar, bitter spices and phenols, bit woody but metallic too. Floral hoppy finish, more sugary yellow fruits, iron and sharp, boozy white rum-like alcohol. Medium body, oily texture, soft carbonation. Too sharp, sugary and boozy. Not enjoyable.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
Medium, faintly amber tinted head over cristal clear metallic copper beer. Rum, wood, sugar, some alcohol, vanilla, and yeast notes. Alcohol, fusels, velvet, hint of incense, vanilla. Sugar, almondy - too much. Bit slick, alcoholheat. Not very carbonated. Speculaas spices in the aftertaste. Certainly not bad, far from it. It's not "my" style of beer, but it is quite interesting, more than the other rumbarrel aged Duvel but not necessarily better. Though, with Duvel it hasn't much in common any longer, tastewise. Txs to Stef!
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
Bottle shared at tasting. Clear golden color, average sized white head. Aroma is, well, odd. Flavor too. Malts, sweetish, oddly sourish-fruity-weirdo flavors. Meh.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
This year’s edition of barrel-aged Duvel uses Jamaican rum rather than the Barbados rum used last year – warranting a new entry here. Comes from a luxury bottle in a colourful box with special glass again, like last year’s edition. Snow white, quite large-bubbled, initially medium thick but somewhat loose and opening, eventually all but dissolving head on a clear, deep ‘old golden’ beer with warm orange hue and lively sparkling. Aroma of indeed (white) rum upfront, yellow raisins, cooked banana, marzipan, stale coconut flesh, soggy brioche bread, vanilla, amaretto, white chocolate, fried cherry tomatoes, peach ‘jenever’, triple sec, coir carpet. Sweet onset, sleek and clean, ‘candied’ with vague notes of pineapple, banana and peach but all restrained, finely tingling carbonation, slick mouthfeel but clearly thinned by alcohol; soft cereally and brioche-bready core turned caramelly by the rum barrel treatment, remaining rather sweet and shifting to warming, liqueurish and evidently very rum-like booziness in the end, with ‘coconutty’ and white-chocolatey retronasal aromas, paired with a vanilla streak from the wood – even though the effect of wood tannins remains remarkably soft, making me suspect that this was made with rum infusion and wood chips more than actual barrel ageing… The rum is in any case very prominent from start to finish, leaving behind a peppery, bittersweet sensation on the tongue, yet somehow managing to refrain from annoying wryness. In that sense, this new edition strongly resembles the previous one, both in looks and in flavour, though this one feels just hat little bit thinner and less sophisticated – a side-by-side tasting is in order and I would happily do that, if only these bottles were not so damn expensive (and, frankly, not quite worth their price tag in my humble opinion).