Score
6.33
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Trockener herber Beginn mit leichter Bitterkeit. Holzig, ein wenig röstig, insgesamt aber nur schwach aromatisch. Meh. 9/7/7/7/8/7
Hazy dark brown, stable, frothy, off-white head. Aroma of pear, plum, red apple, hard caramel, toast, wood, clove, brown bread. Taste has sweetish pear, plum & red apple in a caramelly, bready, even slightly toasty malt body with herbal, clove-like aspects. Softly herbal & earthy hoppy finish, bit dry and nutty along dried fruit notes. Medium body, slick-creamy texture, average carbonation. Not very outspoken but I appreciate the very slightly roasted aspect here.
The first dark beer by this relatively new client brewer, now called "Dubbel Oaked" (but seemingly still the same beer as "Dubbel" without the "Oaked", at least from what I could find up till now). Quite a gusher, so be prepared. Medium thick, irregularly membrane-lacing, very uneven-bubbled and therefore irregular, pale greyish beige head, slowly opening but otherwise well-retaining over a cloudy dark chocolate brown beer with caramel-mahogany hue, turning murky and muddy in the end. Aroma of caramel candy, Ersatz chocolate rather than real chocolate, walkcakes or 'bokkenpootjes', cloves, something woody indeed, old hazelnuts, acorn shells, nutmeg, dried prunes, old dried ginger, moist white pepper, dark green tree leaves, sugared tea, dried fig, vague background touch of coffee grounds. Fruity, sweetish onset, fig, apple peel and prunes, old raisins but not so sweet with a sourish undertone accentuated by lively and somewhat stingy carbonation; supple body, cereally, caramelly and brown-bready malts with this somewhat 'dirty', sourish undertone increasing, hinting at possible infection; phenolic (clove, nutmeg) and earthy finish with a light toasty malt bitterness, almost a bit coffee-like, aided by an earthy, herbal, leafy hoppiness. Lots of breadiness too, with again that 'dirty' undertone. May be a bit infected (which could explain the gushing as well) but only lightly so; feels unrefined, crude and amateurish, as if concocted by an aspiring hobby brewer in his kitchen, but admittedly the basic flavour profile and balance of malt and hop elements and of sweetness and bitterness feels generally right to me - a somewhat drier, more bitter dubbel than is typically the case with bigger brand dubbels. I can see some commercial potential in this, if it were to be finetuned and 'cleaned up', but in this rather sloppy execution, I cannot give a very high score here...