Picked up Anderson Valley's rendition of a dubbel the other day. I'm starting to feel some revival of my interest in Belgian beers after that Arend Tripel. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed them. Head died off immediately while I was fiddling with my camera, so that's a bad sign. Smell is pleasant but not quite on style. Taste is pleasant but not quite on style. Mouthfeel is pleasant but not quite on style. This is a weird beer. It's definitely an "abbey -style ale" with some emphasis on the "-style". It's pretty malty with some fruity notes but it's just not all there. At the end of the day, it's not a bad beer and is easy-drinking. It's like a batter in the box, full count after a couple swings and misses, and then getting beaned. I don't know what that means.
- Appearance: Clear, deep red-brown. No head retention.
- Smell: Lots of rich raisin but lacking some essential character.
- Taste: Strong esters, bordering on some heat. Malty, raisin-y, maybe some cherry on the finish. Not much spice presence.
- Mouthfeel: Carb is a little on the low side but the resulting smoothness is not unpleasant.
- Drinkability and Overall: 9%ABV so it's dubbel strength, but nothing else is quite on target. In spite of that, it's a decent beer as far as beers go.
Also, I finally got a new camera, so that's great. My hand was a little forced because I was starting to notice the sensor defect on my Casio Exilim P&S (which I had bought to replace my older, and apparently high grade Exilim, whose shutter stopped working) more and more. Scored a sweet deal on a Pentax K100D, and the picture quality is so much better. It's amazing what a little DoF control can do for a viewing experience. Not playing with any editing yet but I'll take some time to do at least some cropping eventually.
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