Duvel
Style: Golden Ale
Alcohol content: 8.5%
From: Brussels, Belgium
Purchased from: Tesco
Colour: As per the style; Golden. Its very clear in the glass but also very gassy. It looks like a golden Kristal Weiss beer. When the bubbles being to settle, the color becomes more straw like and looks more like a traditional Weiss beer. Now Duvel is bottle conditioned, which means that the brewer will add a small bit of yeast to each bottle.This continues the fermentation process and also added to the flavor and body of the beer.
Smell: On the nose you are blasted with a banana and clove aroma. All the signs are screaming at me that this is a Weiss beer.I currently feel that the label on the bottle is a bit miss leading. If this is really a Golden Ale then i will have to eat my hat.
Body: Thick white head which holds all the aromas that i explained above. The drink is very rich and creamy. The bubbles tickle the back of your throat on the way down. A couple of minutes after the pour the bubbles are still going strong. They seem to be never ending. If you drank a lot of this very quickly, I guarantee that you would be burping all night long. After about 15 minutes of conversation and what can be called erm "dancing" i was pleased to see that the bubbles had stopped. The drink then became much more enjoyable.
Taste: As soon as you have a sip you get the taste of lemon, oranges and banana all washed down with a pint of double cream. You get a mildly acidic/ sour after taste which actually cleans and refreshes your mouth. After my first sip, this after taste was a very pleasant surprise.The more i drank this beer the more i started to enjoy it. Personally i think that the temperature is key to unlocking the full flavor behavior of this brew. This drink is best served at 6 degrees.
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OK so far on this blog i have reviewed ales from the US, UK and Germany. Its time to mix it up a bit and review a brew from Belgium. Now i will be the first to admit, ( and to my shame) that i have not drunk may drinks for the low countries before. However, from reading Melisa Cole's Let Me Tell You About Beer, i realized that i was missing out on a world of aroma's and flavors. So while i was in Tesco's at the weekend, i reached for a bottle of Duvel as i had never tried it before.
Duvel is a forth generation family brewer based in Breendonk, Belgium. Duvel (in its current form) was created in the aftermath of World War One, when a large number of UK troops were deployed on the front in Belgium. As the troops arrived, they brought with them bottled beer to numb the pain of this terrible conflict. Belgium brewers soon got hold of a few bottles and attempted to re-create the beer. After the war the son of founder of Duvel; Albert Moortgat visited the UK to meet brewers and some learn new techniques. What he brought back from that visit would lead the family on to create Duvel and from there the rest is history. The word Duvel is Brabantian, Ghent and Antwerp dialect for devil. Lets hope that this Golden ale tastes more saintly than its name.
Colour: As per the style; Golden. Its very clear in the glass but also very gassy. It looks like a golden Kristal Weiss beer. When the bubbles being to settle, the color becomes more straw like and looks more like a traditional Weiss beer. Now Duvel is bottle conditioned, which means that the brewer will add a small bit of yeast to each bottle.This continues the fermentation process and also added to the flavor and body of the beer.
Smell: On the nose you are blasted with a banana and clove aroma. All the signs are screaming at me that this is a Weiss beer.I currently feel that the label on the bottle is a bit miss leading. If this is really a Golden Ale then i will have to eat my hat.
Body: Thick white head which holds all the aromas that i explained above. The drink is very rich and creamy. The bubbles tickle the back of your throat on the way down. A couple of minutes after the pour the bubbles are still going strong. They seem to be never ending. If you drank a lot of this very quickly, I guarantee that you would be burping all night long. After about 15 minutes of conversation and what can be called erm "dancing" i was pleased to see that the bubbles had stopped. The drink then became much more enjoyable.
Taste: As soon as you have a sip you get the taste of lemon, oranges and banana all washed down with a pint of double cream. You get a mildly acidic/ sour after taste which actually cleans and refreshes your mouth. After my first sip, this after taste was a very pleasant surprise.The more i drank this beer the more i started to enjoy it. Personally i think that the temperature is key to unlocking the full flavor behavior of this brew. This drink is best served at 6 degrees.
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| Look at the bubbles! |
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