Abbey Dubbel

[Rob Courtney]

3 hours ago, Captain 3 Droids said:

Another droid. Her Droid is the answer. Good luck.

It is very good advice, I got my wife her own droid...

 

[Wolf]

On 25/04/2022 at 11:50 AM, J P said:

I’m curious about this one.  
the reviews seemed disappointing but I DO love my Belgians.   
 

Would love to hear the collective feedback on this one.  

See above. I brewed it in a plastic bucket since my pre order droid is taking forever to arrive and it was more than drinkable.

[Gillies Brewing]

Since I started this thread I thought I'd add my 2 cents now I have had a bottle that was about 2.5 weeks in. As I said at the start I've never had a Belgian dubbel or tripel or any other Trappist beer

It's sweet, very sweet. Not at all surprsing really, but I thought I'd get that out of the way. That should mellow with time and we all knew this beer needs time, which I have chosen to ignore.

Nice caramel flavour with the sweetness and the deeper, slightly dark flavours. Not boozy flavour (a little as it warms if you take a big sniff), very clean taste. Certainly not especially bitter. The esters are there, maybe not as strong as I expected (not served super cold as someone suggested, but also it sat in the droid for ages so that could have allowed the volatile compounds to escape) but definitely there and complements the sweetness at this point. At this point I'd call it a very fine beer, but I'm going to give it a few more weeks before I crack another. Then probably sample the rest over a few months.

It certainly looks lovely. Nice copper colour, darker than I expected. Good head when pouring that didn't hang around forever but I'm not drinking out of a headmaster and my glass wasn't cold and I think went through the dishwasher and we all know how us beer wankers feel about that...

Also I have the later stages of covid ATM so take my tastings with a grain of salt. I can definitely still taste and smell but it was a bit dampened before.

Overall, even early it's very nice, but definitely needs more time to eat sugars and develop.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

4 weeks (and 1 day) post bottling taste.

To take a step back, had a first taste of this 10 days ago and frankly my thoughts were "yuck, I can't give this as a gift".

Now, it's a completely different and a much more enjoyable beer.

The first taste was sweet and watery, no body at all. So disappointing.

This taste, much less sweet but still caramel notes, much more of that Belgian Tappist flavour and full body and mouth feel.

Only get a little taste of the alcohol @8.5% on the palate at the end of a swallow.

My wife's really enjoying it and thinks it's very "Belgian" which is great.

I'll be giving this as a gift in 2 more weeks, can only think how much better it will be then if it keeps improving at this rate.

[Gillies Brewing]

36 minutes ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

4 weeks (and 1 day) post bottling taste.

Had one today too to celebrate passing a rental inspection. I think it's approx 5 weeks in.

Agree it's definitely improving in the ways wazza said, and I didn't hate it early. Tasty and I like the style but I wouldn't say it's "on par with the consistently highest rated beer in the world". Personally I can definitely taste the booze pretty strong but I don't drink as much of the high alcohol brews wazza does. I'd be interested in tasting a bottle of the real deal, I like this.

[Gillies Brewing]

I think I've gotta be about 10 weeks in, haven't had one in a while. Again it's morphed into a completely different beast.

I poured it fridge-cold into a frozen headmaster and got a beautiful dense foam head that I swear was indistinguishable from that of a settled nitro foam tap guinness. The foam stuck around a good while and was delicious. Wish I got a pic.

The flavour is rich and not at all boozy. It tastes like caramel/toffee and vanilla. I wouldn't say it tastes like lolly bananas like the ester flavour can sometimes, it's settled into the complexities of it all very nicely. When I was drinking this I realised how nicely it would pair with one of my favourite candles (stump & co, outback). I lit it and it's a superb combo, if you or your partner are a candle fiend and have that one it should give you an idea of what this beer is like. On the tongue end of the flavour (rather than the nose) it's still fairly sweet and there's only a little bitterness that feels like a light toffee.

It's super super smooth, and with that much malt it's a pretty dense mouthfeel but you don't need a knife and fork. My only complaint is that the carbonation didn't stick around and it was pretty flat by the end, but that feels like part of the "genre".

Again, I still haven't had the real deal but I'd brew this again and I'm beginning to see how if a bunch of monks made this and only this for a few hundred years that could become "the best beer in the world."

[Thagomizer]

I've got one of those kegged and bottled at 3 weeks.  I hope it turns out as good as yours apparently was.  It will be hard to wait 10 weeks.

[J P]

Abbey just finishing now for bottling.   Is it really 6 months wait 😢

[Captain 3 Droids]

1 minute ago, J P said:

Abbey just finishing now for bottling.   Is it really 6 months wait 😢

No, 4 bottles at 2, 4 and 6 months and if you have a 13th extra then hide it for 1 year.

[Gillies Brewing]

1 hour ago, J P said:

Abbey just finishing now for bottling.   Is it really 6 months wait 😢

I'd have a bottle in 2-3 weeks, then maybe try 1 per month after that until it's amazing so you can see the progress. Also if you have one at 2 weeks your curiosity will be sated and it will be easier to wait. I'm sure you have plenty of other great beer you can sample in the meantime.

[Captain 3 Droids]

19 hours ago, Gillies Brewing said:

I'd have a bottle in 2-3 weeks, then maybe try 1 per month

Your talking about J P here, can’t afford to give him a taste at 2 weeks. (lol 😂😂😂😂)

[Gillies Brewing]

On 24/07/2022 at 1:58 PM, Captain 3 Droids said:

Your talking about J P here, can’t afford to give him a taste at 2 weeks. (lol 😂😂😂😂)

I was hoping he would be disappointed enough to not want to drink it 🤣

Split a bottle with a few fellas from work yesterday, who almost creamed their jeans after a good taste.

[Mark Gillman]

Thanks for posting your Abbey Dubbel journey..I think I will give this a go in my next round of brew print purchases and brews.

[Steve Gyldenvand]

Considering our affection for Belgian/Trappist beers, it took me long enough to get around to this one, but I finally ran a batch, and we are very pleased with it. Of course, I did a preliminary taste at bottling time, and it seemed quite promising. I cracked another at 2 weeks because I'm just that guy, and my expectations were not in vain. Yesterday, Bride and I had a couple at 4 weeks, and oh my goodness, this is a delightful beverage.

I'm going to be bumping this one up in the next rotation. I have no doubt this will just keep getting better for months, but it's so good now that we'll doubtless have trouble keeping our hands off!

[Andy Simma]

In my basket for next purchase.