Beer Review, Maredsous Dubbel; Triple

Last Saturday, not this past Saturday, but the one before, I was out at Kriddy's for a family birthday, I think it was her niece's. I had recently picked up the Maredsous gift pack from Friar Tucks, and thought that night would be as good as any to try them. The gift pack contains their dubbel and triple, along with a nice gold rimmed glass.

I had the Dubbel first, this one poured the color of coca-cola. It was a dark brown, with a huge fluffy head. It smelled bready, yeasty, malty. It felt somewhat thin and bubbly.

It tasted of alcohol, even though it was only 8%, (is 8% too low for something to have an alcohol kick in the taste?). Also there was evident malt, and a roasty flavor. Searching around there was a bit of coffee in it as well. As it warmed, it seemed to take on characters of white bread that had been toasted.

All in all, this was a pretty good beer. It reminded me alot of Corsendonk's Abbey Brown (pater). Granted the last time I had Corsendonk Abbey Brown, I didn't enjoy it, but I'm pretty sure that my tastes have changed a bit since then.

I followed it up with the Triple. This one was much lighter, a light golden brown with hazel, tan. It smelled of alcohol and kind of fruity. It felt light, with a little bit of syrup; additionally, it was rather effervescent. It tasted of alcohol and light bread. The triple was 10% ABV.

It (to me) wasn't as good as the Dubbel, but it was still a solid triple.

I'm not sure where all this is available (it's not listed on either Archer Liquors or West Lakeview). I know it's at Friar Tucks, and at the Corkscrew. It seemed to be a decent value, and did have the nice glass. They are both 750 ml bottles, so there's more than enough to share, if you do wind up drinking both bottles by yourself, ensure your brain-mouth filter is engaged, or you might wind up regretting some things.