La Cervoise De Franchimont

Commissioned dubbel executed at Val-Dieu, with thick and frothy, very mousy, off-white head and hazy amber colour with somewhat 'dirty' orangey hue, deeper brownish and cloudy with sediment but generally looking more like an 'ambrée' than a true dubbel. Aroma of dried banana, hard caramel, peach, honey, soggy brown bread, cloves, nutmeg, red apple peel, band aid. Sweetish and sourish onset, fizzily carbonated, hinting at peach, banana and red apple with a dash of apricot, smooth and bit glueish mouthfeel, hard-caramelly and lightly bready maltiness strongly overruled by a powdery yeast effect, a herbal tea-like hop bitter note and very pronounced, initially spicy but eventually unpleasantly 'clinical' phenols (band aid); sweet peach and caramel aspects linger in the end. I guess my sample was already past its prime, but even then it should not show so much phenolic activity, this is clearly a flaw here. Were it not for that phenolic effect, this would have been an easy, rather sweet and simple but enjoyable amber ale - rather than a true dubbel.

*Old rating, best before 08/09/12. Trüb orangenes Bier. Gewürze, reife Früchte, moderate Herbe mit weicher Hefe. Lecker.

Imported from my RateBeer account as La Cervoise De Franchimont (by Brasserie de l'Abbaye du Val-Dieu):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 2/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 2/5, Overall: 15/20, MyTotalScore: 3.3/5

29/XII/14 - 33cl bottle from Amon Tchiniss (Malmédy) @ holiday - BB: 7/I/16 (2014-1553)

Clear orange to amber beer, creamy big yellowish head, pretty stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: very yeasty, bit oxidized, metallic, hint of honey, spicy. MF: lots of carbon, medium body. Taste: citric start, pretty bitter, hoppy, little metallic, some banana. Aftertaste: bitter touch, spicy, yeast, banana.

33cl bottle. Thick creamy white head that dissipates quickly. Murky light amber pour. Should be darker and have more body for a dubbel. Not the greatest label ever.

Bottle: Murky dirt brown color with thin off white head. Aroma is pungent fruit. Taste is burnt malts, aged fruit. Not overly dubble, but could be the age of this bottle.

Bottle 330ml.Clear light to medium amber color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, nutty (bright nutt), moderate yeasty. Flavor is moderate sweet and bitter with a average to long duration, light damp stained and dusty. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20091212]