Typisch Duvel, veel Belgische gist

Huge, dense, lightly yellowish head, very resistant and lacey, over fine & lively carbonated orangey golden beer. Typical Duvel nose; yeast, white candi sugar, green leaves, hint at greenmalt, faraway vanilla; and then banana- and other fruity esters, alcohol. The bananaester is over-obvious. Sugar always present, but there is a fresh greenery-like flavour in front. Again the bananaester, a hint of solvent, and very alcoholsweet. Fruity-estery, but the candisyrup cannot hide itself. Burning, almost bitterish lining. MF is most like the 'ordinary' Duvel: terribly deceptive, dito light, well-carbonated and hiding the hammer. +1% ethanol on top of the restsugars: a really sweet Duvel. I'm sure it will have a huge share of admirers, but I prefer a Tripel Hop, I'm afraid.

Duvel is well known as a strong Belgian blonde - in fact it is widely regarded as the epitome of the style, and yet Moortgat considered it useful to - temporarily and 'limitedly' - produce an even stronger version of it, uninspiredly dubbed "imperial blond". Funny to do this in the middle of the NABLAB hype, but maybe that is the rebellious aspect the brewery talks about... Comes in the familiar Steinie bottle with the equally familiar "D", but with a more fiery, red-and-blue label; my sample comes from a Colruyt supermarket, so "limited" should be taken with a pinch of salt here. Huge, foamy, snow white, audibly crackling, cobweb-lacing, stable head gradually thinning and opening (more than in regular Duvel) over a crystal clear, pure golden robe with lively yet thin strings of sparkling and indeed a darker 'old golden' tinge than the old familiar 'red' devil. Aroma of utterly dominant banana-flavoured bubblegum or even banana milkshake (very strong isoamylacetate), Poire William or 'appeljenever', powder sugar melting on a hot pancake, industrial honey, wallpaper paste, rubber, hints of old potatoes, varnish and other headache-inducing solvents, white pepper, white rum, cotton cloth. Very sweet onset, white-sugar-syrupy with that isoamylacetate overdose adding dominant banana-flavoured bubblegum effects, side notes of pear-flavoured candy perhaps, even a bit sticky (!); sharpish carbonation so at least that reminds me of the regular - but in a more viciously stingy, fine-pointed way, through a slenderly bready pale malt body clearly amped with sugars, thus remaining relatively light-bodied for its ABV. That annoying isoamylacetate keeps dominating throughout, at least until a wave of booze sets in, not unexpectedly, with an 'appeljenever'- or even somewhat rum-like character, heating the back of the mouth like a dreary strong Euro pale lager does. Floral hops, deliberately held back here in comparison with the regular Duvel, play second fiddle and hardly manage to shout over the bitterness created by the alcohol (though they remain noticeable if you look close enough). The result: the natural sweetness of the alcohol (more than its natural bitterness in this case) is even enhanced by the residual sugary sweetness and the banana ester, leaving a sweet-boozy aftertaste. This is fuel for the alcoholically challenged - if I would have to taste this blindly guessing, I could just as well have ended up with one of Gordon's Finest brews, though this one is admittedly a bit 'fuller' and more rounded. I do not believe the true Duvel lover - and this is a category of its own among Belgian beer drinkers - will like this, in all honesty; it is a lot sweeter, though not 'per se' maltier than the regular (contrary to what the brewery claims), with a booziness even a Duvel drinker probably dislikes. It looks a bit like a regular Duvel I guess - though the head is less 'Duvel-y' and less stable - but it tastes a lot more sugary, a lot more bland and a lot less interesting, even considering how the regular has changed over the years (and not for the better in my opinion). I do not know what these 'brewmasters' were thinking other than make a buck out of the alcoholics' thirst for a quicker buzz. Considerably worse than I was expecting, and my expectations were low to begin with. I guess it remains true that in spite of even the brewery's own efforts, the original Duvel is so original that it cannot be bested in any way, but that is just me being friendly... This version, in all, belongs in night shops and - indeed - budget supermarket chains. Seriously disappointed here - but very curious for the opinions of others, not just here, but also "in the wild", particularly among hardened Duvel drinkers. Oh, and for those insisting on tasting this one in spite of my discouraging review: I had to buy a pack of four at Colruyt, so the three other ones I have left are available for free...