Bottle Pours a cloudy unfiltered looking pale amber with a huge shite head that is still slowly going down. Aroma is that classic Belgian symphony of spice, sweetness, this one more on the fruity side. Flavor is a slightly bitter spice taste. Some of the regular clove and fruity spice flavors are here. The feel is smooth and the atertaste has a distinct rust or metalic hint that puts me off a bit.

2004 draught@Rebones. Pours a pale, granny smith apple colored yellow/green. No head, with a huge appley, sour puckery aroma. Flavor tastes a lot like apple pucker, but has some hints of yeast. Ive gotta agree with BeerLimey; "Almost but not quite". It is just too sweet and sugary.

OK, here I go again. The current Huyghe version, against the original ’t Damberd - 1989 - version, fermented with Rodenbach yeast.Points in bold Very huge, very dense yellowish foam, leaving lace; darker gold beer, clear.Virtually no head, slim white rim; orange-gold, nearly amber beer, clear 4/5 Quite grainy nose, bit lactic (not quite diacetyl), and celery (DMS?). Then the inevitable alcohol kicks in, but thankfully paired to fine citrus/citrusblossom aroma Great lactic-sherry nose; sweet-sour as a good fino; touch of both lactic and acetic acids; RGC or even quite old lambic-like. 9/10 Harsh alcoholic-sweet taste, a serious dash of resin in it. Not quite retsina, but all the same. Citruspeel. The harshness fades a bit, without completely disappearing. Again, delicately balanced sweet/sour; sweet on the lips, sourish and complex retronasal; grapes, both sweet and sour, ripe grain, again sherry - this time I’d venture Amontillado. 8/10 Aggressive alcoholburn, medium bodied. Aftertaste of stale cookies. Diacetyl after all? Watery texture, but medium bodied and even slick mouthfeel. Moderate acidburn 3/5 Not a very impressive beer - alcohol, diacetyl, DMS... Pff - the fine citrusaroma is a nice surprise, but not nearly enough.A great beer still - though age, I have to concede has changed its character notably. The Rodenbach yeast is more than obvious, but in this pale aged beer, it is truly a sherry flavour that appears. Wish I could drink this every day. 16/20 Both beers have one thing in common. The name. Guess who was first.

I can stand less and less of this brewery’s ideosyncrasies and vandalisings. To rub it in, I compared this beer (under the name St. Idesbald Dubbel) to the original, St. Idesbald Dubbel 1989 from brewery ’t Damberd at Olsene - points in bold Huge, very fine & dense brownish head, very slowly receding; clear red-amber beer. Much slimmer, creamy-brown head, more variably bubbled; beer itself higher carbonated, but virtually same colour. 4/5 Very sweet, fruity-vinous nose, bit citrus and (little) alchol, ending slightly herbal-like. Musty, earthy, vinous-grapy, super rich smell, even bit of Brett, horsesweat, vegetable patch 9/10 Vinous, aggresively malty beer. Tad bready, defty bitterness from burnt malts, but mainly sweet-malty. Flavour of chlorophyl. Superbly balanced sweet-sour ale, "Traubenzucker", raisins, other fruity notes as very ripe peaches and some bubblegum 8/10 Medium to well-bodied. Alcoholburn obvious, adstringent finish Light to medium bodied, fruity acids, slightly slick mouthfeel 4/5 I have been clement to Huyghe. St. Idesbald Dubbel is the one they harmed the least. They just changed the style from Flemish Oud bruin to Abbey dubbel. In this style, the beer isn’t even half bad. But it cannot shake off this horrible, scorched/alcohol Huyghe thumbprint. What they did to the St. Idesbald Triple is beyond words. The ’t Damberd beer has effortlessly stood out the years. It is a great oud bruin, though a tad to the (too) sweet side. The Triple from ’t Damberd was a world-beater 16/20

Re-rate from tap: Spicy, allspice and heather aromatics. Dark chestnut brown big brown head. Wooden roast, aromatics, burned chocolate. Medium body, dparkly, quite dry. Pleasant Old rating: 6 4 7 3 12. Slightly soapy otherwise neutral nose, perhaps hints of roasted vegetables. Dark brown, creamy head. Minerals, strawberry, bubblegum tastenotes. Not that agreeable.

Bottle Rocky, white head, fully lasting. Yellow, flat body. Alcoholic and lightly yeasty aroma. Moderately sweet, lightly bitter initial flavour. Lightly bitter finish. Alcoholic feel.

Bottle - as Sint Idesbald Dubbel
Fully lasting, light brown creamy head. Deep brown (but not black) muddy body. Hoppy aroma. Lightly acidic, moderately bitter initial flavour. Moderately bitter finish (averagily long). Medium bodied