Duvel Moortgat

Commercial Brewery in Breendonk, Antwerp, Belgium 🇧🇪
Associated Venue: Duvel Moortgat

Established in 1871

Contact
Breendonk-Dorp 58, Breendonk, 2870, Belgium
Description
It all began when Jan-Léonard Moortgat and his wife founded the Moortgat brewery farm in 1871. Around the turn of the century, Moortgat was one of the over 3,000 breweries operating in Belgium. Jan-Leonard experimented by trial and error, and his top-fermented beers were soon greatly appreciated in the brewery's home town of Puurs and far beyond. Before long, the Brussels bourgeoisie was also won over by his beers. Business was booming and Jan-Leonard's two sons, Albert and Victor, joined the company. There was a clear division of labour: Albert became the brewer, Victor was responsible for delivering the beer to Brussels by horse and dray. In 1923 the production of Duvel began with just a few crates. Today, Duvel is enjoyed literally all around the world (in over 50 countries) by countless beer lovers. The beer is still brewed with profound respect for the original recipe and the time it needs to mature

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6
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5.5 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Starke Karbonisierung. Hefig-metallerner Beginn, süßlich, herb, alkoholische Noten. Süffig trotz der Schwere, hefig-hopfig, rund. 9/8/8/9/11/9

Tried from Bottle on 21 Nov 2025 at 21:33


7.3
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5

Entre dorada y ambar. Espuma bastante abundante y de retención buena. Aroma lupulado, herbal, especiado, cilantro. En boca es suave, bien de gas, amargor pronunciado, de carácter delicadamente resinosa, especiada y herbal. Bien hecha.

Tried from Bottle on 18 Nov 2025 at 21:11


7

Tried from Bottle on 14 Nov 2025 at 07:09


7

Tried from Bottle on 14 Nov 2025 at 06:58


7

Tried from Bottle on 14 Nov 2025 at 06:56


6

Tried on 08 Nov 2025 at 11:23


6.3
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

The tenth barrel aged Duvel is upon us - yes, it is already November, time flies - and for an anniversary edition, it is only right that Moortgat came up with a liquor species they had not used before in this series: tequila (the old Champs song springs to mind for some reason), or at least "agave spirit" in general. Ornate luxury bottle from a fancy box as usual, bought at the Delhaize supermarket in Lokeren. Moussey, egg-white, fairly dense and thick, stable, cobweb-lacing head, slowly diminishing and eventually breaking open over an initially clear, warm old golden robe with even darker 'burnt orange' glow, almost amber but not quite, with tiny and disparate bubbles. Aroma of actual green agave leaf and agave syrup, dry biscuit, tequila I suppose but less expressively so than expected, peanuts, light wood, dried apple slices, old crumbled cake, body lotion, industrial caramel, candied persimmon, 'new' plasticine, wood glue, headache-inducing varnish, vanilla, rubber. Sweetish onset, very clean and sleek, spritzy carb but fine-bubbled, with rounded, vinous, full mouthfeel; notes of dried apple, green pear and vague persimmon whirl around but in a non-estery, 'dead' kind of way if you get my drift - and comparable to earlier editions. Smooth middle, full but noticeably thinned by the alcohol, with a simple and slick pale maltiness that has acquired something biscuity and peanutty due to the treatment the beer got. Solventy and boozy finish: some woodiness is surely there, even quite vanilla-like, but drying effects mostly come from a pronounced alcohol presence - as if some cheap liquor was poured into the glass. Within this crude booziness and headache-inducing solventiness, an admittedly interesting flavour lingers, 'green' as in succulent house plants cut through - not necessarily agave which is not really a house plant in our part of the world anyway, but more aloe-like, or mother-in-law's tongue. It reminds me of these aloe-based lotions and shampoos as well - not very appetising as such, I would say, but fascinating. Some grassy hops seem to have survived faraway in the background, but drown in all that crudeness. Expectations were low for this one and my intuition (or experience) proved me right: tequila barrel aged beers can be interesting for sure, rare as they are, but in the hands of a macro brewery like Moortgat and applied crudely and doubtlessly with more than one production shortcut, nothing truly good could ever come out of this. It feels cheap, unrefined, very solvent-forward and rough - even more so than the previous editions, most of which were fairly average at best. Like every year, I must conclude with even more conviction than in previous editions that this bottle certainly is not worth its price tag, even though the price was oddly lower than what I recall from the Duvel B.A. editions of past years. Especially that artificial lotion-like effect and the solvent (varnish) elements gave me a very cheap and industrial impression. I wonder why I keep bothering with this series - but given that this is the tenth one and I had them all, maybe the time has come to give up on it altogether...

Tried on 07 Nov 2025 at 23:33


8.5

Tried from Bottle on 06 Nov 2025 at 22:50


7.3
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5

250ml bottle from Duvel. Pours a clear pale gold, white head. Never heard of this before. Quite like it, nice cereal malt, light bitterness.. decent

Tried from Bottle at Duvel Moortgat on 06 Nov 2025 at 07:47


6.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5.5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Duvel Mexican BA batch 10

(Aged on Mexican agave spirit barrels)

Bottle shared at tasting. Clear golden color, average sized white head. Aroma is malts, green plants. Flavor is malts, green plants, tequila notes maybe? Agave spirit? Label says so, could it be that I get that in the flavor? Odd flavor but drinkable. Not great but drinkable. 8-5,5-6-6-6

Tried on 05 Nov 2025 at 22:09