Enjoying this on tap at the Nile lately (Almost gone!), but I have to reach back to August, 2003 for my first notes on this one: "Appearance: dark plum to eggplant in color, with visible "floaties" swimming about, a bit lighter near the bottom and around the sides, so far a very good approximation of the trappist abbey dubbel look, with a small, dunnish head, settling swiftly into a negligible collar.
Aroma: sheer intoxication, the first sniff brings such myriad complex flavors that I have to reel back from it...rustic, raisins, cured meats?, dark spices and fruits, soft leather, moss...deep, dank, and transendently indulgent..oh, goodness, oh, WOW!...so much going on here, that's it's extraordinarily difficult to pretend to be detached or objective, this beer unfolds and envelops me, it knows it has me where I want to be had!
..now, how about a taste of it? Simply amazing! A sweet, treacly dose of fruit (grapes, plums, cherries) welcome hops, and a thick, powerful malt backbone, pulling it all together.
Can't quite taste the "dried apricot in the nose" and "pear on the palate" as noted on the label, at least I can't claim to have discovered it on my own.
I now relax, sit back, sip, savor...full-bodied as can be, long, rich, residing finish...no, "finish" is incorrect, for it never leaves the mouth, and I would never wish it to!
A beer so powerful and seductive it consumes every sensory receptor, every inch of the head, all across the brain, down the fingers and toes...I nearly want to "cut & paste" my review of Westveleteren or St. Bernardus, for this experience so closely resembled that which I had with those fine Trappist ales."
This is a fresh tapped keg, vs. a bottle shipped from across the country, so no "floaties" on this one.
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