La Trappe Dubbel

As you may know, part of this blog is covering my history. I've had a long history with La Trappe. Picked up a bottle of the dubbel yesterday, drank it down tonight, looking at my notes from March, 2003:


An old favorite, and, dagnabbit, I always stick by my first loves...
Deep cherry red color, creeping into a purple, and a great, creamy, long-lasting head. The aroma is thick, full and rich with fruit, fresh and uplifting, citrusy, soft, and vinous (meaning:grapey, grapey, grapey). Lively alcoholic notes, but,still thoroughly mellow. Texture is also delicious, and smooth, and, well, this is not too complex, actually juuuust right. Extraordinarily drinkable. This is deep, rich, full, utterly delicious, with a long and lovely finish. Small bitterness, huge, sweet, malt component. Spicy, and smooth, and, well, not dazzling, but dependably delightful.

...
here's my take on the Koningshoven bottling, from some time in '02:
Appearance: deep, dark brown, with a smallish head. Looks good for a dubbel, but I've seen better.
Aroma: just right for style, a lovely, sweet, rich, chocolatey, fruity melange of deliciousness. Toasty, tasty, hoppy, and loaded with mouth-filling maltiness.
Very smooth and drinkable. A fairly nice dubbel, probably a notch or so below the LaTrappe bottlings. But having recently sampled the higher tier of dubbels (westveletern & such), the bar has been raised for my palate. A more affordable version of a very satisfying style of ale.
Their new slogan is a tickle, too: "Taste the Silence." Sure, I'll be doing that just after I dance to the architecture!
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there we have it, two reviews in one,