475: Sierra Nevada/Abbey of New Clairvaux Ovila Abbey Dubbel

More in the way of the collaboration. This one couples Sierra Nevada with Abbey of New Clairvaux, although via the website for the beer, it looks more like 30th Anniversary Part II. But I digress—for the collaboration, all things are forgiven. And since we’re dealing with a project intended to rebuilt a Spanish monastery that was built in 1190 in Trillo, Spain, dismantled and moved to the United States by Randolph Hearst in the 1930s, and then abandoned until recently, the collabo seems like even more of a good thing—we’ll be looking for the Saison and the Quad that will follow the Dubbel. This is our first beer from Abbey of New Clairvaux (shocking, I know); from Sierra Nevada, we’ve tried Hoptimum 2011, 30th Anniversary Jack & Ken’s Black Barleywine, 30th Anniversary Our Brewers Reserve Grand Cru, Homegrown Estate Ale, 30th Anniversary Charlie, Fred, & Ken’s Imperial Helles Bock, Southern Hemisphere Harvest, Bigfoot, 30th Anniversary Fritz and Ken’s Ale, Kellerweis, Celebration, Torpedo Extra IPA, Anniversary Ale 2009 and Harvest Wet Hop Ale 2008. Or, like all of them.

Ovila Abbey Dubbel pours a hazy orange-ish copper with an off-white creamy head. Or, in other words, your classic dubbel—the only real difference is that this one is slightly cloudier than others we’ve tried. The nose is brown sugar and some dark fruit coupled with some perfume-y spiciness—which is what I believe the label refers to as black pepper, although I perceive it more as clove (which is also listed on the label). Or as Elli put it: “a little sugar, a little spice. You know, everything nice.” The aroma is a bit flat compared to some of the more famous dubbels, but it works well with the beer that it is. Flavors open with dried fruit and drier malt; the sweetness picks up in the middle and rounds out into fig fruitiness, although there is also apple and pear—there is a delicate component to this beer that leaves it lighter and more ephemeral than other dubbels. The finish is sweet but dry, in part from some of the alcohol flavor and warmth that slowly builds in the beer. The body is medium with a creamy and lightly spritzy mouthfeel—both help lighten and balance the beer, which, while it has substance, comes across as lighter compared to some of its Old World counterparts. Elli found that the lightness made it more drinkable, which I agree with, but it also limited some of the complexity that can be found in dubbels. This could, however, be a product of age—I’m willing to bet that in a year, the alcohol sharpness and warmth would recede and the fruit and malt complexity would reciprocally emerge, leaving a much more interesting beer in its wake. As is, however, Ovila is still an enjoyable beer that led to an interesting discussion of the style. And that is more than a hearty endorsement for any beer.

From the bottle: “A collaboration between Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and the monks at the Abbey of New Clairvaux, Ovila Abbey Dubbel brings the centuries-old monastery brewing tradition to America. Ovila Abbey Dubbel features a complex and rich malty sweetness with hints of caramelized sugar. The aroma is a heady and layered mix of fruit and spice with hints of clove and black pepper from the unique Belgian-style yeast. A portion of the proceeds from this ale go toward the restoration of the historic Santa Maria de Óvila chapter house on the grounds of the Abbey of New Clairvaux. This medieval building stood for nearly eight centuries in Spain. William Randolph Hearst purchased the monastery in 1931 and planned to use the stones for a castle even grander than his famous San Simeon. Although Hearst’s plans crumbled, these historic stones will rise again in a California Cistercian abbey.”

From the website: “Ovila Abbey Dubbel is brewed in the abbey tradition, and perfect for the rebirth of spring. Clear and deep copper in color, this Abbey Dubbel has a complex and rich malty sweetness with hints of caramelized sugar. The aroma is a heady and layered mix of fruit and spice with hints of clove, raisin, and black pepper from the use of an abbey-style yeast.”

ABV: 7.5%

(5/1/2011)

453. Jeffrey McElfresh Dubbel

It is day three of America’s newest and most favorite national holiday, Jeffrey McElfresh Homebrew Drinking Week. Ahem. Part II. Today, the napkin tells me we are drinking McElfresh Dubbel, which pours a brilliant toffee with amber and garnet highlights—lush and rich with a thick creamy eggshell head that laces the glass and while still maintaining the bright carbonation in the glass. Ah, heaven. The nose is toffee and caramel malt along with some breadiness and smaller amounts of fruit including raisin and cherry—very malt forward. There might be a touch of spiciness in the nose as well, and/or a subtle perfumy character, but it low and buried in the back under a bunch of other things. Flavors in the beer match the nose; there is caramel and toffee malt in the front, lighter raisin and cherry fruit flavors in the middle, and some brown sugar sweetness before a finish that is clean and drier than I expected via the carbonation. Smooth, creamy, and rich mouthfeel with bright carbonation that balances the beer and lightens the body. There is no discernable alcohol warmth or flavor, although there might be a slight hop bitterness that emerges as the beer warms. This is a well-made beer, but the flavor profile is not as complex as I expected—for some reason it strikes as a bit of a lighter version of a dubbel, be it via the brighter carbonation or a lighter body. It may also be a bit young—three or four months may allow some of the fruit flavors to further develop across the palate. While it is my least favorite of the three thus far in this version of JMHDW, it is still a solid beer. And that creamy luscious head! It didn’t diminish the throughout the entire drinking of the whole 22 bottle. Damn!

P.S. That MGD 64 t-shirt is hot, Captain SexElfresh. Tighter! I want it tighter!

(2/9/2011)

310. Avery Anniversary Ale Ten (2003)

Tonight was a humdinger of a sampling night; we rolled through a whole buncha fun stuff, so I’m gonna stick to the highlights, since rambling on about the bottle-hopped Two Hearted clone and the couple of other Hefeweizen homebrews we tried would take away space from our two big champions of the evening, Avery Anniversary Ale Ten (2003) and St. Feuillien Brune Belgian Abbey Ale. Elli and I were joined by our friends Jeff Fortney and Jeffery McElfresh for the evening—it was a redux of our night playing Brewmaster, although we didn’t bust that out this evening. For all of the obvious reasons, we've going with the Avery as our beer of the day, since I don’t think another will be coming our way soon.

Avery Anniversary Ale Ten is from Avery Brewing; we’ve previously run through Brabant Barrel-Aged Wild Ale, Ellie’s Brown Ale, 16th Anniversary Ale and duganA IPA, making this our fifth beer from Avery.

Chug it! Chug it!

Bottled in 2003, Avery Anniversary Ale Ten was originally a DIPA, but has since mellowed into something more like a barley wine. Pouring a hazy golden yellow copper with a minimal white head, Avery Anniversary has a minimal white head, but is still decently carbonated. The nose is intriguing and complex; we got creamy and fruit aromas, including yellow raisin, apricot, and orange preserve, a light spicy aroma, which could be the remaining hops, and a soft tobacco aroma. The body, while medium to heavy, is still smooth and has mellowed very nicely with age—there is very little perceptible alcohol flavor or warmth, although a small amount did emerge once the beer warmed to room temperature. The carbonation is medium to low, but still most certainly present in the beer. Avery Anniversary starts with a dry flat maltiness mixed with a bit of sweetness before moving into some spicy hop characteristics in the middle; the finish is dry and clean, although slightly chalky. A very good beer that has aged well, and still has some further life in it, making me wish I had more than just this bottle. Our only real critique would be that there is a slightly disjointed feel between the nose, the flavor profile, and the finish. While it is still very good, the chalky ending is not as exciting a finish as the nose initially indicates. The nose is certainly one of the highlights of this beer—I smelled mine for a long time before I even bothered trying it, and spent a good portion of my time slowly enjoying the subtle aromas this beer presented.

And it’s probably no surprise that there is no description of this beer on the Avery website. Here’s what Beer Advocate has to say, though.

ABV: 10.0%

Here’s another hand full of trouble.

The second victim of our evening was St. Feuillien Brune, which is a Belgian Abbey Ale dubbel from Brasserie St. Feuillien in Le Roeulx, Belgium. Not surprisingly, this is our first beer from St. Feuillien.

Brune sits a caramelly dark copper with red and orange hints in the glass; it has a creamy tan head and a dark fruit nose consisting mostly of raisin and prune with a fair share of accompanying caramel sweetness. The front is mostly a rich sweet caramel flavor, moving into a darker fruit middle with a fig flavor emerging to compliment the raisin and prune of the nose. Brune ends with a lingering rich Belgian candy sweetness; it has a rich chewy mouthfeel with medium carbonation that has some brightness at the end that helps clean up the finish. A very good and drinkable dubbel, although very rich—the proliferation of this term in the review slightly shocked me in the re-reading, but Brune was still certainly enjoyable, and never excessive in its richness. We’ll be checking out St. Feuillien again.

From the St. Feuillien website: “This brown ale has a marked ruby brown colour with a generous and lasting head. It has a distinctive aroma reflecting the wide range of ingredients used in its production. The fruitiness resulting from its fermentation blends harmoniously with a dominant liquorice and caramel flavour.The body is decidedly malty. The bitterness is the result of a complex alchemy between the fine hops and special malts used. These give St-Feuillien Brune a typical dark chocolate appearance. This beer creates an endless variety of sensations with a lingering taste and powerful aroma.”

ABV: 7.5%

(5/6/2010)

216. North Coast Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale

Brother Thelonius is our fifth beer from North Coast; our run thus far includes Old No. 38 Stout, Red Seal Ale, Cru d’Or Organic Belgian Style Ale and Old Rasputin XII. And by the way, the piano halo around Monk’s head is a very nice touch.

Brother Thelonious has a dark fruit and sweet malt nose with hints of grape, plum, and raisin. The clear dark brown color has red and orange highlights, and the head is a creamy tan that slowly reduces to a ring around the edge of the glass. Starting richly sweet and fruity, Brother Thelonious moves into a wide array of fruit flavor in the middle, characterized by black cherry, plum, prune, and raisin. The finish dries out slightly, and the dark fruits shift to fig flavors as the beer closes out on the palate, along with some lingering candied fruit accents. Medium to heavy bodied, Brother Thelonious is rich and thick with decent carbonation, but only a minimal bite. The fruit complexity is one of the strengths of the beer, but the sweetness is a bit cloying, especially as it warms. Elli had a harder time with this beer than I did—the sweetness was too much for her across the palate, and impeded her enjoyment—she referred to the sweetness as both sticky and cloying. Both of us did like the Crudor quite a bit, but the sweetness of the malt profile was more toned down in that beer. Nonetheless, good drinking, but be prepared to take you time with this one.

From the bottle: “North Coast Brewing is proud to be associated with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz (www.monkinstitute.org) and is pleased to contribute $2 to the Institute for every case of Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale sold.”

From the North Coast website: “Like a Belgian Dark Strong Ale, the beer is rich and robust with an ABV of 9.3%. The package is a 750 ml bottle with a traditional cork and wire finish or 12oz 4 packs and features a label picturing the jazz master himself.”

ABV: 9.4%
IBU: 32

(2/1/2010)

114. North Coast Cru d’Or Belgian Style Ale

Cru d’Or Organic Belgian Style Ale is from the North Coast Brewery in Fort Bragg, CA.

Cru d’Or pours a cloudy reddish-orange copper with a tan head. The nose is a mixture of sweet malt and fruit—primarily dark fruit and raisin—along with yeast esters and dark sugar. The sweet malt front reveals a complex array of flavors; there is malt sweetness mixed with dark sugar flavors, some dryness & maybe a little alcohol warmth. The middle is a well-rounded combination of dark stone fruit and even dried fruit flavors—prune, plum, raisin, and cherry run across the palate creating a rich thick body—and Cru d’Or ends with a return of the initial sweetness with some light lingering flavor. The medium body balances well with the soft, thick, chewy textures; there is not much bite from the carbonation, but enough to liven up the beer and keep the mouthfeel from being too heavy. The complexity between the stone fruit flavors and malt creates an array of flavor and palate sensations across the profile of the beer—an excellent, well balanced and memorable beer. Cru d’Or is most certainly a Top 10 Best contender.

And it’s organic!

From the North Coast website: “Belgian yeasts are legendary for the fruity flavor and floral bouquet they give beer. Hundreds are used by Belgian brewers, and each is unique. Cru d’Or, a Belgian-Style Dubble, is an homage to this magic ingredient, and the result is a world-class beer that is lush and profoundly aromatic with a warming finish. Being organic, Cru d’Or is brewed with the same reverence for pure ingredients as the Abbey and Farmhouse Belgian ales of the past. Delicious. Certified organic by Oregon Tilth.”

ABV: 8%
IBU: 30

(10/22/2009)