May
6
2009
Tasting #9 — Hoppy Dubbel 
Our Hoppy Dubbel experiment proved to be another case of the end result not matching the original vision, while still being successful in its own right. We were going for a hoppier and slightly lighter version of the classic Belgian style dubbel, but came out with what I would probably call a Belgian amber ale.
1.046 OG; 1.006 FG; 5.3% ABV; 23 IBU
Appearance: Brownish, reddish orange; very clear. Foamy, off white head.
Nose: Fresh and floral, with a hint of fruit and a nice balance of caramel malt.
Taste: Very balanced. Slight hop bitterness with subtle spicy hop flavors, complemented by hints of caramel. A subtle chocolatey finish emerges as the beer warms up.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, dry, and very clean. Leaves a tingling on the side of the tongue that says, “Yeah, drink some more.”
Overall: “Wildly refreshing,” as Mel put it. This is definitely a very satisfying quaff, and we can’t deny that hit our goal of making a hoppier and lighter dubbel. There is nothing but success in this beer.
Nevertheless, I feel like we took it too far from the base style. The use of saison yeast in particular was a big mistake. There are almost no fruity esters or residual sweetness whatsoever, which, yeah, we should have expected that. There is some chocolate there, but not enough. Same goes for caramel. Next time, I’d like to see a darker, smoother beer. We’d probably double the doses of chocolate and caramel malts, and switch to a Trappist yeast strain.
Regardless, Mel is correct in her adamance that we made a good beer here. It’s delicious and refreshing, perfect for springtime. The only complaint I have is that there isn’t enough “dubbel” there, and that’s easy to fix.
I just have to say, the picture of the beer instantly made my mouth water. It looks absolutely delicious. I think I need to pick up a nice ale to go with dinner tonight.
I think you guys need to start a new sub-category of recipes called “Hoppy Accidents” or some such thing. It seems that so often, you don’t quite achieve the brew you were hoping for, and yet you still come out with a fine quaff. And while I know this can be frustrating, just remember that so many wonderful things in this world were discovered by accident: those monks in Champagne, France didn’t intend to create sparkling wine, they just wanted to create a better wine than the monks in Burgundy; Percy Spencer didn’t set out to create the microwave oven, but thanks to a half-forgotten Hershey bar in his pocket, we can all now enjoy popcorn in a fraction of the time of traditional cooking methods; and those engineers were simply searching for a cheap artificial rubber, but they instead came up with that wonderous substance of childhood lore: Silly Putty.