Dubbels: Old World vs. New World
I decided to participate in this month’s beer blogger “session.” The idea came from Stan over at Appellation Beer that each month the beer blog community would gather and post around a single style. This month’s session is hosted by A Good Beer Blog, with Dubbels chosen as the shared style.
I decided it would be nice to sample two examples of the style to help compare and contrast. I ended up with a classic wine tasting trick: old world vs. new world.
From the old world, I chose a true Belgian Trappist ale from Westmalle;, perhaps the defining beer of the style. From the new world, I chose Allagash’s Dubbel. (Allagash comes from Portland, ME and isn’t distributed in MN, so mine was smuggled up from Iowa by a friend on a business trip.)
The Westmalle and Alagash are the same style, the same auburn-tinted brown color and share the same fine effervescence, but the similarities end there.
When first hoisting the two glasses to my nose, the distinction was obvious. While the nose on the Westmalle was beautifully complex with hints of raisin, over-ripe dark fruit, dark caramel and maple, the Allagash was all spice and more straight-forward: coriander and cloves in a big way with some woodsy hop notes and just a hint of burnt sugar.
The flavors were similarly distinguishable: the Allagash was dry and almost astringent with moderate hop bitterness; there were notes of chocolate and walnuts. The Westmalle shared the dry finish, characteristic of good examples of this style, but in a more refined way than Allagash’s. The Westmalle also was more warming with rum-raisin and fermented fruit notes mixed in with sweetness
In the end, the comparison is almost cliche: the Old World Westmalle is slightly more refined and artistic, while the New World Allagash is slightly more forward and brash. Both are refreshing, heart warming and delicious.
