After my beer reviewing hiatus of the past few weeks, I'm getting back into reviewing a couple of things on the run up to this Christmas. I've got a few beers lined up but after saving this one for a while I thought it would be nice to tackle one of my favourite beers as a "welcome back" to myself. I may have spoiled the outcome of the review, since you know I like it now, but if you've read my previous reviews you know I've never talked about a terrible beer (thus far).
Anyway, on to the good stuff. Duvel is a Belgian strong pale ale brewed by Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat NV. At a beer advocate score of 95, this is truly a world-class beer which weighs in at a nice healthy 8.5% ABV.
Now here comes my favourite part, opening and tasting the beer! As I popped this one open, I got a nice satisfying "tsst" from the carbonation, and the smells started to waft into my nostrils. There are smells of fruits such as bananas, apples and pears, there's a slight boozy smell and wheaty undertones to my nose.
As for the pour, Duvel has a fair bit of carbonation to it which results in a large, white head and lots of lacing, with the beer itself being a light golden or yellow colour typical of pale ales.
Tasting this beer, there are notes of the pear and wheaty/yeasty flavours, as well as a lot of carbonation going on. It almost feels in the mouth like you'd expect a cheap lager to feel, that amount of carbonation, that's not inherantly a bad thing, just the easiest comparison I can make, since I'm pretty sure we've all had cheap lagers! Duvel is easily a lot lighter though, and has a nice welcome dry finish.
I'm definitely going to give this one a thorough recommendation (as if you didn't already guess!) to anybody who likes a nice light pale ale which has a nice strong kick to it. From the first bottle of this I opened and tasted to now this has become more or less my go to drinking beer. It's not as cheap as some others but the flavour and satisfaction from drinking a bottle of this hasn't been matched by many other of the beers I've tried, save for maybe the Brooklyn Winter Ale, that one is absolutely delicious.
In conclusion, why aren't you going out to get a bottle of this right now? They even stock this in the supermarket, so you've little excuse, grab a bottle and enjoy!
Thanks for reading, if you have any comments as always I'd encourage you to write them below and I'll read and reply if you've got any questions or suggestions for future food and drink reviews, be them beer related or not.
Don't forget you can also follow me on twitter, I'm @smegzilla. Have a wonderful week and happy drinking!
Anyway, on to the good stuff. Duvel is a Belgian strong pale ale brewed by Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat NV. At a beer advocate score of 95, this is truly a world-class beer which weighs in at a nice healthy 8.5% ABV.
Now here comes my favourite part, opening and tasting the beer! As I popped this one open, I got a nice satisfying "tsst" from the carbonation, and the smells started to waft into my nostrils. There are smells of fruits such as bananas, apples and pears, there's a slight boozy smell and wheaty undertones to my nose.
As for the pour, Duvel has a fair bit of carbonation to it which results in a large, white head and lots of lacing, with the beer itself being a light golden or yellow colour typical of pale ales.
Tasting this beer, there are notes of the pear and wheaty/yeasty flavours, as well as a lot of carbonation going on. It almost feels in the mouth like you'd expect a cheap lager to feel, that amount of carbonation, that's not inherantly a bad thing, just the easiest comparison I can make, since I'm pretty sure we've all had cheap lagers! Duvel is easily a lot lighter though, and has a nice welcome dry finish.
I'm definitely going to give this one a thorough recommendation (as if you didn't already guess!) to anybody who likes a nice light pale ale which has a nice strong kick to it. From the first bottle of this I opened and tasted to now this has become more or less my go to drinking beer. It's not as cheap as some others but the flavour and satisfaction from drinking a bottle of this hasn't been matched by many other of the beers I've tried, save for maybe the Brooklyn Winter Ale, that one is absolutely delicious.
In conclusion, why aren't you going out to get a bottle of this right now? They even stock this in the supermarket, so you've little excuse, grab a bottle and enjoy!
Thanks for reading, if you have any comments as always I'd encourage you to write them below and I'll read and reply if you've got any questions or suggestions for future food and drink reviews, be them beer related or not.
Don't forget you can also follow me on twitter, I'm @smegzilla. Have a wonderful week and happy drinking!