This is certainly not some johnny-come-lately craft brew – New Belgium first pumped out the Abbey in 1991. The web site states their recipe was modified a bit in 2015; if that did anything it rounded out a smooth Belgian Dubbel.
In a nutshell: a good beer but not an overwhelmingly favorite that I will forever come back to.
This is not the best Belgian I’ve tasted nor the best Dubbel; it’s just a smooth, pleasant beer that goes down easy and satisfies a thirst for a beer. Overall the flavor, while bordering on the complex, is not an overwhelming flavor profile. The beer is not tasteless by any means but it doesn’t offer up a distinctive flavor either. It’s not bad at all, don’t get me wrong, but it will not provide you with a memorable taste that only says New Belgium Abbey.
The beer starts out a little sweet, with the requisite touch of caramel. It poured into a glass with a nice deep ruby brown color and didn’t really offer any head to speak of. The IBU count is a lowly 20 – kind of normal for a Belgian Dubbel – so while there is a tint of bitter it does not come off as a hoppy, bitter beer.
The beer is a respectable Belgian Dubbel, and will always satisfy – the big brewers like New Belgium have their recipes down pat and don’t deviate from them at all. I’ll have this one again, and will enjoy them when I do, although if there are other options on the shelf it will be easy to tempt me to try something else.
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