Beer Review: Duvel

This beer pours a dark gold color; very similar to a Belgian Saison or Tripel, with a big fluffy head. As you can see by the picture, I have the Duvel tulip glass that is just about perfect for an 11.2oz bottle of Duvel. The head dissipates rather quickly but leaves a filamentous and creamy layer on top of the beer. Bubbles can be seen streaming from the bottom of the glass for the duration of the drink.

Smells of citrus fruits, yeast, and some faint spiciness. Not a very complex scent but very strong.

Tastes a bit like lemon-lime soda at first; then the yeasty, bready flavors kick in followed closely by a barrage of lemon taste. Cloves a lot less present than other belgian styles making this a very sweet beer. Hugely refreshing and a hint of alcohol at the end to let you know that this is not a soda but a 8.5% abv strong ale.

Pretty heavy carbonation from the get go until the end. Very smooth and almost too light on the palate in spite of all the flavors just mentioned.

Goes down like a beer of much less alcohol content; the 8.5% abv mentioned above is not invisible but superbly blended into the core of the beer. One could probably drink a bunch of these but the alcohol will catch up to you and it's a very expensive beer to put away a 4 pack in one night with.

Bought the holiday gift pack for $14.99 + tax which included 4 bottles and the tulip glass pictured above. The beer was delicious and I love the glass, but I simply cannot stomach shelling out $15+ for 4 beers on a regular basis. As such I can't recommend this as a go-to beer, but would certainly recommend giving this a try if you can find a single bottle or if you don't mind the high price.

Score: B  3.75/5