Duvel

750ml poured into a over sized Duvel-branded tulip. 8.5% abv. Got it at the local grocery store (Dierbergs) at only 6.50 for a big bottle. That's pretty much better than you can find at most liquor stores.

Pours a nice, clear-golden that you'd see in a typical pilsner. As is suggested on the bottle and with the proper glassware, you get a massive, fluffy-white 4ish finger head with this. Even after a fair amount of drinking there's a minimum of a half-finger head remaining until your finished, and you'll often get big cottony-globs of foam that last well after the first sip, as well. You can tell there is a large amount of carbonation in this beer, and the clarity of the beer will show the rising bubbles for nearly the whole time you are drinking it.

It smells at first of a pilsner, and you get a a bit of the typical pilsner malts. What you also get is a hint of spicy and floral hops, some notes of fresh cut grass....maybe some hay as well, and a touch of banana which probably comes from the belgian yeast. What's also evident, is a fair amount of phenol-alcohol. While not massive at 8.5% abv, that's still enough to be present with a good whiff. With all this, what's pretty cool about this is that you can tell this is a very crisp, clean beer. Even the nose has a nice bite to it.

The first sensation you get with the first sip is a very sharp, crisp, beer with a fair amount of carbonation that's really evident on your tongue. After getting over that with a few more sips, you get an initial malty, not quite tart sweetness not uncommon to a typical pilsner. There's also a small hint of that banana that you may have smelled. Unless you let the beer sit for a while on your tongue, a quick drink will only allow that sweetness to last for a short while, until a quick bitter hop-bite cleans up. This is followed by the alcohol which offers an extremely dry and clean, crisp finish. Not quite "refreshing", but certainly feels, more light on the tongue then most complex belgian beers. 2 other things should be said; one: as the beer warms up, the malt sweetness that is very short lasting at first tends to linger longer and longer; two: the whole time you are drinking this, you keep thinking that at some point you are going to get this citrus zest/lemony thing at some point or another, but it never happens.

I've had this beer numerous times and it's honestly one of my favorites. I'm not saying it's a favorite as in I'd give it a 10/10 or it's the best tasting beer ever, just that it's seemingly very simple, yet there is still a fun complexity to it, even among its high level of drinkability. It's a top notch brew but it's not absurdly overpriced nor does it come off as some extremely exclusive beer that you need to be experienced to enjoy. It's an extremely straight forward, well polished beer. I'm also not sure I've seen too many versions of this style which is essentially a pilsner with a belgian tweak to it. Boulevard made their collaboration pilsner with the brewmaster from Orval and I was told by the beer guys at a few liquor stores that it was a unique belgian interpretation of a pilsner. Well it was somewhat unique in that the style isn't totally common, but it was their take on a Duvel, essentially. While pretty good, it did not reach the standard that Duvel has set.


Verdict: 8/10