Brewery Ommegang - Hennepin; Abbey Dubbel Ale; BPA

The Ommegang Brewery is part of the Duvel family, but located in Cooperstown, New York.

Hennepin - This 7.7% ABV beer pours a pale straw, light golden in color with a very large head of white effervescent foam.  The aroma is predominantly yeasty, with a bit of banana and some biscuity grain.  The taste is yeasty, fruity, tart, a bit of Irish soda bread with various dried fruits and a lemon finish.  The mouthfeel is very effervescent and refreshing.  There is a lot of yeast going on in this beer, but is balanced enough to still be quite enjoyable to me, a decided non-yeasty.

Abbey Dubbel Ale - This 8.5% ABV Belgian-style abbey ale pours a dark brown with ruby, translucent, with a large billowy light brown head that dissipates fairly quickly and leaves almost no lacing.  The aroma is sweet and fragrant, raisins, burnt sugar, port wine, oak, and some sourness.  The taste follows the aroma.  The finish is a strange meld of sweet, sour, and very bitter all at once.  This beer gives me a metallic aftertaste.  This one is not to my taste, and I don’t really like it very much.  I have tried and really liked some Belgian abbey ales, but this is exactly what I was hoping it would not be.

BPA Belgian-style Pale Ale - This 6.2% ABV beer pours orange-golden, slightly cloudy, with a massive, bubbly, thick, foaming head that is barely off-white in color.  The aroma is fruity, citrusy, with a good amount of yeast and some esters.  There is an undertone of grainy malt.  The taste is bright, fruity, zesty and grainy with a bitter and very dry finish.  I am not a huge yeast fan, there is quite a bit in the aroma, but it is well-balanced in the taste.  This is a nice and refreshing BPA.