REVIEW 20: DUVEL

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Belgium

BREWERY:  Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat NV

STYLE:  Strong Pale Ale (The label denotes, "Belgian Golden Ale.")

ABV:  8.5%

PURCHASE:  25.4-oz. bottle, $12.99

SERVING:  Said bottle, poured into Chimay branded chalice. 20-second pour yielded a head of about one and a half inches. A 30-second pour whittled the initial crown down to roughly an even inch. Better than average retention.

APPEARANCE:  Pale golden color with an eye-catching translucence; not quite "cloudy." Bright white crown with sprawling lacing around the glass. Steady upward stream of bubbles in the center--due to it being served in the specially designed Chimay chalice!

BOUQUET:  Pleasant mild hop forefront and somewhat appley--could almost pass for cider if judged on the nose alone. Deceptively simple, or so it seems: Put your back into it, and you will catch a whiff of freshly rolled wheat and malted barley.

PALATE:  Sweet entry with very low carbonation. Yeast is present but minimal. Very light-bodied for a beer with an 8.5% ABV. Pilsner-like mid-palate with a contained spiciness emerging in the finish. (Pepper? Coriander?) Finish initially seems fairly dry, but the aftertaste hosts a building fruitiness that couples with a mild hop bitterness. A hint of toasted grain sneaks in there at the end as well, with the spice notes gracefully bowing out. On the whole, the body is beyond smooth and exceptionally balanced. 

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  Duvel traces its original incarnation to 1871, according to the label on the bottle. However, its name arose from the aftermath of World War I, when the Moortgat family decided to dub their flagship offering, "Victory Ale." (This is not to be confused with the Victory Brewing Company of Downingtown, Pennsylvania.) An early devotee described it as "nen echten duvel," Dutch for "a real devil." Countless others obviously agreed, so at some point during the 1920s, the name was changed to "Duvel."

As for your humble narrator's own experience with Duvel, he must admit to being satisfied, but not thunderstruck, upon first imbibing it a half-decade ago. How a second chance often works wonders. It did for Delirium Tremens. And it did for Duvel tonight. This is popularly considered a standard-bearer of the Belgian strong pale ale category, and it rightly deserves that honor. 




GRADE:  A