MdV:
Merchant du Vin beer e-newsletter – Tuesday March 9, 2010: Dubbels & Tripels
This is the monthly newsletter from specialty beer importer Merchant du Vin. It's designed to promote understanding, enjoyment, and sales of fine beer.
1. Facebook & Twitter
If you prefer to get news and updates this way, we'll try to help:
Merchant du Vin's Facebook fan page (Please become a fan!): http://www.facebook.com/pages/Merchant-du-Vin-Specialty-Beer-Importers-Since-1978/81814213283
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2. Accolades, News & Events
Merchant du Vin's benchmark import beers continue to gain attention in the media:
-The March '10 Men's Journal magazine recommends Samuel Smith's India Ale with chicken vindaloo and Lindemans Framboise with chocolate cheesecake in their "Pairing Beer with Food," article. Grab a copy and check out page 28.
-Traquair House got a very nice recap on Feb. 23, '10, in this Seattle P-I blog: http://blog.seattlepi.com/hopscotch/archives/195499.asp
-Pinkus Ur-Pils - USDA Certified Organic - was "Beer of the Week" on Feb. 8, '10 at golf & travel website "The A Position" - see the whole article, with photos, right here: http://tombedell.com/golf/golf/lifestyle/141/tap-beer-of-the-week-pinkus-organic-ur-pils/
-On Feb. 13, 2010, Lindemans Framboise got a mention in the Press of Atlantic City, in a recap of a big chocolate fest: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/atlantic_city/article_f237c3e8-190c-11df-88c9-001cc4c03286.html
A full current news listing is always on our news page - http://tinyurl.com/yjgxadr; you can also check local beer tastings, dinners and festivals on our national events page. If you are interested in beer glassware, clothing and collectables we also have an online e-store - http://store.merchantduvin.com/e/mdv .
3. Dubbels and Tripels
Beer folks around the world are seeking and discovering more great Belgian and Belgian-style ales every day . . . and the terms "Tripel" and "Dubbel" come up in beer chats frequently.
Today in Belgium there are six Trappist breweries - a brewery located within the walls of a Cistercian monastery, and operated under strict control of the monks. ("Abbey" ales - a very different term than "Trappist" - are made by a commercial brewery that may or may not have a business agreement with a former or current abbey.) Monastery breweries played a big role in early brewing - monks were educated, local, trusted, and they also had a long history of producing food & drink.
Before 150 years ago ales brewed in monasteries were fairly dark (because very pale barley malt didn't come along until the mid-19th century) and probably of moderate alcoholic strength. As brewing monks began to sell their beer to people outside the monestary, they frequently added a second style - often stronger than the style they brewed for themselves. It is likely that they needed to distinguish this different product from their original brew in an era when not everyone could read, and two marks or "X's" on the cask may have been the simplest manner - the two marks eventually leading to the shorthand name "dubbel." Later, when breweries began to make a third style, strong golden-colored ales, they already had a precedent: this third addition to their menu became known as "Tripel." (Westmalle was the first brewery to produce the tripel style, selling it beginning in 1934.) Enough Belgian brewers followed this protocol that the terms developed specific meanings to brewers and beer drinkers.
(Some brewing historians think the names "dubbel" and "tripel" may have come from the different taxes that were charged on beers of different strength, another good possible explanation of the origin: "double taxed" became "dubbel.")
The terms describe beers of different styles and flavor: they don't mean "double or triple strong," nor "double or tripel fermented." (Fermentation is similar for all ales, including dubbels and tripels.) Dubbels and tripels don't have "double the malt" or "tripel the malt" either.
A Belgian or Belgian-style tripel is typically deep golden-colored; strong in alcohol (7 - 10% by volume, according to Brewers Assn guidelines); and will offer Belgian yeast character in the aroma - sometimes notes of clove, or spice. Hops can be low to moderate, and candi sugar (crystallized sucrose, or sucrose syrup) is a common ingredient, its high fermentability leading to alcoholic strength without heavy body. Tripels are rich, deep and complex. Classically, there are no spices other than hops in tripels.
A Belgian dubbel is amber ranging to brown; fairly strong in alcohol (6 - 7.5% by volume); and brewed with a Belgian yeast strain. Hops are subdued, with the emphasis on maltiness, and dark candi sugar is frequently used. When one brewery makes both a tripel and a dubbel, the tripel will always be paler in color and alcoholically stronger than the dubbel, but one brewery's dubbel could be lighter and stronger than another brewery's tripel.
Suggestions? Try what many tasters, writers, and bartenders consider the benchmarks:Westmalle Trappist Dubbel & Tripel http://www.merchantduvin.com/pages/5_breweries/westmalle_beers.html.
Innovative by being made without barley, Green's Gluten-Free Endeavour Dubbel & Quest Tripel http://www.merchantduvin.com/pages/5_breweries/greens_beers.htm are a lifeline for folks who can't consumer gluten, but who want to enjoy the classic flavors of a Belgian dubbel or tripel.
Until next month, cheers and thanks for enhancing your life with excellent beer - and a special thanks to our wholesale and retail partners.
merchantduvin.com
Merchant du Vin | 18200 Olympic Avenue S. | Tukwila | WA | 98188