Steam Exchange / Lobethal Bierhaus Double Dubbel IPA - Steam Exchange Brewery

laituegonflable

Australia

2.8/5  rDev -3.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

Pours a red-brown colour, clear with beige foamy head. Average retention. Overall looks a bit fluid, for a 'dubbel' cognate. Some haze wouldn't go amiss, or more apparent body.

Huge malty-sweet character with a big bubblegum and burnt sugar character and lots of fruit. Slight hint of tangy new world hops, light and with decent complexity. Smells maybe a bit underfermented. So sweet, needs more spice and phenols to balance it out.

More sweetness on the palate, fruity bombardment. Loads of melon that evolves into a boozey mediciney character towards the back. Gets a little muddy almost, only without the complexity, just a whole load of the one strong flavour. The IPA component should be really ramped up to combat that phenolic character, more freshness. Tastes sweet and heavy.

Not quite full, with a bit of fluidity that allows this otherwise stodgy beer to go down quite easily.

Here's an example of style getting lost by trying to do too much to it. Can't recommend.

Serving type: on-tap

12-22-2012 00:08:29 | More by laituegonflable

lacqueredmouse

Australia

3/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Collaboration between Lobethal & Steam Exchange brewed for the GABS festival in Melbourne. I can't find any info about where this was actually brewed, so filed it under Steam Exchange as they're the first brewery listed in the name in the GABS tasting booklet. There, it's also classified as a "double dubbel IPA", so who knows, maybe you could call it a "dubbel" as well.

It certainly look a bit like a dubbel: a mild brown, reasonable clear hue, with a dark-white head that forms little more than a ring. Some lacing forms, but overall it looks pretty dead in the glass.

Banana comes through first on the nose, along with a bit of spice. Pretty flat overall, and without much weight to drive its point across. It ends up rather dull.

Light spice again on the front palate that drops out leaving an empty mid section. Some bananaskin fragrance comes through before a rather phenolic bite on the finish. It almost feels too boozy, which is laughable. Feel is light, but slightly oily and cloying.

It doesn't really work. It's neither a dubbel, nor an IPA, and it doesn't have enough of either character to make me even consider it a worthy failed experiment: I still don't feel I know what a Dubbel-IPA hybrid tastes like.

Serving type: on-tap

08-07-2012 04:25:24 | More by lacqueredmouse