Humblebug

ARTWORK BY

BELGIAN DUBBEL
7.5%
SEASONS CHANGE

This is a limited run of 160 x 750ml sharing bottles brewed in collaboration with the bodacious @bodenbrewbeer.

The result? It’s a nippy humdinger brimming with fanciful fruity flavours. A dark and sour strong beer. Mulled and mad. Reminiscent of minced pies, snakebites and your favourite tangy childhood treats. 

Now here’s the geeky beer bit: we wanted to go for a dubbel in style with an exotic twist. It lends itself to the Trappist style in its use of speciality Belgian malts, coriander and other spices. Wheat malt, candied peel, a wit yeast and tamarind paste, however, bends the brew towards the wittier and speciality side of things. 

The tamarind provides 10% of the fermentables, similar to the role of candi sugar in some famous dubbel recipes. It’s close to dark candi sugar in colour too, but very acidic and holds a distinct nutty-sweet flavour. 

The beer is sarsaparilla brown in colour with a frothy almost purple-tan head. Aromas of jammy blackcurrants, blueberries, spiced plantain and toasted marshmallows. When drinking there is a sharp tang up front followed by a juicy and pithy fruitiness. Towards the end the darker malts and spices give the beer an earthy and warming glow. 

Then, like a smile that won’t go down, the tamarind lingers after the finish, giving you this treacly sensation. A Christmassy tipple for sure, but also one for the Scrooges out there, wishing they were on a desert island!