Double beer

Double specialty beer

Dubbel, a traditional Belgian beer from the well-known list: Single, Dubbel, Tripel & Quadrupel. This list actually means something like strong, stronger, strongest. But is double beer twice as strong as a blond beer?

What is Dubbel beer

Dubbel is a traditional Belgian beer type. Double beer has its origins in the Middle Ages, during which time monks were already brewing beer with different alcohol percentages. She referred to this as single, double and triple beer. Only the lightest beer here and tripel the strongest.

To get a higher alcohol percentage, more malt is added to the beer than blond beer. Some people think that with double beer exactly twice as much malt was added, but this is not entirely correct. For a higher alcohol percentage you need more sugars, so more malt. So more malt is added, but not exactly twice as much.

Single, Double, Triple & Quadrupel

In the past, not everyone could read, so the barrels were drawn with chalk. This made it clear to people who could not read which beer was in the barrel. One cross was drawn for single beer and two crosses for double beer. Now you can guess how many crosses were on a barrel where triple beer in lay. The more crosses, the stronger the beer.

Taste of Dubbel beer

The alcohol percentage of double beer is usually between 6,5 and 7 percent. Belgian Dubbel beer has a beautiful dark color, which can vary from medium brown to dark blond. This color is due to the dark malts used for double beer. This dark malt provides a dark color.

The taste of double beer is sweeter than blond beer. In general, double beer has a very soft, slightly sweet taste. There may be a slight hop bitterness, this bitterness cannot be compared to a triple beer, but it can certainly be present.

Difference between Double and Triple beer

Tripel comes after double in the famous list. This already indicates that triple beer is stronger than double beer. But let's start with a most striking difference: triple beer is in most cases golden blond in color, while double beer has a nice dark color.

Furthermore, Triple beer has a higher alcohol percentage than Dubbel beer. After all, there were three crosses on the barrels with triple beer and only two on the double barrels. The taste of a tripel is also more bitter than that of a double beer

Fancy a Belgian Double beer?

Do you like Belgian double beers? Then I recommend you check out our range Double beer to watch. Try Golden Carolus Classic of Westmalle Double once!

Cheers!