Out of the Bottle: Brown Sugar Dubbel

My final (well, not exactly) Candi Sugar experiment beer has finished conditioning and is ready to pour. Let's see how my experiment turned out.

My beer's color is right where I wanted it. The deep mahogany hue has nice clarity and is topped by a dense head that's a bit darker than expected. Head retention is pretty good and there's some lace to be had too.

Moving on to what we really care about, the beer has a prominent nose of dark fruits, plus a light, almost roasted edge that I had no idea would be there. That edge lingers through the beer's finish. While I like the sugar's dimension, it's just not quite what I was expecting. It needs to be cut with something else. The beer's bitterness is light and somewhat floral. You can definitely tell that it shares parts with its three siblings. A light body with about the right level of fizz rounds things out.

So, what do I think of the final result? I think this was my least favorite of the Candi Sugar beers. However, I liked what the brown sugar brought. There just wasn't enough complexity behind it. I feel that cutting this sugar with the other two sugars I've used may very well create a really great Trappist inspired beer. There's only one way to find out. Stay tuned.

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