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Duvel Distilled 4YO

Naughty little devil

0 380

@tastydramReview by @tastydram

28th Feb 2014

0

Duvel Distilled 4YO
  • Nose
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  • Taste
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  • Finish
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  • Balance
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  • Overall
    80

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  • Brand: Duvel
  • ABV: 40%

What happens when you transform a Belgian cult beer into a distilled beverage? Male mass hysteria? Check! What happens when the brewer decides to market only a very limited supply of bottles? Male mass hysteria? Double check!

The first Duvel Edition caused a stampede in a quiet little Belgian town. The whole event even jammed the traffic. Result: A lot of unsatisfied customers and some extra income for a few cunning eBayers (and eBay off course).

Tasting notes Color: The liquid does not lie about his age. A pale straw whisky, slightly paler than the famous beer.

Nose: The nose start is shy. Soft fruitiness and sweet. It releases some vanilla and a bit of pineapple. Water refreshes the flavours. Lots of lemon zest and nectar. This little devil does not have any any similarities with his foamy brother. At least, not for an amateur nose like mine.

Taste: The sweetness continues in the mouth. The flowers return. Nectar and soft fruits. I'm thinking of melon, ripe bananas and apricots.

Finish: The finish is quite long for such a youngster with a slight hint of oak and whiffs of tropical fruit.

Conclusion: The Duvel Distilled launch created quite some buzz. This sample has a lot of qualities. It's nice, young. But it could be a great summer aperitif. I probably would have paid € 39 for the 6 year old. But the € 150 to € 200 bottles on eBay were far too expensive or it's age and it's quality.

The hype settled down and I could happily afford myself a few decent (and better) additions for the cupboard with that money.

I publish my original tasting notes in Dutch on my tumblr blog A Tasty Dram: tastydram.tumblr.com/post/64939328725/…

3 comments

@Pandemonium
Pandemonium commented

Yeah, the Duvel marketing machine got us all dancing like puppets on strings. Tried to get a bottle as well, but I didn't get selected. Maybe it's for the best. Duvel is not the only beer that was transformed through this destillation process, they did something similar to the Gouden Carolus beer.

10 years ago 0

@tastydram
tastydram commented

Indd, the buzz was only created because it was Duvel who organised it. I think many of us saved € 39 by not being selected. Or as I wrote on my dutch blog: It's like a woman who sees a pair of shoes and cannot buy it. A week later she'll spot another pair and she has completely forgotten about those other shoes a week earlier...

I sampled the new 3YO Gouden Carolus SM at Belgium's Maltclan Hogmanay. It's decent, even quite good, but it lacked the WOW-factor to buy a bottle. But perhaps it was the preceding Littlemill that made me think "Ok, quite good, but there's better stuff then this"

10 years ago 0

@Onibubba
Onibubba commented

Wonder if this is similar to the Charbay whiskies distilled from Racer 5 IPA in CA. Those get amazing reviews, with accordingly amazing prices.

10 years ago 0

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