Dageraad Sri Lanka Belgian Dubbel: This is a really interesting Belgian Dubbel which is brewed to a strength of 7.5% abv featuring tamarind and kithul treacle; two things I knew nothing about prior to drinking this. Sri Lanka by Dageraad is a single release small batch brewed beer, so if you are interested in trying it you had better get out there now and pick one up right away.
Aroma and Appearance: It pours a cloudy amber colour with some minimal centered bubbles and a very small layer of foam. The aroma features coriander, cloves, citrus, cayenne pepper spice and a bit of sweet sap.
Flavour: I found it to be very spicy upfront and while being a touch acidic too, followed by some sweet caramel malt with fruits and nuts in the middle. For the finish, I noted some peppered mango, coriander and a surprisingly sweet pear like flavour that wraps this beer up nicely.
Overall Impression: Pretty interesting stuff, it had lots of flavours from the tamarind and kithul treacle that were new to me and a bit hard to describe.
Rating: I give it an excellent rating of 8/10, very enjoyable and worth trying.
Food Pairing: Dried mango’s with chili pepper would be really interesting or something similarly sweet and spicy.
If you are wondering what the heck kithul treacle is, I did a little Google research and discovered that it is palm sap processed into a syrup (like maple syrup), but from a Kitul Palm Tree which is found in many parts of Sri Lanka. This video that shows how they tap Kitul Palms and make the syrup. You’ll see some of the mild similarities to maple tree tapping as well as some stark differences, including a more inherit climbing danger associated with harvesting the sap. I think this is fascinating, be sure watch this.
West Coast Beer Geek 