We're going to cut to the chase on this one, it's good, really good. We'll be honest, we often pass over the regular Duvel bottles. When we're out we tend to get something on draught and when we go to the store it's generally just not on our radar. Duvel Green is a totally new beer though. Think of Duvel Green as the cousin of Duvel, while related there's a lot of differences. Duvel Green was made specifically for the US market. Now many times we hear that we get scared, but there's no need in this case. Duvel green is a draught only product with a lower abv (6.8%).
We went to Sunset Grill and Tap in Allston, MA for a special release party for this beer. In addition to having Duvel Green on tap they also had a special menu prepared for us to sample. Anyone who follows us knows we're huge fans of beer pairing. This was a great way to really see what this beer had to offer. We tried the Duvel Green on it's own first. It was hot outside and we really wanted something refreshing...this fit that bill. While 6.8% is not a low ABV the beer drinks like it's less and the alcohol does not come through. The mouthfeel is light and the malts are delicate and not a bit heavy or cloying. Subtle hop notes finish the beer with a nice bitterness that doesn't wear on the pallet. In short it's pretty delicious.
We decided to do a side by side comparison of Duvel and Duvel Green. Just smelling each beer you can tell there's a difference. Duvel packed a sweet belgian aroma with hints of alcohol while Duvel Green released spicy hints of the yeast and hop notes. On taste the Duvel has a much slicker mouthfeel which coats your tongue. Prominent sweet malts combine with a bit of booze and yeast.
Sunset is offering a wide range of foods but we'd recommend a couple dishes to try these beers with. There's a great appetizer of mussels that pairs perfectly with the Duvel Green. The sweetness of the mussels combines perfectly with the light hops of the beer. We could eat/drink this combo all night. On the entree side of things there was a ravioli stuffed with goat cheese, ham and caramelized onions. While this dish was supposed to pair with Duvel Green we found Duvel a much better fit. This dish has a rich cream sauce and sweet filing from the caramelized onion. While the Duvel Green helps cut some of the heaviness and sweetness regular Duvel creates a rich amazing sweetness. The malts sweeten the cream sauce while bringing out subtle flavors in the onions and goat cheese. The fat in the cream sauce helps balance the alcohol and create and extremely balanced pairing.
We'd definitely recommend giving this beer a try. When you do let us know what you think!
While there's lots of great beer to be found, sometimes that is the hardest part, finding it. We hunt out good liquor stores, bars and brewpubs and we thought it was about time we started sharing some of our favorites with you. We recently stumbled across Berman's Wine & Spirits in Lexington, MA after Matt Steinberg of Mayflower Brewing mentioned his beer was sold there. Our first visit was for an emergency beer buy(yes we realize that sounds ridiculous but we had to pair a beer for an event and only had no time to waste). While in the store I noticed one of the staff was helping a woman buy beer for a BBQ she was having. She wanted to pick up a fruit beer but didn't know what to get. The employee was extremely helpful and guided her through a series of good craft beer offerings while sharing his opinion of one's he'd personally tried and being honest about one's he had not. While lots of stores can stock a lot of beer, having good people at a store can be worth even more. Fortunately after a few visits to Berman's we've found that they have both selection and great staff. Oh, and lets not overlook their awesome discount policy where you get 10% off if you buy 4 or more bombers! That employee that helped that customer turned out to be Jesse Dooley, Berman's beer manager. We took a few minutes to talk to him a little bit about the store and what got him so interested in beer.
DCB: How long has the shop been around? 
While Jesse may not see the selection as encyclopedic we'd argue that it's better than most. As he mentions it's clearly picked with care. The wall of bombers and 750's tucked in the back left corner (go directly there when you go in) has Pretty Things full catalog, tons of Allagash offerings, as well as Port Brewing, Bear Republic, Southern Tier and many many others. The review could go on and on about the selection really including a great wall of Belgian offerings but we'll just put it simply. It would be nearly impossible to come to this store and not leave with some seriously tasty brew at a good price. This is undoubtedly one of our favorite stores now. 
Devon and Jeff here. We just wanted to say thanks to everybody who came out to the 
We have a lot of new events in the works, so keep watching DrinkCraftBeer.com!
For those in the craft beer scene New Glarus is one of those famed breweries that we all know about but many don't get to try. The reason for this is New Glarus only sells their beer in one state, Wisconsin. Fortunately for us a friend recently brought back some of their beers for us to try. In short, the hype is real, the beer is amazing and we need to make it out to Wisconsin now to go buy more. Raspberry Tart, perhaps the most famous beer from New Glarus, did not disappoint. We rarely enjoy fruit beers but you know something is good when 6 guys sitting around having some drinks all exclaim various versions of "wow," "delicious" and "amazing" upon first sip. This beer goes beyond beer, it's really more like sparkling raspberry juice that is also somehow miraculously beer. While very sweet it's in no way cloying and it doesn't wear on your pallet like many sweeter beers do. Raspberry Tart seems to walk some perfect line that no other fruit beer we've tried has been able to do, perhaps that's why it's so well known. 
Millstream Brewing Company John's Grocery Generation's White Ale 
