Awww man, I was really excited for this. I love Duvel. :-/
Please don’t mistake my bitching for calling this a bad beer. It’s a good beer, maybe even a great beer in the hands of someone who, like you, hasn’t been inundated with Ommegang the majority of his craft beer drinking life. If you love Duvel, and you love Ommegang, then you’ll love this beer.
But for someone like me, someone who used to be the biggest Ommegang fanboy, who has had just about every single one of their beers, and has had their core beers countless time, you really want to see them do something different like another Biere de Mars, or a lambic, gueuze, or Flemish Red. Hell, it doesn’t have to be a sour, I’ll settle for anything that doesn’t have the same set of spices and “proprietary house-yeast” they use in all of their beer. It doesn’t even have to be a huge, nationwide release. Do a pilot-batch system, let the brewers experiment and play a little bit. If it’s a dud, so what? You guys can clearly afford to throw out a few barrels of beer.
Brewing something like Duvel Rustica is Ommegang resting on their laurels. These guys need to take a risk.
matthew 'fuj' scher 