A thin slice of liquid bread

I'm all for breweries giving us classic European styles, but there's something wrong about putting them all in 440ml cans. The presentation of Hope's Limited Edition 32: Belgian Dubbel reminds me a bit of when The Porterhouse in Temple Bar first got Westmalle Dubbel on draught and, presumably knowing no better, was serving it by the pint.

At 7.5% ABV this is slightly stronger than the Belgian originator, and it looks a little paler too, a cherrywood red rather than brown. The aroma doesn't give much away, merely hinting at damson and tea brack, and certainly not smelling like all of its strength. The texture is similarly light, and it could easily pass for a percentage point, or even two, lower than it is. Hope is good at giving us statistics (24 IBUs, 30 EBC) though the one I would be interested in for this is the original gravity. For all the strength, it's quite thin bodied and lacks malt richness. I wonder if that was intended. It's left to the Belgian yeast strain to do all the heavy lifting, bringing the brambly fruit and peppery spice without the accompanying smooth cakey richness which, I think, dubbel ought to have, though I guess breweries these days tend to save that for their quadruples.

In general, this is fine, but where it's sharing shelf space with actually Belgian dubbel, I would be inclined to pick one of them first. Even when it comes in a tiddly 330ml bottle, that gives a rounder, fuller and more enjoyable drinking experience. This one might work by the pint, however.