Beer reviews: Red Rock Dilly Dally and Squatters/Wasatch Black Abbey 

• Mike Riedel

Red Rock - Dilly Dally: This new West Coast-Style Double IPA features a hop bill of Nelson Sauvin, Motueka and Mosaic. With the Mosaic being the only domestic hops, this DIPA should take on some melon qualities that you may not expect from a classic West Coast IPA.

It pours a mostly-clear, dirty sunflower-orange body capped with multiple fingers of thick, fluffy, off-white foam; good head retention leaves a half-finger of pillowy cap. Aroma highlights perpetual notions of tropical cream upfront, specifically fresh pineapple and orange sorbet, while an underlying clementine and fresh orange juice refines over the middle. A tinge of melon is distant in the background as tangerine and a touch of overripe mango round it out.

The taste features orange sorbet, peach and melon up front, setting the tone for a raw hop tingle into tropical fruit over the mid-palate. Then earthy and fruity hop tones fuse for a back end showing sticky grapefruit, touches of bready malts, apricot peel, spiced mango and slight pine notes fading with the finish. The mouthfeel offers a 7.9 percent, medium-full body with a moderate carbonation, taut and spritzy before phasing into a crisp mid-palate. A dulled, prickly bitterness leads toward a juicy burst into back end, where intermittent dryness appears through a slightly stiff finish.

Verdict: Despite a blunt and tropical fruit-forward hop profile, this one remains an overall nicely done WCDIPA. It feels entirely enjoyable and expresses itself as a salad of fruity hops.

Squatters & Wasatch - Love Local (Black Abbey): If you're not familiar with the Abbey Ale, you have the Single, Dubbel, Tripel and Quad. While the alcohol content does follow the path up the styles, they're all quite different from each other. The Belgian Dubbel is a moderately strong, brown-colored beer with a rich, malty flavor profile, often featuring notes of caramel, dark fruit and spice, typically brewed with Belgian yeast strains resulting in a complex fruity character. This ale is pretty faithful to the style.

A thick, creamy off-white head presents great retention, with a chestnut-brown body that's almost completely opaque. Lots of dark fruits, rich dark bread, and some spicy clove and pepper from the Belgian yeast strain appear on the nose, plus a hint of molasses (though there's none here, as far as I know). The smell is fairly aromatic, with yeast dominating.

The taste proves to be quite complex: lots of dark bread and dark stone fruit (perhaps plum, black cherry), plus molasses and brown sugar. The malty sweetness is understated, though. This is followed up by clove spiciness that lingers into the finish, with a hint of molasses and coriander. The flavor profile reminds me a bit of cola, too. You get some very light alcohol warming, with a smooth and creamy mouthfeel. Good active carbonation is medium-high, as might be expected from a can of Belgian-ish ale of 7.2 percent alcohol. The mouthfeel really helps accentuate the flavors, and the result is just plain enjoyable.

Verdict: Black Abbey is an outstanding beer—a fairly traditional take on the Belgian Abbey Dubbel style that features a nice hint of molasses flavor you normally don't get in this style; I personally think it works well. I'm very impressed by the brewer's ability to turn out spot-on interpretations of Belgian-style ales. However, if you're not a fan of clove-like spices, you should probably look away.

Black Abbey looks to be a "one and done" release and is available at Squatters/Wasatch as a small-batch part of their Love Local Series. Dilly Dally is a seasonal release and somewhat limited as well, available at all Red Rock locations. Both are in 16-ounce cans and are perfect holiday warmers.

As always, cheers!