I bought 2ea. 4 packs of Duvel from a retailer in Tucson. Imported by Duvel Mortgat on the label.
It really does not taste and smell like the Duvel from 2011. Now I have not tried the Tripel Hop Duvel
just not a huge Hop head…that said, these beers taste like they got the tail end of the Tripel hop
bottle run and the labels had gotten changed to the Regular Duvel Style label.
What are the chances?
And NO, It does not do the remembrance of the Original Beer much Justice IMHO.
It’s certainly possible, someone could load the machine with the wrong labels… my hope is that it would be very very slim odds that something like that could happen and no one notice.
The likelihood of it happening is pretty high (shit happens/human error etc), in theory if you have a strong QA program then the odds of that mistake making it out of the building should be almost zero. But you never know. We’ve had labels go on upside down before, thankfully none of those made it out into market.
Could also just be a bad batch… that happens too.
Are you sure that the intervening 7 years arent playing tricks on you? Are they fresh? Fresh Duvel is noticeably hoppier to me then when it sits around for a while.
I am Belgian and I beg your pardon?
Agreed. I just picked some up and it seemed exactly the same (and perfect!) to me.
I gasped and nearly fainted when this was even mentioned. Duvel don’t make no bad batches.
I just seek understanding. The carton dated 01/17. The beer was shelved and not in refer.
So your mention of sitting around could be the issue. It was not triple hopped hoppy, just
more than the usual that I recalled, and really noticeable.
I have had the beer in the interim also so the 2011 date was my last post on the beer.
Had some last winter down here in the desert and it was Normal and very good and unlike this experience.
Belgian beers usually have the good until date, not the production date. But maybe the export bottles are different?
Actually says "Best Before 09/2018
Sounds like it’s sonewhere between regular Duvel and Tripel Hop. Judging by the date, this would lead me to believe that it’s just a fresher example then you are used to.
Just throwing out possibilities… I did say “could”. My apologies… 
Next 4 pack was different, better, not as hoppy. Kinda puzzled by this inconsistency. Minor detail
I am past the event horizon, water under the bridge. Thanks for your thoughts