In my experience, dubbels are often fairly dark, brown ales, while tripels are much clearer and lighter (of colour).
Why is that?
1 Answer
Color tends to come primarily from the malt bill used (darker roasted malts lending darker color to a beer). In the case of Belgian beers, a "candi" sugar (derived from beets) may used as an additive, and different styles use different types of candi sugars. For dubbels in particular, the candi is a darker variety, made with a (more) substantial dose of molasses, which would darken the beer further. A tripel uses a candi with less molasses.
