De Dolle Oeral

Brewed by De Dolle Brouwers
Style: Belgian Ale
Diksmuide, Belgium

Bottle. Head large fizzy and white, which fully lasted. Body was cloudy and colour was golden yellow. Aroma was quit nice with notes of grapefruit, sweat, barnyard, perfume, flowers and spicy. Medium bodied with a lively carbonation. Flavour was moderated bitter with some sweet and acidic notes. I thought finish was a bit astringent.

Damn. This one impressed the hell out of me. Had a bottle at ’t Hemelrijk in Hasselt. Someone below asked if it was an Orval clone... More like an Orval homage I think. Definitely not identical. Color is a deep, nearly opaque golden-orange, contrasting with a big, creamy lasting head you’d expect from a stout. Grapefruit and other citrus in the nose. Bouncy, bubbly mouthfeel that melts into velvety dry hoppiness--here’s where Orval says howdy. Noticeable lemon in flavor, hoppy finish. Just outstanding.

Beer 38 Summer 2006 trip in Europe. Drank on 7/5/06 at purchased at De Bier Konnig in Amsterdamn. The brew fizzed huge and had a massive head, bitter and not entirely appetising. I searched long and hard for this brew on that trip and found it and then it didn’t turn out to be that amazing. Although it did get better towards the bottom of the glass.

Poured a light golden body with a huge white head. I head to wait a long time for the head to dissipate enough to drink. The body is thin and astringent, but not in a bad way. floral, citrus strong in the flavor with a lightly bitter, spicy flavor. Reminds me a bit of Orval or maybe watered down Stille Nacht.

Is this an Orval clone? If so, let there be more, for this is an exceptional beer. If I had to pitch it to a Hollywood producer in two words, I’d say: ’Orval meets Lambic’. Damn, that’s three words. Rating this highly requires a measure of forgiveness on my part because the bastard bottle sprayed the living room. It was the gusher to end all the gushers - like someone hit a jugular in a Tarantino movie. I sloshed the gushing beer into a glass, but that foamed up, too, so I ended up with my mouth over the bottle and the bottle jammed in the glass, with beer spewing out of all three onto the carpet. Lucky I like the beer because I’ll be living with the smell for some time. When the beer finally calmed down, it was a murky honey colour with a head that laced the glass, the coffee table and the carpet. The aroma was a fascinating mix of lambic funk - horse blanket, oak, Danish blue - and Orval herbs, with a Parma Violet sweet floral note. It’s medium bodied with a frothy mouthfeel and a slick finish. Splendid flavour mix of sour lambics, blue cheese and a herbal finish. Another wonderfully complex beer from one of the world’s true master brewers. This ranks right up there with the Oerbier. (33cl bottle from trade with Papsoe - thanks Henrik! Bottled Sep 2005)

Beautiful golden body, huge creamy white head; Big sharp strange mint nose; A bit sharp body, thin texture, slightly bitter but more fruity acidy; Medium long very fruity finish. Strange beer.

Incredibly large head. Great citric, fresh & sweet/sour aroma. Peculiar tartness in the taste, very spicy, and very refreshing. I like this one alot. It goes very well with Thai food - it matches the coriander/chilli/lemongrass/kaffir sweet & spiceyness very well. Recommended!

Bottle. Hazy white-yellow with a large creamy white head. Nice spicy aroma - cereal, dusty, pepper, and sour fruits. Calm palate that is reasonably dry. Triple-esque in flavour with expected cereal and lactic fruity notes. On the other hand though it’s not too sweet which I quite enjoyed.