De Dolle Oerbier Special Reserva

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

2007 11.2 oz bottle. Pours a murky brown and ruby color with a good size foamy tan head. Nose is sour, oak, vanilla, dried fruits. Initial taste is sour, tart, apple, citrus, salty, some funk and oak. Mid palate to finish displays more vinous characteristics with some caramel and sweet fruits mixing in with developing rhine tartness. Warming of the alcohol becomes more apparent towards the finish which is not overdone and quiete balancing. Palate duration is excellent. Head retention and lacing of the glass is very good. This is beer is extremely drinkable for a 13%.

Bottle shared by Robert at SL. Wow...sour tart aroma. The color was murkey brown/red. Taste was close to the nose. Medium sour and tartness that were not over-powering but dominated the taste. Dry.. Decent beer... I am not a huge fan of sours.... Thanks Roberto!!!!

Tasted with Leen, Marc, Paul on 11.01.09, from bottle 33 cl. A dark mahony wood color with a beige creamy head. Aroma like red wine, dried fruits, and sweetness. Medium tot full body. Taste is special, some sourness, like wine, fruits again, alcoholic and dry. hidden, with zero alcohol burn. Great and hard to fine beer.

Bottle, brewed in 2007, bottled 2008. Pours deep dark brown-red. Disappearing tan head. Nose is full of sweet oak aromas with sour cherry and some earthly tones. The Bordeaux under body also comes through on the nose. Flavors are nice sour dark cherry, very very tart but still candy like sweet, nice oak tones with the Bordeaux hints poking in towards the end. Mouth is tart and well carbonated. Very drinkable, alcohol well hidden. Another surprise from what I was expecting before reading too much put a very nice surprise. Very pleasant complex drink.

Bottle from a little shop in Philadelphia, picked up while walking around the city with Fin, Loz and Traci. Mysteriously opaque rustic orange pour, nice dense tan head. Intensely concentrated dark fruit and marzipan, a distilled sense of noble rot, of aromas decomposing down into their more elemental forms. And yet, there is a hint of the green coming of spring, and the surprise of a breathe of sea air carried far inland. Ethereal lightness on the palate, seemingly too delicate to carry the mad rush of flavors. In Lewis’ "The Silver Chair", a character talks about how the gems we find in mines are just the dead shells of fruit that grow far, far lower in the living core of the earth, where you can quench your thirst on a glass of freshly squeezed rubies or diamonds. This is what the nectar of a ruby would taste like. So deeply rooted in earth. And yet pulsating with fruit, fruit somehow compressed in time to be both perfectly ripe and bracingly green. Astounding, glorious beer.

Labels says 2006, bottle cap says Jun 2007, I say delcious! I had no idea this would be a sour beer! And oh what a sour beer! Warm darkish brown with a haze and a light tan head. Tart sour nose, vanilla, oak. Sharpness balanced with malt. Smooth creamy. Nice full body. Strong oaky to funky tartness. Some subtle vanilla. Malt is strong! Some caramel and vanilla in the finish. Lingering tartness. A favorite for sure. I refuse to believe this is at 13%.

2005, tasted January 2009: Hazy dark brown with a lasting off-white head. Intense and complex aroma: Citrus, cherry, leather, caramel, port and vanilla, blending perfectly. Sweet caramel flavour balanced by a sharp tartness from the yeast as well as oaky tannins. Quite a revelation, living fully up to my expectations. Like a flemish red in a (dare I say it) imperial version.

2008, tasted 2009. Damn, Yeah! It is really that good! Exclamation point! Good! Aroma made me feel funny in my underpants. WOW!

bottle. Amber pour with a thin white head. Sharp aroma of citrus/ grapefruit. Tart but wet mouthfeel. Very earthy character with tart notes of citrus and barn funk. You can literally taste the wood in this one. It is a very interesting and complex brew.