De Dolle Oerbier Special Reserva

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

I’ve never tasted a better marriage of spices, sweetness, complexity and maltyness in a beer. Many vinous notes throughout the entire beer, from nose to swallow. The alcohol presents itself as a beautiful flavour enhancer instead of a burning or warming character; it draws on the sourness. The beer drinks like a sour. Super crisp and super tart with the alcohol hidden underneath, pressing the flavours onto your tongue. Apples, sour cherries, corriander, nutmeg and more apples. Pours a wonderful ruby-gold that is muddy like thick apple cider, and it has tiny starlets of sediment floating throughout. I can’t think of anything I’ve had that came close to this flavour monster, and all the flavours are done to perfection. My new favorite (of course, since it costs $6 a bottle).

~RBSG ’08~

Bottle. Pours a dark reddish hue, thick foamy head, white lacing on the glass. Tart aroma, funky cherries, some roasted malts, sweet nute, chocolate. Very sweet and sour at the same time. Grapes, currant, oak, brown sugar, light caramel, and some clove, albeit distant. Very smooth. Nice bitter finish, balanced well. Alcohol is absent. Rerate: my favorite sour. omg

Pours a hazy reddish brown with a big off white head. Some dark fruit, cherries, tart green apples in the aroma as well as some spice. Big complex flavor of dark fruit and sour apple balanced with a malty sweetness and a hint of oak. A touch of tartness in the finish. Another fine brew from De Dolle.

No#86.(2004) Now this is the last beer from the trip i am sure of it. I could nose a beer like this till there was no beer left. Intence fruity, balanced sourness, malty, the oerbier, but better. Taste is similar with a great sourness, is it all about the sourness these days i wonder? I hope i can get this over the net or else ill have to go back to the kulminator for more. RERATING: 2005 BOTTLE. GarethYoung’s 21st diner at his parents house. Outstading one of the best beers iv ever had, aroma is about 14 out of 10, taste is more than 10, the best belgiun non lambic ale iv had from Belgium this year i think.

Bottled. Foamy, light brown head, clear, coppery-brown pour with ruby highlights. Aroma is sour, musty, alcohol, plum, cherry, wine, oak, tobacco. Medium palate, lively carbonation, Long lasting flavor, moderate sweetness of a vinous character balanced by a biting sourness. Incredibly complex, wonderful, sadly expensive stuff!

9 5 8 4 17 [2006 Vintage] 11.2 oz bottle Enjoyed 2.19.08. Pours dark amber/orange with fine bubbles and a small fine frothy white head. Aroma of wild yeast , brown sugar and ripe fruit. Whoa! That is not what I was expecting. Tart, sour cherries, acidic, sweet and blue-cheese like bitterness. Tons of wood. Really interesting stuff. Crisp, light, fine tingly bubbles, not sticky. Alcohol starts to come out a little bit at times. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [brewed in 07 bottled in 08, 13%] Enjoyed 10.7.08. Pours a murky orange muddy brown with a very smooth silky beige head. Sweet and sour aroma, tart balsamic vinegar, sweet cherries, some blue-cheese, light brown sugar and barrel. Soooo tasty, seems a bit more tart than I remember, sour cherries with an edgy aged-cheese bitter barrel finish. Excellent, glad I decide to open this now freshly bottled, and I appreciate it so much more than when I first started to rate beer. 9 5 10 4 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [07 bottle] Enjoyed 7.10.09. yup this is just about my favorite beer... candied stinky funky cheesy sour tart deliciousness. So close to perfect. This is absolutely as close as beer comes to the very finest of red wines. 10.5.10.5.20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [08 bottle enjoyed 11.17.09] Pours a dark glowing red with an orange tint and a huge tall foamy pillowy head that just sticks around like a fluffy cloud. Aroma is fantastic, I do think I like it a bit fresher because it’s still got a lot of the sweetness hanging around, bright sweet funky varnish, cherry, acidic, oooo so fantastic, very woody this year with less cheese, actually a bit of creamy vanilla like Still Nacht. O... o o o man... that is good.... way more acidic this year around, still quite sweet and relatively young, vanish, woody, cheese, vanilla, alcohol, much more aggressive than previous vintages, uncharacteristically assertive... again... always best at exactly room temp (not cellar) =p... why do I always figure this out when there are only a few sips left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.5.9.5.18

Pours a dark reddish brown with very light head (note - I didn’t pour it very well). Can’t smell much, still getting over sickness, but really wanted to drink this, so I am. Taste is sour cherries, oak/wood, berries, hint of citrus. This was waaaaaaaaaaaay different than I was expecting. I don’t know why, but I expected something more like Brasserie des Rocs Grand Cru. I thought this tasted more like a beefed up, 13% version of Supplication.....and I love me some Supplication. Would never have guessed that this beer was 10+% ABV, hides the alcohol incredibly well. If I was rich, I’d drink this on the regular. Paid $7/bottle. This is my first De Dolle beer and I am highly impressed.

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!