De Dolle Oerbier Special Reserva

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

Xmas Morning beer! Pours opaque brown with ruby hints and a lasting thick tan head. Bubbles cascade in perfect lines up the side of my Lost Abbey goblet. Lacing is ridiculous. Nose is a bouquet of fresh berries, sour cherry, prunes and raisin, sweet sugars, mild spices, funk and sharp sour. Hints of sweet malted grain, spicy yeast, warming alcohol. Flavor is heavenly! Sweet sugars, perfect lactic sourness and funk, sweet sugars, sour grapes, dark cherries, ripe and unripe fruits. hints of cinnamon and cocoa, prunes, barnyard, slight sherry notes, perfect amount of oxidation. This beer is unreal. Near perfect.

Brewed 07, bottled 08 from Keg Liquors in Clarksville. Pours murky dark brown with bubbly beige head and lively rising bubbles (I have never seen them racing so fast). Nose is sour cherries and lambic, oddly enough. Flavor is dry, sour, barnyard funk. Interesting complexion brought in from the Bordeaux aging. Not bad.

Bottle. Dark brown colour with a beige head. Aroma is apple, alcohol, oak, roasted malt. Flavour is vineous, apple, oak, roasted malt, dried fruits. Very nice beer.

2008 bottle. Dark copper-brown pour with a large, rocky, tan head. The aroma is deep and complex with lots of vinousness. There’s notes of cherry, damp oak, caramel, molasses, cardamom, cinnamon and a nice dry brett funk. The flavor is also nicely complex with rich undertones of molasses, tobacco, and caramel that play nicely off tart cherries, tannins, red grapes, and spice. It rounds out in the finish with a nice dry sour funk and oak. The body is a little disappointing. It’s light, a bit thin and heavily carbonated. I would have like some more body and less carbonation to accentuate the rich malt tones. Overall a great beer that would pair amazingly with roasted meats.

Brown hazy pour with a light offwhite head. Yeasty caramel and barnyard fruitiness in the nose. a bit of booze as well. Tart fruitiness and lovely yeast in each sip. Some booze and spiciness is compounded by a sharp tartness which evolves into a fruity sweet finish. Yum

2008 edition, many thanks to mesandsim. Cloudy brown with a big creamy beige head. Super boozy and wooded on the nose with drying coffee beans and hints of pesto and Mexican chocolate mole. Bloody hell. very vinous and tightly wooded. Very sweet along the way but deeply grounded and quite sour. Mustardy heat amazing loveliness. Wow that is amazingly special. Deep berry and syrupy flavour. Wow I’ll definitely come back to this.

Sampled this before a De Dolle Extra Export Stout with mitchgt. From my notes: Dark murky brown pour with a thin tan head and frothy lacing. Big clean smells of cherry and raisins. Tastes - green apples, cherry, berries, tart. Totally seems to cover the alcohol taste-wise, but is warm deep down. Tingly carbonation on the front of the mouth and then tart towards the back. Is salty and sour at once - clean, crisp and complex. A theme park ride of a brew. Great stuff.

Cloudy light brown pour with orange tints, small white head. Aroma holds lots of vinous notes, plum, raisin, nectarine, spice, and some interesting tartness, perhaps cherry or sour raspberry. Flavor is very nice; similar fruity sweetness to the aroma presides, with a great tartness that seems to build and peak in the middle of the flavor, then quickly decrescendo to a smoother and sweeter finish, with more nectar notes and some alcohol presence. Palate is really nice, particularly with the juxtaposition of sweet and sour; mouthfeel is quite multi-faceted on the whole. Really unique and tasty stuff.