De Dolle Speciaal Brouwsel 20

Formerly brewed at De Dolle Brouwers
Style: Sour Ale
Diksmuide, Belgium

Sour fruit, barnyard aromas. Hazy brown, pours alarge creamy head. Sour/tart flavours. Terrific texture, great, dry finish. Wonderful! Thanks jgb9348!

Hazy brown, heavily sedimented. Light brown, speckled head. Good carbonation. Fruity (cherries, grapes), sweet malt aroma w/ a lovely musty, woody tartness. Light, lively, effervescent feel. Sweet, lightly acidic flavour of green apples & sour cherries w/ lovely vinous, woody, yeasty notes. Deliciously complex.

Reddish brown color. Very large foamy head. Aroma is sour cherries, must and yeast. The cork came out with a small popping sound and without explosion. A medium bodied Flemish Sour Ale. Amazing carbonation, it just hangs around forever and ever. Fruitiness is full and complex; there are tastes of cherries, oranges, apples and cranberries. Moderate yeastiness. Woody and musty with the very distinctive sour and tart taste of a Flemish Sour Red. The tartness, sourness and vinous qualities are not as strong as in Rodenbach or the Duchess and allow the complex fruitiness to shine. An AMAZING beer. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is sweet and dry. Aftertaste is slightly tart.

Cloudy amber colour with a huge foamy white head. Faint aroma, fruity taste. Reminded me of the aftertaste of a fruit roll-up. Too much carbonation for my liking. Decent still.

Huge dense head, slightly cloudy amber colour. Bit of sweet malt in the aroma misled me, and I was thus surprised at the slight tartness and soruness in the flavour. Good efferevescent mouthfeel and interesting, pleasant aftertaste.

Slightly hazy dark amber body with a ridiculously large, beige head. Smells sour, tart, citrusy with some sugars and a bready yeastiness. Thin to medium bodied mouth feel, with small, tongue tingling carbonation: champagne like. Taste is sour cherries, grapes, cranberries, apple vinegar up front leading to more sourness (grapefruit variety) with an array of dark spices tingling the palate (definitely pepper). Sour diminishes to a , yeasty and wheat aftertaste. This is an “insanely complex beer” as my good friend jgb9348 commented. But I did not entirely fancy this beer. Perhaps I am just not familiar with the style, but the gross looking head and a taste that reminded me of a Whiskey sour just didnt do it for me. Still, this is a very odd beer worth trying out. Sampled from a 750ml bottle from the Brickskeller in Washingon, DC.

Bottle #2:
Hazy copper colour, very large dense light tan head. Strong fruit aroma with a very strong sourness. Sour flavour opening up to a a decent spicey taste. Strong carbonation and a very good start-to-finish beer. A bit worse off than my first bottle, but I guess I consider myself lucky to have 2 bottles of it! I sampled this beer at Joey_Capps' on 13-September-2003 in Hamilton, Ontario. I bought this 75 cL bottle from Premier Gourmet in Buffalo, New York. Rating for this sample: 9,4,8,5,16.

Bottle #1:
One of the biggest surprises for me recently, I went to the Brickskeller in Washington this evening and found out that they had changed their beer list. This was on the list, but evidently they probably wouldn't have it in stock. They came out a few minutes later with a 750 mL bottle of this, and I was very pleased! They opened it, so there was no crazy stories to tell about it, but it was very bubbly from the get-go. Slightly hazy dark amber colour with a very large (too big, but it died down eventually) beige head. Smells of sour cherries, tart cranberries and a sweet backbone as well as a slight yeastiness. The first taste goes in your mouth exactly like champagne with the small bubbles all massaging your tongue. Thin to Medium-Bodied; Tastes of sour cherries, cranberries, a bit of vinegar...intitially. Crazy enough, after that initial sourness hits and stays for a second or two, the beer turns into a nice spicey taste with some darker flavours roaming around, such as pepper. After this median taste, a final taste develops of wheat and yeast. The beer just keeps changing flavours inside your mouth, and is very though to describe the entire experience. One of the best beers I've had in my entire history of drinking beer...but I will have to drink more Flemish Sours to get the full range. I thought this was one of the most complex beers i've ever tasted, and i've tried to explain how I came to taste all the flavours, but it was very hard to acurately describe. I wish I knew where to buy this bottle, as I would have a couple on hand with me at all times! Worth searching out to find...but if you are in Washington, ask for it at the Brick! I shared this 750 mL bottle with good friend Jon (JonR888710) at the Brickskeller in Washington, D.C. on 26-August-2003. Rating for this sample: 8,4,10,4,18

First of all, I'm glad I read some other ratings before opening the bottle, or should I say before letting the bottle open itself. With my thumb firmly over the top of the cork and guard I untwisted the wire and BOOM the cork came out, almost taking my thumb with it. After allowing the bottle to rest for a minute or two I poured my first glass of head, well that's not true, there was at least a half inch of liquid at the bottom of the glass. After another few minutes I was able to pour a whole glass. The body is a cloudy amber-orange and is topped by a thick, rocky long lasting head. The lacing left on the glass is incredibly beautiful. A sour yet somewhat sweet, vinious aroma fills the nose and notes of orange linger in the background. The sour(what else would it be) acidic, winey flavor is shodaowed by a sweet fruity character and is followed by a similar finish with slight piney notes. A Medium to full bodied brew with a tingle on the tongue from the carbonation that is worth having again and again (if you can find it).