De Dolle Speciaal Brouwsel 20

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

Big thanks to Pantanap for popping this bottle for us. Real dirty orange, lots of floaters with creamy white head. Stinky, earthy sour aroma with lots of red fruit. Dirty, a little alc, only a little sour, cherry, grapefruit, resiny, very yeasty, a little old and sweet. Medium body with small carb. Overall a great aroma but flavor did not follow through. Kind of wierd looking as well.

750ml bottle. Still lively. Gentle opening proudced a loud pop and a bit of gushing as well. Luckily we only lost less than an ounce. Very musty and woody on the nose. Plenty of cork as well. A hint of metallic oxidization. Musty basement. Wet wood. Slightly outdoorsy. Sweeter candy confectionaries: toasted caramel and butterscotch? Definitley showing it’s age, though. Pours a muddy dark butterscotch with a decent, lasting off white head. Flavor is very musty. Cobwebby. Quite dry. A decent dose of structured wood tannin. Some mild rubbery and band aidy phenols. A pretty big copper metalicness starts to develop as the beer opens. Tangy acidity but far from overbearing. Apple skin. Yeast pour tones down the metallic acidity and amps up the chewy and slightly doughy malt aspect. Tempered acid. Brown sugar laced orange peel. Floral aspects begin to emerge as well: lavender and chamomile? Odd for sure. Lively carbonation and fairly thick mouth feel for this style of beer, especially towards the bottom of the bottle. Finishes fairly acidic with a touch of oxidization. Nice... showing it’s age but still quite pleasant. Thanks a TON for this one Zac!

Blew the cork off, guzzled out of the bottle a kind of dark orangey brown with a huge fizzy off white head. I get a lot of cork in the aroma, and a little bit of sourness. This has held up pretty well but it’s obvious a year or two ago this was a much mightier beer. The body is still very well carbonated. A bit funky with good sour notes right in the middle. The finish is tainted with some bandaid and age. I’m having a hard time deriving a lot from this. Despite that, It is still an enjoyable beer. Getting farther along in the bottle, with more yeast mixed in the flavours pick up a bit. Dough and fruit become a bit more apparent, like a soft bit of cherry or maybe even a date.

Thanks to Zac for the impossible gem. Poured from a 750 ml bottle. Rusty orange-red hue with a thin-spotted head grey-beige. Cinnamon on green apples and pears in the nose, under a limp wet raft of wood. Swift funk and outhouse stink. Butterscotch, mildew, pithy citrus seeds. Dusky and dank. Undeniably old, while with one foot in the grave it’s still spitting out some mean funkiness and unreadable phenolic sweetness. If it fails the senses to a certain degree, it’s without doubt intellectually satisfying.

Zesty, sandy oxidized malt and quiet cinnamon-citrus tartness in the flavor. Very dry and very wooden. A corked red wine mineral texture is somewhat pervasive, but it’s yeast-driven, earthy, and calm. Prickling of citrus and tropical fruits lingers under that mineral texture soothingly. Sourdough and hawaiian bread thicken up the body with the muddiness of the yeast, and the characters of tart fruits gather tannins and acidity. The yeast really seems to open up the flavor as it slowly introduces itself toward the bottom of the bottle.

Medium body is gorgeously brisk and dead-grass dry with some white wine tannins. Lengthy finish with lots of cheesy, dirty mineral earth and floral dryness, like a Sauvignon Blanc. Stellar in its own way; overaged, certainly, but its character is memorable, and still has a wild, but gentle edginess about it; a knife dull to the touch but still ready for action. Drink it now.

750 ml bottle consumed on 5/25/08 thanks to pantanap for sharing this. Wow, I truly never thought I’d try this one. But once again these Chicago guys make the impossible beers appear in my glass. Kan rocks
Pours an orange amber with a creamy beige head. What an abundant funked nose. Barnyard funk, cheese, horse blanket, wheat, and floral notes. Sweet and funky velvety nose with coriander and anise spice in the finish. The carbonation is a bit fizzy. Velvety light sour flavors that start off sugary sweet with oak tannins, oxidized malts, and tart fruit. Sour grapefruit resin in the finish with the oak tannins. This could be more sour/funky and less sweet but at its present state is is a bit off and most likely past its prime.

750ml bottle from BrianK. wow, i can’t believe that i’m having the opportunity to try this!.....poured a murky medium orange grown witha creamy slightly off-white head..... musty cobwebs, oak, citrus and pears make up the nose. it had a nice mild funkiness that wasn’t too assertive and kept it quite mellow.... flavor had very light tartness, an abundance of fruit but this was soon to be taken over by some sweet sugary malt. the carbonation held up well with this one considering the fact that it is 8 years old. overall, i wish it could have been more funky and sour but given the age, it was a little too far past its prime.

750ml. huge thanks to pantanap for sharing this very rare gem that I thought i’d never try. pours cloudy golden with foamy white head. aroma is sour cherries, very oaky, vanilla, and funky. wonderful nose. flavors of sour cherries, bretty, caramelized dough oxidation, very oaky. the flavors come off a little dulled. still really good but cleary past its prime.

Bottle, thanks for another share Brian. This is 8 years old. Aroma flavor is cherries, raisin, vinous, woody, and sour. The beer brings your cheeks together with its pucker. Really good but probably past prime.