De Dolle Stille Nacht Reserva 2000

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

Poured a golden color with an orange hue and a white head with beautiful lacing. Vanilla, vinous (certainly from the bordeaux casks). Oak, and bordeaux are present in the taste accompanied by a tongue biting warming alcohol.
[Update 8/05] Drank this again for my third time last night, and i’m noticed some butterscotch in both the aroma and flavor.
[Update 1/07] That was one bad bottle with diactyl...we had another one last night and it was pretty darn nice.

Nice white-tan head. Strong aroma consisting sweet malt and alcohol. Flavor is an assault on taste buds. Oaky malt wine flavors take over the feel in your mouth. Alcohol burn but it is quite tollerable. Excellent beer. I don't know it I would go so far as to

Poured out of 750 mL bottle, shared with friends at Stuffed Sandwich in San Gabriel, CA, 10/15/03. Unbelievable. Probably the best beer I've ever had, and sure to remain one of the truly great beers that I'll ever have. Pours to a mostly transparent golden brown apple cider colour with a medium head that mostly fades and leaves little lacing. Nose is of heaven. Meaning of oak, oak, malt, oak, some fruit, candy, and a little oak. Taste is of sweet stinging malt, incredible bright oak, light and fruity, like a sweet delicious juicy cork. Absolutely fantastic. Notes of walnut and pecan from the oak and sweet candy sugar after years of aging. Smooth and wonderfully balanced, velvety and long-finishing. I liked the regular Stille Nacht a whole lot, but this stuff is absolutely out-of-this-world. If I could ever get my hands on another bottle, I'd love it like it was a sweet virgin.

This is one of the few beers that I've seeked out that delivered more than I was expecting. The odd thing is that my reason for not expecitng more from this beer was that I had had the regular Stille Nacht and wasn't impressed. This, on the other hand, is AMAZING. The color is a nice apple cider and amber with good clarity. Likely the age fo the beer had allowed the yeast to really stick to the bottom because it never got cloudy even toward the end. Nice glow. Aroma: Some spice, cotton candy, cider vinegar, alcohol. I know I mention the vinegar, but it doesn't show up in the flavor and is only a small part at the very end of the aroma. It actually adds to the quality of the aroma instead of detracting. The flavor is nicely malty, toffee and caramel. Very fruity like cherries and apples. Underneath you can actually taste the wood of the cask. Slightly winey. I'd put it easily in my top five. The guy I split the bottle with agreed. If I could find cases of this, I'd buy them. Wow.

Pours with an amber gold body topped by a medium thick white fizzy head that disappears quickly and leaves some lace on the glass. Slightly sweet yet mostly sour vinous aroma. Sweet fruity vinious flavor with malty accents and sour notes. Medium to full bodied, slightly oily yet dry, with a tingle from carbonation and a slight warming sensation.

Thick, almost syrupy, lots of ethanol. A very strong wine profile is present here. Nose is sweet with cotton candy aromas. The beer finishes sweet like a dessert wine. Alcohol noticeable in the finish, as are estery notes of apples and pears. Im glad this beer had a few years to cellar or it would definitely be too sweet I think.

Cheers to CaptainCougar for sharing a bottle of this. Dark brown color. Alcohol apparent in aroma. Buttery, rummy mouthfeel. Sweet and vinous. As the Cougar said, tastes like a barleywine.

Thanks to Portlandrunk for delivering this hard to find gem: Pours a murky bronze color with a thin lacey white head. Thick, alcoholic caramel malt, Bordeaux oak aroma. Lots of sweet malty flavor, alcoholic oak and dark fruits. Great complexity, but not much beer flavor more like a liquor. Reminds me somewhat of Fish Tale Leviathan barleywine. I would not have guessed this to be a Belgian beer. Nothing like the regular Stille Nacht.