De Dolle Stille Nacht Special Reserva 2005

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

Pours a hazy gold color with a beautiful white frosty head. Lots of lacing on the tulip glass. Unfiltered with lots of hops floating around. Aroma of sweet and spicy lemon honey along with citrus peel and sourdough bread. Taste is zesty lemony with hints of honey, fresh yeast, sourdough bread with a mild peppery finish. This is good stuff !! Alcohol is well hidden and it slowly creeps up on you.

2nd tasting - first was with Walt, Dewbrewers, Humulone Red, and fly in Austin, but that was intermixed with some INSANELY great beers so I couldn’t focus.

Sweet and sour, slightly lactic presence, with honey and fermented melon flavorings. A bit of pepper. Marvelously golden, heavy in the glass. Carbonation doesn’t stick around all that long. Good beer! Strong alcohol flavor. Smelled yeasty with an earthy mushroom component over a white wine base.

A very complex taste Fruity, herbal. The taste is still sweet and spicy. Althought the strength is it very drinkable. A must for everyone

Bottle: Cloudy dark straw, loads of sediment, moderate to large foamy white head, drops somewhat quickly, patchy lacing.   Strong sweet malty nose, some honey, alcohol, perhaps some dill (guessing imparted from Oak), and a bit more alcohol.   Sugary sweet start, lemony, dill, alcohol, and that chocolate covered cherry rum like liquid.   Oh, and some more alcohol.   While the alcohol is there, its mainly just warming and not toxic.   Interesting beer, definitely one of a kind.   Moderate to full body and mouthfeel.   Clean finish, warming, sweet but not cloying.   Still has this musty funk of a dill chocolate covered cherry liquid.   Good, but different.

I shared one of these with cmubeerman in belgium while sersdf made a fool of himself playing soccer with some europeans. I was pretty drunk at that time an i just remember this thing being totally smothered in alcohol and wine. Now that i have my own $10 bottle of this i can tell i wasn’t far off. pours light copper color until the bottom 10th and it’s brown sludge. The aroma is mostly red wine and apples. Flavor is a punch in the face. Just ridiculous wine and alcohol flavors. burns the back of the throat. very dry. not very good.

Bottle shared at DLD. Pours a slightly hazy orange color with a thick white head. Very spicy aroma, quite peppery. Very dry taste, mild flavors of citrus and pit fruits. much less sweet than regular SN. Nice palate, high carbonation. A very nice beer.

Bottle sampled on 2/16/07 at Max’s 3rd Annual Belgian Beer Festival: Pours a transparent deep dark golden with a full-lacing frothy white head. Sweet, complex buttery oaky aroma has nice caramel malty notes and a touch of light fruity tartness. Body starts full and viscous with lots of sweet biscuity pale maltiness, some butterscotch oaky complexity and a touch of apple brandy toward the slightly warming finish. Nicely-balanced and very complex, this should age well.

Bottle...pored a cloudy hazy yellow with a vibrant effervescent head. Lots of fruit and wine in the nose with almost a touch of sourness in their as well. I thought this reserva was much more similar to a regular bottle of stille nacht but I enjoy that one as well so this was very welcoming. The alcohol was pretty present in this beer, but as it warms up lots of the spicy de dolle yeast comes through with more wine like characteristics and other things making there presence known. It really does mellow or smooth out on the palate as it warms up. This beer will prolly age gracefully for a long time, and will only get better!!