De Dolle Stille Nacht Special Reserva 2005

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

cloudy amber pour with small white head..aroam of blackberry, lemon tea, herbs, and spices..flavor of citrus hops, spice, and light berry..nice palate

Bottle from and served in my NB worthy glass: Cloudy yeasty golden appearance with some lace. The aroma has notes of barnyard yeast, cheese, funk, grassy and olde hops, lemon and pear, oxidation, wood, vanilla, and some aromatic tobacco. The taste starts with a light note of funky yeast over a leafy and grassy hops. Sugary and fruity aftertaste with some alcohol punch noted. Tastes like it need to age out and cool down. The mouth feel is warming and syrupy but not cloy at all. This is good and I would like to see what a bottle well cellared with taste like in a few years. A bonus point due to promise of goodness...

Bottle at Kulminator, march 07. Yeasty, spicy aroma and a slight mineral touch. Strong, alcoholic, malty flavor, lots of contreau and amaretto. Spicy, alcoholic, warming and just excellent. Malty punch, fruitiness and a slight sour ending. Brilliant. Full to medium full MF, sour-sweet taste with a magnificient tangerine ending. Slightly hazy, orange-blond color with a medium, lace leaving, white head. Astonishing, sparkly, flavorfull, strong blond ale.

Gift from CMUBEERMAN. Pours slightly hazy gold, white head. Aroma is funky, musty, woodsy, and tangy; bleu cheese, fruits. Flavor is tangy fruit, bleu cheese, caramel, wood, wheat, very warming like a red wine. Blended quite well, considering the alcohol content.

Dirty orange color, with a monstrous head. Phenomenal nose with sweet wild fruits, oak and bordeaux wine. Flavor is absolutely breathtakingly unique, with the oak and the beer pairing so well. On the palate resides a vast array of fruits, an amazing oak character, perfect tartness and complexity. Cheers to the Mad Brewer, Kris Herteleer. What a talented dude.

Oh wow! I wasn’t expecting THAT! Very uniquely flavored and unlike anything else I have tried. I’d sure love to culture some of that yeast and have a go at it at the Backyard Beer Company one of these days. I can’t imagine what having 5 gallons of this would do to my social and productive life. As far as the details go, just read below as everyone else has pretty much said what I’m trying to get at here. And that would mean it’s very unique and well crafted.

12 oz bottle courtesy of Jimbowood. What an interesting and intricate beer this was. Kind of an orange/amber color. Aroma is surprisingly tart - leading me to believe that the flavor would be sour. Mouthfeel is thicker than I imagined, but it fits this beer well. Lots of strong flavors going on, including citrus and vanilla, as well as some toffee. This stuff is super strong. I really wish I had another bottle to lay down for a while, because this is only going to improve.

Sampled February 2007
Very well carbonated, which holds up a fluffy, yet large bubbled, lightly tanned head that is quite long lasting, especially for a beer of this strength. In fact this beer has a picturesque head that forms a rockied, canyoned surface as it slowly settles down. The beer is a hazy, amber color and has mad carbonation bubbles streaming up from the bottom of my tulip. The aroma has a nice green fruitiness to it that reminds me of pears, tart plums and apple. There is a light funky character here that has a touch of tartness to it and a earthy musty note. I was hoping for a bit more of a dynamic character in the aroma, but it is still quite solid.

The taste has a nice tartness to it up front and is very well carbonated. It tends to vaporize at it hits the tongue, creating a very light feeling to this otherwise rich beer. Definitely still quite sweet, though not nearly as much as the non-soured version of this beer. Notes of tamarind, malt vinegar, apples, prunes, and raisins form the backbone of a bright character that leads the flavor profile of this beer. Behind these bright flavors is a slight musty note of damp earth as well as a light oak character. The thing I like about the oak here is that it is not too overpowering. It is nice a light and just forms a background character for the brighter flavors. The restrained oak is much better done than in the Oerbier Reserva.

The oak notes lend flavors of butter, vanillin, tannins and a lightly sharp spicy oak note in the finish. I really like the palate and mouthfeel of this beer, it is not too heavy; the carbonation and acidity serve to mitigate the sticky syrupy character of the regular non-sour brew. The flavors of this beer are just so well integrated, no one flavor really jumps out at you and dominated; in fact no one grouping of flavors does. The tartness is nice, as is the fruity malt character and the light wood character. In fact that is perhaps what is wrong with it as well, it is not quite vibrant enough to be absolutely, spectacularly world class. Notice all those adjectives there. This beer is quite good, it is just not mind blowingly good.