De Dolle Stille Nacht Special Reserva 2005

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

12 oz bottle, Stateline Liquors. Pours a mostly clear dark gold body with a minimal amount of small floaties due to a very careful pour. Small fizzy white head with some light lacing. Nose is malty and fruity with some oak undertones. Lots of yeast, light alcohol, lemon peel, banana, apple, and light musty funk. Flavor is quite sweet and fruity up front, citrus fruits, tart apples, spicy alcohol, and yeast. Some tannins and hot alcohol on the finish. Mouthfeel is thick and full bodied with a slightly sticky cloying texture. Carbonation is very active and foamy. I kinda had a feeling that I wans’t going to be too thrilled with this one, as the regular version is not among my favorites either. I just can’t learn to love these super sweet boozy belgians.

Bottled at Hop Leaf. Poured a hazy, peachy golden with a stately cap of creamy white head… settled down after a couple minutes. Aroma was soft but strikingly intense… deep vinous character with layers of sliced apples and pears, peppery spices, and a lurking power that was well-hidden. Sour sliced pears and apples singe the tip of the tongue with white peppery spiciness leading into a powerful (but complimentary) vinous middle… riding through a still hot finish… spicy, warm, and complex… I’m sure that this will mellow out with time and carry out the legacy of its older brother. Very soft fore on the palate blossoming toward the middle with high carbonation and becoming even bigger at the finish… mildly sour with great peppery spice accents. Most excellent!

12oz, pours clear golden with creamy white head. nose is pretty sour tangerines, yeasty, and subtle hints of caramel. pretty nice. first sip and this is really boozy. orange, pear, apricot, pretty sweet and tart, with a boozy finish. i like the fruit and sour notes but too much alcohol overwhelms the fruit.

Bottle from CaptainCougar. Bright light orange, sediment-laden body, medium tight off-white head. Big, tart fruity aroma with apple, pear, and white grape, alcohol, unfermented sugars and sour tart notes. Tart apple cider body, actually closer to the clean, sharp flavors of processed apple juice, with white grape and abundant sugars. Some light funk and sour notes before the bitter finish. Another estery, sugary elixir from De Dolle. My only criticism is a hollowness about mid-palate associated with the sugary notes. Still, quite nice.

A Mes rate: 33cl bottle from the Kulminator. Dirk himself told me to have this next, who was I to disagree. Caramel, toffee, burnt sugar, apples, bananas and other stuff in what is a pretty much perfect and very complex aroma. Thick blonde colour with a great rocky head that settled to a thick, almost solid film that left plenty of lace in its wake. To swill and watch the bubbles settle is truely a sight to behold. Obvious alcohol. Strong malt and hops are totally apparent and give sublime balance. Burnt sugar comes and goes sandwiched somewhere along the line by ice cream and lightly done brown toast with lots of butter on. Prickly, almost sour and dry finish but also with creamy and bitter hops. About as full bodied as beer can be. Certainly there could not be a better balanced brew. Will no doubt be too sweet for some but for me, this sets the benchmark. So hard to do this rate with out pouring out expletives. It really is that good. As Dirk pointed out afterwards, "it’s just not beer".

Bottle... Cloudy golden ale with an everlasting, small, creamy, white head. The aroma is caramel and toffee underneath a delicate film of sour apple, oak and alcohol. The flavor is still a touch hot, but there are tons of acidic, berry and malty notes with just a touch of funk. Full-bodied with a 2%-milk mouthfeel and soft carbonation. Lengthy, sweet then acidic, astringent, dry finish. Kudos to dutch70 for the bottle!

Bottled. @ Kulminator. Dark golden coloured. Unclear. Dense beige head. Ripe fruits, alcohol, sweetness, plums, sweetness, raisin and some floral notes in the aroma. Massive. Flavour as well is pruny, light spice and full of alcohol. Dades and raisins notable. Is full bodied. Alcoholdense fruity end. This is quite an impressive brew. Not as refined as the stille nacht 1996 I had, but still a good beer. Very well hidden alcohol.

Pours a clear gold with a light white head. Pretty heavy citrus, a little bit of spices as well in the smell. Some sweet fruit, melon as well. Very heavy alcohol, mixed in with orange and lemon. I think the alcohol might be a little abundant right now. I want to let this one sit for a few years to let it mellow some. Its still pretty good though. This one should get better