De Dolle Stille Nacht Special Reserva 2005

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

2008-02-29. Golden effervescent amber body with a smooth cream off-white head and impressive lacing. Lightly yeasty alcoholic aroma. Musty not quote floral (baking flour?) highlights, sweet dry alcohol notes as it warms. Light not of dry white wine yeast notes. Finally occurs to me that the dry woody notes I have been dismissing are actually there, and are from wood barrels. Sweet caramel flavour is brief and gives way to much drier, caramel tinged malt and light wood accented alcohol in the finish. Smooth medium bodied palate with lovely tiny bubbles. (3+) Light fruit throughout the flavour, its quite nice but I think I prefer the regular Stille Nacht.
Bottle at Kulminator, Antwerp

Bottle tasted with the narf in Whislter. Gusher upon opening; thankfully we were prepared with the glasses on hand. Hazy deep blond color and some yeasty swirls with a bubbly white head. Very robust fruity esters with dominating pear and lemon citrus potpourri, leaning on the ammonia side. Some apricot and mango with prominent yeast. Appreciable citrus flavors with white grapes, clove and ginger. Some earthy tones in the finish with a yeasty body that seems tripel-ish. Almost cloyingly sweet, but not overdone. Lots of carbonation on the palate with a zesty citrus sting and bread undertones. Not bad at all.

Bottle generously shared by the nizzzzzz in BC.

A cloudy orange beer with a nose that picks up sweet fruits and caramel up front. A bit nutty on the back end...similar to normal SN. Flavor is zesty orange, apricot, and citrus. Bread like in the background with a hefty yeastiness. Mouthfeel is fairly thin an underwhelming - a bit soda like. Overall, this just really isn’t my style. Also, the burn from the alcohol is just flat out too much in my opinion.

Bottle courtesy of FoneFan: Poured a dirty beige yellow color ale with a huge foamy head with great retention and perfect lacing. Aroma of sweet malt with some liquor also noticeable from the barrel-aging. Taste is a mixture between some sweet malt with some notes of brandy or some other sweet liquor. Full body with limited filtration and loads of lees with great carbonation and no apparent alcohol which is quite a feat at 13%. While I thought it was an interesting beer I must admit I was a bit let down and was expecting more.

Bottled. Aroma is citric, yeasty, vinous with some spiciness. Slightly hazy, yellow coloured with a very nice smooth, white head. Taste is sweet. It has some yeast, wine, citrus. A good mixture of dried and fresh fruits. Alcohol is well hidden for such a high alcoholic brew.

Bottle: Pours a hazy, murky golden orange with a fluffy white head. The aroma is rich and vinous with evident muscat grapes, slight oxidized hints of cork and apparent alcohol as well. Fluffy body with apparent alcohol in the flavor as well. There’s a vinous quality of muscat, which is nicely balanced by a peppery alcohol touch. The three years behind this thing as funked the yeast slightly, giving it a mild leathery, cherry-pit bite. As it warms the slightest bit of butterscotch comes through with a violet-Belgian hop note as well. Nice complexity, just a bit too much alcohol presence.

Sample Hotshots Feb Indy tasting - Aroma is lemon, green grapes, green apples, alcohol, yeast and subtle oak. Pours cloudy gold with a small head and good lacing. Flavor is peach and apricot with the green fruits from aroma. Yeast gives it a spice kick with the malt pulling it all together. Oak lingers in the finish. Palate is crisp and tart. Another beer I would love to devote more time to to fully appreciate.

(Bottled) Hazy orange-golden with a small, but lasting and lacy head. Aroma of grainy malt, dried bananas and white grapes, orange-peel, slight apple tartness and hints of oak. Delicate, champagne-white-wineous flavor of minty vanilla, some oakiness, apricot, sweetish-grainy maltiness, light tartness, dried and fresh fruit - and no alcohol despite the 13% ABV. Full-bodied and moderately thick mouthfeel with quite low carbonation. A truly beautiful beer from one of my favorite breweries - and a perfect way to celebrate my 1000th rating of Belgian beers on the 1541st day of my beer rating career at Ratebeer!:)