De Dolle Stille Nacht

Brewed by De Dolle Brouwers
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Diksmuide, Belgium

Pours hazy orange with thin white head. Minimal lacing. Aroma very sweet of candied sugars with a touch of apple juice. Have had this in year’s past and was much better than this. Way too sweet.

Oh man. 2006, trappist glass. Pours a murky chunky orange amber with major head; even after lengthy refrigeration nearly came bubbling out of the bottle. 2 inch thick off white dense head with icebergs for lacing. Nose is dominated by typical de dolle sourness, fruity tripel esters, fresh cream. Lovely and full on the palate, goes down extremely smoothly, initially a melange of complex fruits: pears, oranges, granny smith apples, simplifying to caramel sweetness tempered by oaken sourness and a suggestion of wooden hops. yeah, really really good, my favorite beer this winter season.

Jan. 2006 - Beer poured golden color with nice head and lacing. Aroma and flavor were really, really, really, really sweet. Sickly sweet. It tasted like I was drinking some kind of apple syrup. Just too much.

2005 bottle. Man, this is one freaking amazing beer. I’m not a fan of Belgians at all but this is without a doubt the finest Belgian Strong Ale that I’ve ever had. This pours hazy orange and is full of floating debris. A little disconcerting but nonetheless.... Smells very sweet and yeasty and a little like a nice fruity wine. Mmmmm... What a wonderful taste this has. I can’t begin to tell you how pleasantly surprised I am with this beer. I was this close to trading this off without trying it and I am so glad that I didn’t now. Hell, there’s no doubt that I will be getting this one again and I don’t usually like Belgians. This was simply amazing. Perhaps its the age on it that has made this so wonderful but whatever, it is actually one of the tastiest beers that I’ve had in a while and that includes some pretty high quality beers. What a pleasant surprise that this turned out to be...

11.6oz bottle dated 2006 poured in a trappist glass. De Dolle Stille Nacht pours murky orange with tiny pieces of beer pulp. the head is thin and fine. The nose manages to have both acidic vinegar and sweet fruit. The hops are subtle but promise to make an apperance. The body is thick and greasy and hits your chest with another promise, this time of heartburn. The flavor is complex. I detect alcohol, pear and malt vinegar. This is an exceptionally well-done beer and deserves its place in the top ranks; however, I don’t believe I could drink many of these a year. It is a no-holds-barred beer that will be best appreciated during the holidays only.

Mine had no head which I found surprising. The alcohol is nice and very good at pulling out the flavors the beer has to offer. Much like De Dolle’s others, but more traditional, as in without much of a vinous or super sweet character. I missed that in this one, but this is still a world class brew.

Bottle 2005. Very strong smell of yeast and sparkling wine, a little bit sweet. A relativly big white creamy head which stays very long, cloudy orange body. A little bit sweet which gets more bitter later on and finishes more alcoholic; medium bodied wiht a rather dry and creamy texture, not much carbonation. The aftertaste is bitter and alcoholic.

2004 Bottle:
Pours a dark golden in color with very little head at all. Smell is lots of candy sugar, some banana and a little clove. Taste is all the same with surprisingly a good amount of heat from the alcohol coming through. Medium on the mouthfeel with absolutely no carbonation to speak of. This is a very good beer, and a treat to have on Christmas.