De Dolle Stille Nacht Special Reserva 2005

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

Bottle shared with tarheels86 at the Kulminator. Clear dark golden color til the yeast was added, medium white head, great lacing. Aroma of sour apricot, dust and leather. Taste has summer fruits, some funk. Lots of character and complexity. Shockingly good.

330mL at the Kulminator, Antwerp. Whoa. Pours a clear blonde (unclear with the yeast) with a fluffy white head that leaves outstanding lace. Aroma is funky, a bit sour, some prominent orange peel, tamarind, vanilla extract, orange liquor/Grand Marnier. Very different. Taste is unreal: rich, buttery, refined rum warming alcohol with tamarind candies, unfiltered honey, rum raisin gelato. Very sweet but complex. I’ve never tried anything like this.

Pours a cloudy yellow with a lacy white head. Smells pretty funky. Strong leather boot aromas. Also a distinct fruitiness. Flavor is pungent. A little sweet, a little tart. This has aged very well.

Apple brandy notes on the nose with honey and cognac. Pours a golden blonde with a thin white head. Apple brandy and oak notes with caramel with a very spicy finish.

Bottle at The Kulminator, Antwerp, Belgium, 20-02-10 Pours light amber with a medium white head, looks and smells in great nick. There is a nice tangy fruitiness on the nose, soft woodiness, vanilla and cream in fact there is more than a nod to lemon on the aroma allied with a slight nutty mustiness. Wonderful beer, in fact much of the aforementioned also present in the mouth, nice warmth from the alcohol, lovely beer, really pleased to have finally got try this one. A9 A4 F8 P4 Ov17 4.2

#700. Held on to this one for awhile and shared with my wife around christmas time. This one pours a cloudy golden orange color that is crowned by a foamy, beige colored head of foam that shows good retention and leaves a sudsy wash of lace behind. The aroma is really nice and shows a good amount of candy sugar and various soured fruits. Sour lemons and apples are up front along with the notes of banana and other dark fruits. The flavor follows with the candy sugar as the main for the malt base and then tart and sweet fruits add to the flavor. It is very reminiscent of Engima with the tart and sweet flavors balancing each other nicely. Medium to full bodied with subtle carbonation that leads to a lengthy, tart finish with a nice warming all the way down. This is a really nice brew and one I am glad I got to try. Hopefully they do the reserva again.

Thin white head that lasts, droopy lacing. Clear, orange amber hued color. Nose is nice, soft woodiness, vanilla, almost bourbony, light fruits, apples and a hint citrusy. Body is med/full, oily on the palate, good carbonation with a slight tartness. Medium sweet maltiness, honey, cherries, vinous notes, white grapes and happy woody notes plus a hint of warming alcohol. An almost dry, tart finish, somewhat astringent but in a good way. Fruity and juicey. Tastey lil critter, alot going on. Been sittin around my cellar for a bit now and has aged extremely well. One bottle left for a future taste. Bottle procured @statelineliquors back in the day. Pleasent surprise.

20100106 Bottle from Spirits in Red Bank back in, I guess, 2006. Drank a few then, put a few away, forgot about them, saw them when I moved in August, forgot again, needed to clear out some space in the closet to fit the shop vac, saw this shiny yellow cap and said, heh, when will it ever be a better day to drink a special beer than today. Special indeed. Plenty carbonated with an even though small head of lasting white foam. The beer is a medium honey color, lightly hazed. Aroma is mouth watering, full of sweet bread pudding, fig, white grape, tawny port. Medium bodied with fine, even eff. Flavor has mellowed considerably, and the alcoholic heat greatly toned down. But it certainly would be disappointing if the boozy kick had dissipated completely. Indeed it has not. This beer is certainly big, lush, head numbingly rich, and incredibly vinous. It has in fact most of the qualities I like in a big American chardonnay--the tropical fruits, distinct grapiness, acidic tang--and thankfully, surprisingly, it lacks much of what I despise in those same wines--the insipid buttery, vanilla, cloying fresh oakiness that just refuses to ease off the palate. But this Stille Nacht SR brings a freshness to the finish, dare I say, despite its age. A nice combination of what bitterness is left in the hops, fresh cut grass, slight lemon zest. Beyond that, there is some evidence of age, a bit of complimentary oxidation that may in fact have been there when the beer was fresh(er), I don’t really recall. I may have just hit a sweet spot with this beer, maybe I’m just in a good mood tonight, perhaps it’s the glee of opening an aged beer that has actually turned out beautifully, or maybe I am feeling happily nostalgic about the bottle of DDSNR 2000 I shared with friends five years ago. Delicious beer. I’m glad I held on to a few.