De Dolle Arabier

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

Aroma is dry, sharp, strong citrus (lemons, green apples, oranges?). Large puffy cloud-like head. Very spicy malt, citrusy notes in the flavor but not as strong as I would have hoped from the aroma. Very hoppy, crisp finish. Well balanced. Malt could be a little more flavorful as spice and hops seem to dominate the beer. Overall, another good but not great beer from DeDolle.

A little too hoppy for the other flavors in there. Still a very good beer from an interesting brewery.

A unique beer. Honey, mouth, also something of white beer.

Bottle (BB Jun/09 suggested by the cap). Head is initially huge, frothy, white, fully lasting. Body is hazy dark yellow, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted grain), moderately hoppy (flowers, herbs), moderately yeasty (cobwebs), with notes of Juicy Fruit gum, lemon peel, pepper, apple skin. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, moderately to heavily bitter. Medium body, velvety texture, lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic. A bit too boozy, but overall a very delightful strong Belgian golden...quite a complex and enticing aroma.

Big yeasty nose with hint of strawberry and melon. Clear pale copper-gold color, sticky white head. Full malt front with some honey and pear. Light toasted grains. Grapefruit-like bitter end. Chewy, rough around the edges. Full of character and aggressive. Yeah man.

Pours a hazy golden color with an enormous white head. The head leaves a ton of lacing and huge, white peaks as it dissolves. The aroma is surprisingly hoppy with complementary notes of apples, grape bubblegum and oranges. The flavor is crisp and shockingly bitter, especially for a Belgian style beer. The aroma is great and teases you. The flavor just doesn't live up to it. Spicy and hoppy, it just really needs more malt. This is a good beer, but I think it could have been great.

Pours hazy orange with some sediment even with a careful pour and a large fizzy white head that has good retension and very good lacing. The aroma is spicy and citrusy with barnyard characteristics along with some nectar fruits. It seems like there is pilsner malt mixed with Belgium earthiness. Medium slick body with sharp carbonation that at times masks the slickness. Starts with the pils malt aspect and a good amount of spiciness and sharp nectar-like fruitiness. The finish had more spiciness and a huge batch of mouth filling carbonation spreading out the flavors. Very nice beer.
Rerate notes: Rating only bumped up 0.1 - the fresh bottle was slightly different. There is more of a spicy hoppiness throughout and the finish has an earthy hop presence along. All of the aspects of the original rating are still there. Enjoyable.

Poured with an indestructible white pillowy head that stuck around until the encore. Thin yellow color. One wiff and the the Belgian yeast took hold with lots of bubblegum aroma ... but with a tad of brett bacterial sourness and some Carribean citrus tones. The aroma and the flavor matched exactly, but the hops really made their understated presence known. A nice little Belgian brew.