De Dolle Arabier

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

Cloudy orange with a giant white head that refused to go away. Aroma of yeast, malt, spice, oranges, apples. Flavor of delicious yeast, hops, malt, and orange. A little dry and bitter on the finish, which made for a wonderful experience.

Bottle at Delirium Cafe, Brussels. Hazy gold-orange with a half-inch of lasting, dense foam. Aroma is a bit indistinct, with some spice, a bit of orange in coriander. Nothing particular stands up and demands attention, but the overall impression is of a nice, clean freshness. Taste is alcohol upfront. This fades to a slight sourness, with spices and an orange rind tartness that accentuates. It all fades to a slightly bitter finish that is redeeming. Interesting, nice.

11.2oz bottle from Kingdom Liquors Brandon, Fl. Pours a hazy golden with a large long lasting white head that leaves good lacing. Aroma of herbal hops, sweet malt, and black pepper. Taste is the same with tons of herbal hops. Very different and tasty.

Poured a cloudy golden color huge huge huge head which left great lacing. Aroma was very yeasty wheat and some spices. Flavor was wheaty and yesty had a bitter bit throughout. Good but not great.

Bottle. I have heard that De Dolle yeast string can be somewhat unstable. If that is the case, this bottle was very unstable with an explosive opening and there just kept coming foam out of the bottle. Even pouring the beer into the glass was tricky. Huge fizzy white head that mostly lasted. Maybe the longest lasting head that I have ever seen. Excellent lacing, that left thick foam clouds on the inside of the glass. Body was cloudy and orange/golden color. Aroma was yeast, apricot, caramel, liquorish, citrus, spice and some orange peel like acidic. Medium to full bodied with a light alcoholic texture. Flavor was light sweet with a mix of acidic and bitter/spicy notes. Finish was spicy, light alcoholic and warming with a sweet ending note.

Bottle at home. Wonderful Ale. Really grainy, sweet and SOUR aroma. Spicy, while sweet, with dense and tingly texture. Bitter and razor sharp acidic finish. Great.

I’m now a confirmed De Dolle fan. If I were to say anything negative it would be that this one might be a bit too spicy but otherwise its a brilliant mix of spices, cloves, bananas, citrus, and hops. The palate couldn’t be better-couldn’t be drier or wetter. The aroma is powerful as the fruit and spice characteristics flow. I picked this on a whim. I wanted a St. Bernardus 12 and this was 50 cents cheaper. I feel richer now. This was on bottle at Bethlehem Steelworks.

Bottle at Cerveceria Oldemburg, march 07. Cloudy golden color with a huge, foaming, white head. Pickles, vinegary, salty aroma. Sweet-sour flavor,, complex sweet sourness with an overwhelming tettnanger-like , grassy hop finnish. Light to medium MF, quaffable, effervescent. Complex, nice, but a bit too much in some moments.