De Dolle Arabier

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

Cimplex aroma is sugary sweet, somewhat sour with grassy notes. Fruity, some caramel notes. Huge creamy, foamy white head that is pillowy and laces the glass in clumps. Tons of yeasty globules floating in an orangey amber golden brew. Potent up front, then a bitter grassy hopiness, finish is grassy and dry roasty malts. Rich full flavors throughout. .Edium bodied with a nice lingering bitterness.

unclear golden with big head, too much carbonation. Strong maltyfloreal aroma of hops, spices, coriander and citrus. Flavours is sweet with nice bitterness from the hops. Well balanced.

Very spritzy, quite bitter upfront .. has the tiniest little stinkhole, then you stuff the shit outta it!!! .. .Honey, citrus, yeast aromas .. . really bitter .. i guess belgians ...

11.2oz bottle from South Bay Drugs. This was a gusher! Pours medium gold with an orange hue, tons of carbonation and a mountainous off white head. Nose was lightly hoppy with peaches, apricots and a touch of yeast to round things out. Flavor was pretty sweet with a light bitterness up front. Finished with a touch of booze and off dry.

Golden and leaning to bronze. A great head here of light whipped cream foam. Not hazy but it has a distorting quality. Loads of yeasty banana aromas with sweet alcohol. All very Belgian. Very bitter in a way with brandy aftertones. Sweet above very rich and sour bellow. This really makes my mouth tense up. Almost unpleasant. Washing-up liquid. Too funky. Very foamy. Mildly disappointing.

A clear light orange pour with a big white head. Aromas of citrus fruit, dried hops and green apples. Taste is bitter-hoppy, spicy-peppery, a bit of warming alcohol, a bit of bread and a definitive Belgian funkyness (although not as prounced as in the Oeral) from the unique signature De Dolle yeast. Not sweet in the slightest, this is a wonderfully different dry BSPA. Extremely high drinkability. It’s at its best and hoppiest on draft directly at the brewery bar. On the other hand the bottle-fermented version is funkier. A world-class beer.

Date: 12/1/09 Beer info: Bottled in brown 330ml bottle 8.0% abv BB N/A Sampling Notes: Served chilled in chalice. Gush upon opening pouring a HUGE pillowy foam. Body is a murky peach colour full of fastidiously active fine beads. Perfumey aroma upfront, floral sort of hops seem apparent, bit of citrus peel acidity and peppery spice, some yoghurty funk in the background with a faint grainy wheat maltiness. A bit odd. Drying palate, carbonation is high, body is somewhat lean for strength. Alcohol makes an appearance towards the finish. Spice-driven body, plenty of pepper and clove, lemon-peel fruitiness. Hopiness is more defined with the grassy, bitterness. Tiny bit of wheatiness on a drying finish. Bit of an odd Belgian, hop and yeast spiciness seems to fuse together to give alot of flavour, but the beer doesn’t really have to body to hold up such an assualt.

This one made a fucking mess when it gushed all over the place. I’m trying to remember if I had similar problems with other DDB beers. I really want to take points off just for the mess and for the lost beer, but actually this seems to be my favorite DDB beer so far. Quite dry herbaceous flavor, which I assume is from the dry hopping, as opposed to their other over the top sugar bombs. Big dense head, hazy orange body. Aroma - hops, yeast, and is there a whiff of candi sugar in there as well. I really dig this dry flowery flavor, although I’m still not a fan of their house yeast if I can call it that.