 Glouglouburp (1915), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Jul 6, 2008
In short: An overly alcoholised Belgian blonde ale. Brutal and boring.
How: Bottle 330ml, forgotten in my fridge by Dickinsonbeer. Thanks a lot Paul!!! Probably 1+ year old.
The look: Cloudy dark golden body with lots of big ugly yeast chunks topped by a white ring of foam
In long: Honey and cereals on the nose. Taste is more of the same. Lots of alcohol, some apples concentrate, lots of honey, more alcohol, a drop of hard cider, lack of hops, too much candy sugar, even more alcohol. I’m a huge fan of some of the De Dolle beers (arabier and oerbier and top-50 of mine) but I really don’t care from some of their stronger offerings and the regular Dulle Teve is one I’ve never liked. If anything this Special Reserva is even more brutal and more alcohol-intense than the regular Dulle Teve. The barrel aging didn’t translate into barrel/woody taste but if this beer had any subtle flavours (barrel or others) they were all crushed by the alcohol. I had only a single 330ml bottle and I was really bored by it. I almost drained poured 1/3 of the bottle. Fortunately the second half of the bottles had yeast chunks that provided some fruity distractions (peaches, mangos) from the alcohol. And saying of a beer that the yeast chunks make it taste better is about as complimentary as saying that a women looks better in baggy cloths.
kiefdog (390), Tampa, Florida, USA
Aug 17, 2008 33cl bottle from Knightly Spirits (Orlando, FL). Pours a dark caramel brown with thin white head. Aroma is sweet malt, caramel, toffee, spice. Flavor is similar but also with notes of vinegar and sour ripe fruit. Very different from the regular Teve 10 perhaps because of the way the beer aged. Medium to full body with a sweet finish.
markwise (257), Orlando, Florida, USA
Aug 11, 2008 A rare find. Very good beer, with aging, but considerably less so than the normal Dulle Teve. There is sweet malt, apple, toffee, and enough alcohol to almost burn my nose. The flavor has candy sugar, with a vinegary presence, some acidity in the finish. For a beer this old it was a bit disappointing.
Guerde (462), Welcome, Minnesota, USA
Aug 4, 2008 ( 05 bottle, thanks Stine!) Pours a hazed orange with a white head. Aroma was very peppery, and oaky, with hints of apple skin, light yeast (not that huge bready aspect that De Dolle beers normally have), honey, and some alcohol. The flavor is quite spicy, with a lot of the bready yeast now present, and just a touch of apple skin. A solid beer, but not De Dolle’s best.
OSLO (606), Minnesota, USA
Aug 4, 2008 [’05 Bottle, thanks for sharing, Stine!] Pours very hazy orange with a small white head. Aroma is apple with a lot of yeast, some oak and some notes of alcohol as well. The taste is yeast dominant with light bitterness midway through and then maltiness at the very end. Good mouthfeel with a fairly dry, long and yeasty finish. I really love most De Dolle products, and while this one was good, it wasn’t quite as good as I had hoped for.
Stine (1320), St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Aug 4, 2008 Poured from an 11.2 oz. bottle; bottled 2005. A thick bronze. Misty and heavily frothed. Soft brandy and wildflower honey aroma. A deep, fulsome tart fruit texture, that swims in caramels and bitter apple skins. Sparkling earthy pear, lacquered in vanilla extract, and a distant syrupy shade of agave, which is probably just an illusion of the greenness of the calvados character amidst the steam of alcohol. It’s nice though. It gives the the beer a sort of dingy and grimy attractiveness, like some gem of a beer unexpectedly pulled from a ratty mexican cellar.
Flavor is deep with perfumes and musty orchard colors. Warm, and expansive, if on a somewhat simple canvas of turbinado sugars, doughy honey malt and hot floral fragrance. Alcohol warmth is unresigned, but silky and spirit-forward in texture, with a smooth peppery heat. Creamy pastry-like sweetness in the heavy velvet tones of spiced oak and the grit of cotton candy. Somewhat split between the rough and the soft, though it’s hardly a struggle of extremes.
Heavy palate carried in an autumnally brisk carbonation. Pleasant. Vanilla and basic butterscotch on apples dries out the finish, at length. The age on the triple is inviting, earth-dwelling and warm, but it’s hard to determine what positive impartation the calvados barrel has lent. It always seems a little warm to me, and the gorgeously subtle malt complexity of the original gets buried a bit. Small complaints...Thanks Steve!
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