De Dolle Speciaal Brouwsel 20

Formerly brewed at De Dolle Brouwers
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
Diksmuide, Belgium

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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[Bottle] shared by puddintaine. Another bottle I never thought I’d get to try. Thanks Dave! Pours a hazy, cloudy caramel with a medium khaki head. Holy strange aromas! Very funky, lots of acetic character, musty basement, sweaty foot, various molds, and some sharp yogurty lactic character. Flavor is lightly sweet caramel, super musty and funky, very cheesy, lightly metallic, acetic acid, moderate oakiness, some cherry. Very earty with some mushrooms and leaves. Wow this is a weird beer but quite delicious and very complex.

I had the very first Speciaal Brouwsel from 1982 , thanks to a very dear friend of mine for finding it and sharing it !!

Head: small
Colour: dark red amber
Smell: cherrys, vinegar, malts, caramel
Taste: malts, nuts, lots of character, dried meat, lots of caramel , very very nice !!

Thanks after4ever! Juicy nectarine and maple syrup lie pie. Murky orange brown like mulled cider. Goodness. Leathery orange peel body, foggy and rich with nectarine. Dark chocolate orange, rich candied sweetness, desserty.

After all these years ... still delicious. A: Muddy amber colored body. Large off-white head. Good retention, spotty lacing. S: Musty, vinous notes, raisins, plums, and oak. T; Mild funk, raisins, cherries, plums, vinous notes, oak, and slight oxidation creeping in (in a pleasant sherry-like way). Soft lactic tartness in the finish. M: Medium bodied, dry funk throughout, tart lactic acidity in the finish. O: This is the perfect example of the aging potential of De Dolle’s beers. They real do continue to evolve and hold up quite well.

Tasted 8/14/11, bottle thanks to DStructo. Pours gorgeous clear caramel, ruby red, almost vinous in the light. Huge fluffy off-white head, with medium retention and copious lacing. Nose has notes of sherry, tart apple, musty wood. Mild signs of age and oxidation fade as the beer warms, and tartness becomes more evident and sweeter in nature, melding with slight alcoholic spice. Taste is initially sweet, lemon-like with caramel undertones. Evolves into a funky sherry-type profile, slightly tart, vinous, ending dry with musty malts, subtle spicy bitterness, long aftertaste of vanilla, wood on the breath. Round and balanced, but thin in the mouth. Overall glad to to have tried this treat- it still has some nice complexity, but age is definitely showing, not necessarily for the better.

Dusty sweet musty nose with light sourness. Plural hazy orange brownish. Dusty funky ciders light yeasty a touch sour. Well balanced and strong . Good.

750, corked and baled. Thanks, sprinkle! Pours a crystal clear dark golden brown. No head or lace. Big funky basement nose. Fruity and approachable and delicious. Creamy medium body with a little bit of lively carb. Big funky sharp mid palate, very basementy. Long crisp finish. Delicious.

This was randomly available at Bull & Bush for purchase, busted open with a nice pop. Poured very nice reddish with nice lasting white head. Aroma is full of toffee, caramel, dusty barnyard, some tart apple, slight vinegar and a touch of oxidative papery notes, but not detracting from the beer much. Taste is delicious, the oxidation adds to the nice caramel, toffee, but has nice notes of apple, slight acetic, lots of funky barnyard, finishing nice and dry. Complex, delicious, and, while slightly passed its prime, worth it!

Bottle at RBSG 2011 and at BCTC 2008. Ok, so I’ve had this twice at festival/gatherings and both times I didn’t take any notes because of the other beers there were overwhelming. However, even in 2008, I remember this beer being oxidized and past its prime. I can imagine how awesome this was in its prime as I’ve had many of the Oerbier reservas in their prime and they are some of the best beers I’ve ever had. So anyway. I doubt I’ll ever see another bottle of this and if so it probably isn’t in the best condition now so this rating will have to do. Thanks to Kevin and Jason for sharing these gems.

Bottle courtesy of kramer at the grand tasting at RBSG in Philly. Pours a hazed orange golden amber. Big nutty acetone, fruity and nutty. Sweet and slightly raisiny. Toast, light acid. Sweet malt and toast. A bit rough around the edges.

750mL at RBSG 2011 in Philly thanks to kramer. So many thanks to Jason for putting on RBSG this year, organizing everything, setting up a massive pub crawl/bus tour, and then bringing this to our grand tasting.

My 2600th rating on this site. Speciaal Brouwsel 20 opens with a small detonation and gush. Pour is a hazy brune with a massive, tan head. Fizzy, short-live retention and suddy lace. The nose is musty caramel and rye bread with loads of cobwebs and basement. Showing signs of age and oxidation, but nothing too severe. As it opens up, the nose gains old fruit peel, mild mint, citrus tanginess. Very unusual like molding orange peel atop sort of an old ale or rich barleywine profile. Taste is odd. Up front it is sweet with lemonade then ends spicy sour and tart with oddities that remain like must, basement, caramel, and sweet rolls. Definitely has the sweet and sour thing going on. It is very nice though. Soft and complex albeit over the hill. I can’t imagine what it was like a few years ago but I am very thankful I was able to try this.