De Dolle Stille Nacht Special Reserva 2005

Formerly brewed at De Dolle Brouwers
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Diksmuide, Belgium

Courtesy of goldtwins via trade

Bottle: The aroma is a combination of yeast, fruit, white wine, and sour grapes. The combination as a whole sort of has a sweet tart aroma. The alcohol in the nose is just noticeable. It pours a cloudy orange with lots of sediment with a large white head with decent retention. The flavor starts yeasty with some light fruit. The finish is a strong combination of white wine, sour grapes, and faint apple.

I wish I was lucky enough to try this next to the original. Either way this is great. Also goes really well with spicy food. The vanilla and oak flavors smooth and mellow out the spice. Aromas of cherry. Pours a cloudy deep orange. Big white head. Slight alcohol flavors.

Bottle. Don’t notice a huge difference b/t this one and the regular version. Maybe a tad bit more alcohol (which I like), but otherwise is very similar.

Thanks to footbalm for hooking me up with a bottle of this. Golden coloured body with lots of carbonation with a tall coarse head that almost immediately disappeared into a little ring. The aroma is sweet apple, vanilla, a bit of banana and some alcohol. Sweet flavour with a lot of alcohol heat the does a good job of covering up some of the more intricate flavours. It has more of a liquor like quality than beer. There’s oak flavours with some banana and pear. The sweetness is erased with the dry alcohol. This was good, and got better as it warmed. The extreme alchohol burn detracted quite a bit overall, however.

Polished gold body with a moderate suspension of yeast and a dissipating, sudsy white head. Body is paler than expected. Pale malty aroma with notes of apple, banana, bread, light Brett, vanilla, and some fusel alcohol. Rich organic honey tones in the flavor with some pear notes and Calvados qualtiies. Medium high sweetness, but balancing heat and bitterness. Palate has some sweet liquor slickness and substantial carbonation. Good beer? Yes. Great beer? No. At least not right now.

Bottle sampled with Beerded_one. Pours a peach like color (or like a blush wine). Aroma of fruit, spices, alcohol, citrus, and oak-like. The flavor is sweet, fruit, citrus, spices alcohol, oak, vanilla, citrus, and just seems to get better as it warms. Good body, excellent brew. Thanks Robert from State Line Liquors for this awesome Brew.

33 cl bottle. Poured a bit flatter than I expected, about two fingers. Beautiful sparkling golden-orange; slightly cloudy with nice lingering lace. Honey, apricot, grape, and sweet alcohol aroma mix with sweet jelly initial flavor nosing out nice balance of other flavors. Long, prickly and spicy sweet taste with an alcohol finish, and slightly bitter lingering aftertaste. Light-to-medium body. Nice beer. Rerate in May 2008: Almost cloying sweet caramel, butterscotch, and fruity hard candy tastes are nearly bittered by spicy hops and alcohol. Seems like a lighter version of Thomas Hardy ale, with spices added. Smooth, almost medium body is adequately dried on the finish by alcohol and spice. Nice dessert.

Pours dark golden and slightly hazy with a thin, mostly receding off-white head. Aroma of tart brett, green apple, cider, citrus, chamomile, and yeast. Taste of chamomile, oak, plenty of tartness and horse blanket, orange peel, spicy alcohol. Mouthfeel is full bodied with lively carbonation and a slightly acidic finish. Wow, this beer is incredible. I think it’s still a little rough around the edges, but in a few years it will be smooth and dry. I hope I can wait that long to drink my other bottle!