Belgian Rare Beer Series - TASTING NOTES - Stille Nacht

De Dolle have mad me happy in so many ways. When travelling to the chocolate and beer laden flatlands I've had the pleasure of tasting practically all of this superb brewer's flock. Back in days of old I had the pleasure of tasting the De Dolle Oerbier Special Reserva 2004. A fantastically rich, subtle and a cheeky 13% of sharp cherry drinkability.

This may be a reasonably short little tasting note but that does not simplify or belittle the rich dried fruit, alcohol laden booze fest that is Stille Nacht.

Pouring with a lighten hue than the atypical strong dark this little brew embodies a dark, rich almost syrupy tangerine body with a little touch of yeasty haze.

The nose is rich as expected. Lots and lots of silky alcohol laden estery sugars and a cacophony of dried fruit and ripe banana. Slightly smoky, lots of rich yeast and a little slight touch of buttery diacetyl on the finish.

As expected the body is rich and sticky. Taste is sweet, syrupy and superbly dry and rich. An oodle of the expected spicy fruit, dates as well as a healthy serving of home made bread and butter pudding.

Delicious as is the case with every other De Dolle brew. A little lighter and perhaps heading towards a rich Belgian barleywine over a dark ale, but drinkable for the strength and ultimately worth more than a little sip.

Belgian Rare Beer Series - TASTING NOTES - Drie Fonteinen Doesjel

Bottled 2006

I've found over the last few years drinking some of the finest hopped and malted beverages that it is possible and in fact easy to introduce a non beer-drinker to the ways of the Belgian. It's hard for anyone, regardless of how confusingly inept their palette may be to refuse a superbly rich dark ale. Boozy soaked raisins, a waft of spice and overly ripe banana all topped of with a whack of yeast and a warming finish of alcohol.

That being said introducing someone to a lambic or any true spontaneously fermented ale is a little like trying to get a child to stop drinking orange juice for breakfast and choose bleach instead.

In my opinion however once you get past the initial palette shocker of tartness and sharp citric character and delve deeper into the reams of levels and variances you are in for a treat, and will ever be a proponent of the ever so funky, Gueuze.

This was the final bottle to make my rather carefully selected case to bring back with me from my recent trip to Bruges. I bought this corked 375ml from The Bottle Shop, one of the better beer selections in the tourist riddled town however also unfortunately one of the pricier.

Short and sweet, Drie Fonteinen is perhaps my favourite lambic brewer. While I was in Bruges I sampled lots of gueuzes, comparing and contrasting all of the big names including Cantillon and Oud Beersel - it still reigns supreme.

The difference with Doesjel however is the sharp , champagne like carbonation has gone and what we're left with is a flat version of a normally lively little ale.

Smell and aroma is of course typically tart and pungent. Dry and dusty permeated by lots of fresh grapefruit and lemon along with metallic notes, iron rich and musty.

Taste, next to no fizz whatsoever means the flavours come through perhaps more sharply and subtly as is normal. Light on the palette with hoards of almost fermented lemon juice, barnyard funk with a very very slight hint of honey sweetness and a lingering touch of warming booze on the finish.

A different way to look at the style. Interesting and worth a tipple but certainly not on par with their standard and vintage oude gueuze.