The Twelve Beers of Christmas - De Dolle Stille Nacht
De Dolle Brouwers or the Mad Brewers, located in Esen Belgium is one of my favorite beer producers. The history of the brewing operation there is an inspiration to anyone who has ever thought that one day they might like to open a brewery. The brewery itself is over a hundred years old (maybe closer to two hundred). The current batch of brewers — the Mad Brewers — are professionals (an architect, a doctor, etc.) who bought the brewery to keep it from being shut down. They only brewed on the weekends in the beginning, but for many years they have been in full time operation.
Their Christmas beer (which I’m including in this year’s list of twelve) is called Stille Nacht or Silent Night. This is a big beer, high in alcohol (12% abv), heavy in flavor. The tasting notes below are from a bottle I purchased last year. There was nothing on the bottle about what year it was brewed so I’m assuming this is a 2004 vintage.
Eyes: Golden/amber in color. I didn’t get much head from this beer. Higher alcohol beers tend to have less head, but the lack of head may have been because I poured this beer carefully; there’s a great deal of sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Like many of beers from Belgium, this one is refermented in the bottle which results in a layer of sediment that I prefer to leave behind. If you are a brewer, you might want to culture some of this yeast yourself and use it in your next high alcohol beer.
Nose: The alcohol is so strong that you can smell it. I also detect the odor of green apples.
Taste: This beer is thick and syrupy. The primary tastes are brown sugar and molasses. It drinks like a port. There is also some fruitiness and some additional flavor components added from the oak barrel the beer was fermented in.
Overall: A big, strong, sweet beer. Definitely for sipping. Very warming. Good at room temperatures when all the flavors come out.
My Rating: 13/20 or 6.5/10
Pro: This beer can be cellared almost indefinitely. I have a bottle from the 1996 batch that I’m saving until next year. Store at 50°F or 10 C.
Con: Not particularly refreshing. The vintage (2004, I think) I tasted is a little too sweet for my taste.
