12 Beers of Christmas - Day Ten - De Dolle Stille Nacht

Day Ten - De Dolle Brouwers Stille Nacht (Belgium, 12%)

This being the only yuletide-themed beer in my 12 Beers line-up, I should probably have drunk Stille Nacht before the big day. Luckily, it has a lot to offer beyond festive gimmicks, and not a pinch of cinnamon in sight!

A healthily lively pour, it's thankfully easier to wrangle into a glass than some other De Dolle beers I've encountered. Even before lifting the glass to my nose, there's a strong aroma of honey and sweet orange, but the first gulp surprises with a resinous bitterness. I wasn't expecting that, although bitterness is a noted characteristic in many De Dolle offerings, and it's especially notable in a beer that was bottled over a year ago. The sharp citrus quality, along with a tingling carbonation, adds a lightness to the syrupy Madeira booze underneath.

On the strength of this bottle, I should make Stille Nacht a Christmas staple.

12 Beers of Christmas - Day Eleven - De Dolle Brouwers Oerbier

Day Eleven - De Dolle Brouwers Oerbier (Belgium, 9%)

Whilst the glassware on this occasion may not have helped matters, Oerbier conforms to a trend amongst De Dolle beers in that it was an absolute ordeal to pour (see below for a comic attempt at decanting a bottle of Arabier from earlier this year). Having caught it within seconds of gushing all over my Grandma’s mantelpiece, the above picture captures the glass in the middle of several minutes’ worth of cautious pouring and settling, and I was desperate for the bloody thing to calm down so I could taste it.

Another delicious glass of De Dolle foam

And when I finally did, guess what? Treacle and plums. Well, amongst lots of other things, but they’re there. On a similar theme, there are figs, caramel, and plenty of dried fruit, recalling the booze-soaked currants in Christmas cake. There’s also a little black tea and a strong red wine undercurrent. It’s rich but just ever-so-slightly tart, which is lovely and really lifts it out of heavy winter-warmer territory. Further ageing reportedly accentuates this quality, and although I'm unsure how old this bottle is (BBE February 2017), I'll try and hold onto future bottles for as long as possible, because it's by far the most interesting element in the beer for me.

The end is in sight. Join me tomorrow for the final beer of this run as I ring in the new year with something special.