Bottle shared at Kenny’s 20K tasting - London. Did not expect that I would ever get to try this one, so a massive thanks goes out to Kenny for sharing this with us all! Pour mostly clear, bright orange-gold with a frothy white head. The aroma holds a lot of vibrant fruits, ripe apples, melon. citrus. Medium to heavy sweet flavour with notes of smooth apple sauce, light woody dryness, peach, pear, honey, stewed citrus fruits. Full bodied, lightly chewy, with fine carbonation. Warming finish with more ripe and chewy fruits, honey, pear, citrus, some pale bread, toffee. This stuff is just absolutely outstanding. Great depth, nicely rounded. It has aged immaculately.

Old crappy notes, so bear with me. Madeira, caramel, cherries, coffee crisp jump out of the nose. So much going on. The mouth feel is creamy, and velvety smooth. Chocolate cake dumped into port with dark cherries, caramel and touch of thyme. Alcohol is totally hidden for 12%. Smooth mildly bitter finish with lingering port notes. Amazing.

Bottle. Opaque copper pour with a fleeting white head. Wonderful vinous and caramel malt bouquet. Amazed after all the bad reports, that I don’t detect any oxidation. All kinds of caramel malts, with tasty Bordeaux, vanilla, and oak highlights. For being 15 years old this beer is really solid. I imagine the red wine notes were more present back in the day. That being said, this is such a treat and is damn good. Kudos to my guy who properly cellared this bottle for the past 10 years. Above average body and mouthfeel.

How: Bottle.
Where: Kulminator, Antwerp.
Appearance: Hazy dark amber/brown colour with a minimal head.
Aroma: Fruit, caramel, port, raisin.
Body: Full body, lots of carbonation.
Flavour: Full, somewhat burned flavour of fruit, spices, raisin, malt.
Comment: An amazing beer that has aged very well. One of the best, if not the best, Christmas beers I’ve tasted and by far the best version of Stille Nacht tasted so far.

10th September 2011
Cloudy orange - brown beer. Decent sized white head. Nose reminds me very much of a Vintage Port cork that has just been pulled. Palate is soft and semi dry and quite well carbonated. Mild caramel malt backbone, tasting slightly aged. Riding over all this are rich wine notes. Red wine with strawberry and then later on blackberry and blackcurrant. Agitating the beer produces some lactose on the nose. Aniseed becomes more obvious. There is a surprising amount of carbonation here and much agitation is required to remove it! The finish is dry and woody. This is the most Port like beer I’ve ever had. Even the Port barrel beers have not been this porty. If you look at recent ratings people are saying this is past it’s best. Who knows but judging it on it’s own merit it’s still quite remarkable it it’s uniqueness and rich flavour. The alcohol is still quite robust. The most surprising thing about this is that De Dolle have never redone this. 2013 postscript - they must have read my mind!

15th January 2016
That’ll be me 20K then @ ChrisO’s. Almost clear orange beer, small cream colour head. Light palate, decent fine carbonation. Lovely Port Wine flavours with vibrant crystallised fruits. Mild floralness and spice. Touch of fresher red berries. Light semi dry finish. 15+ years on and still fabulous.

Thanks a lot to madmitch for the chance to try this rare beer. Looks good in the glass, not as dark as exspected, small head. Malty-old aroma. Starts very strong, intense malty, hints of caramel and wood. More and more fiery-alcoholic without being too much. Well balanced. Fruity hints of beeries, a bit sourish. Warming aftertaste, goes down burning. Probably already a bit over its top, but still an awesome beer!