Tasting @Luppolo Station (Rome). Dorata carica, mediamente torbida, schiuma leggera. Al naso spettacolari note vinose, di botte, frutta gialla, lievito. In bocca è rotonda, complessa, appagante, dolce con chiusura acidula e amara, vinosa, potente, molto persistente. Corpo pieno, carbonazione medio-leggera. Un capolavoro.

Bottle at Moeder Lambic. Pours orange golden with medium white head that lasts. The aroma is strong oak, earth, orange zest. Medium body, wood, citrus, yeast, light acidity, enjoyed this.

Bottle, 750 ml courtesy of and shared with Hrvoje. Barrique 35. Clear orange with white head. Fruity, lots of barrel, vinous, white grapes, tad spicy. Moderate sourness. Soft texture. Bottle, 750 ml at Vilaggio della Birra 2022. Barrique 6. Cloudy orange with small white head. Fruity, funky, vinous, grapes. Quite complex. Nice.

Bottle shared at Billy's. It pours a lovely rich golden - blonde with a nice thick white head. The aroma is fresh, juicy, bright, white grape, gooseberry fool, dull funk, sherbet, lemony, lime, floral accents, oak, vanilla, fragrant, granny smith apple and blackberry. The taste is crisp, dry, firm, snappy, lemon peel, granny smith, minerality, vinous, white grape, oak, hay, funk, snappy, gooseberry, fool, florals touch of spice, tannin, touch of acidity, barnyard, spritzy and earth with a drying, tannic finish. Medium body and moderate, spritzy carbonation. Works well. Good depth, balance.

So far the most recent one in this legendary series, pioneering barrel ageing (in the modern ‘craft’ sense) at its starting point back in 2000, certainly in Belgium. This version is aged on Bordeaux red wine barrels but each 75 cl bottle, sold only at the brewery and there and there online on the second hand market, is a single barrel beer, with different barrels being involved. Huge thanks to Erwin for sharing this one. Snow white, moussy, medium thick, shred-lacing head on a misty deep warm amber-tinged orange blonde beer. Enticing bouquet of dried lime peel, biscuit, calvados, lots of vanilla-scenting wet oak wood, white peaches, apple peel, bitter garden weeds or even spring onions somewhere, almond, cooked pear. Sweet onset, port-soaked dried fig, ripe white peach, cooked pear, white grape – with a light tart edge from the wine barrel treatment, stretching throughout the beer, but far less obviously so than in e.g. the Dulle Teve Special Riserva we had right before this one. Soft carb, full and vinous body; lovely biscuity and caramelly maltiness dried by pronounced oakiness including a whole lot of that retronasal ‘vanilla’. The wine effects blends with the beer’s natural esters to create a fruit basket of ripe yellow plums, peaches and sweet white grapes, while that subtle gooseberry-ish tartness keeps things lighter than they really are, bringing a lot of elegance and finesse as well. Ends nevertheless sweet, warming but not overly boozy (port-like) and very long and rich, as is always the case in these Stille Nacht Special Reservas (and I know – I had every previous version). Complex, perhaps a tad young still, but with certain green-herbal characteristics in the nose that do set it apart a bit; this will only change colours in the course of the coming years so I should definitely try to find one to age.

Panda thanks to Cloin: Poured a burnt orange with a white head. Aroma is boozy, very high fermented fruit, woodsy, almost to paint thinner level. Taste is tangy fruit, woods, oaky, alcohol burn, citrus, grapes, leaves the tongue tingly.

Bottle shared in HW - big thanks to Dan. Pours unclear gold with a bubbly white head. Medium sweet flavour with moderate tang, salty sweat, ripe citrus, light funk, wood, lemon. Medium to full bodied with fine carbonation. Warming finish, tangy citrus, more salty sweat, funk. Very good.