2024 bottle, 9% ABV. Amber with a large white head that lasts pretty well. Rich bready aroma with honeyed dough, spices, apple peel and box. Taste is along those lines but not as sweet as anticipated and with decisive bitterness. Dangerously swiggable. Not at all surprised that I like this a lot.

Merely months after we got treated to a Valentine’s version of Dulle Teve and one aged on French wine barrels – both extremely limited so I consider myself lucky to have been at the brewery at the right moment – the great Dolle Brouwers treat us with yet another Dulle Teve Reserva, this time bottled in 33 cl Vichy bottles (about 5,000 in total) and aged on Priorat barrels (Spanish red wine). Some slow gushing, but perfectly manageable. Moussey, off-white, open and loosely knit head retaining sparsely around the edges, over an initially clear, warm orange-glowing peachy amber robe, hazy with sediment. Rich bouquet of dried apricot, vanilla-breathing oak wood, old dusty barrels, dry rosé wine, ground almonds, dried orange peel, clove, fenugreek seed, moist white pepper, cheese rind, white port, Sultana raisins, calvados, ripe pear. Brightly fruity onset (like the special editions of earlier this year), sweet and rich with a sourish edge, apricot-, pear- and mandarin-like with a slice of melon thrown in as well as something ‘preserved’ (yellow raisins), fizzily carbonated in a refined way with full, vinous mouthfeel. Brioche-, biscuit- and somewhat Betterfood-like sweetened malt character with this white grape-like sour edge persistently yet subtly running underneath, providing the perfect balance; mild hop bitter and tannic woody notes in the finish, with retronasal vanilla effects from the oak as well as something demi sec- or white port-like, a bit ‘desserty’, yet still kept in check by that sour undertone. Orange peel, mandarin and ripe apricot effects, even a slight hint of rambutan, shine in the end, in a ‘sunny’ and summery kind of way. Slight dusty and gently spicy accents add further depth. I guess I have to more or less repeat what I wrote about those extremely limited Dulle Teve variants of last winter: this beer far surpasses its intended tripel character with its brightness, fruitiness and possibilities in barrel ageing – it is, in fact, apparently as suitable for the barrel treatment as its bigger brother Stille Nacht. This version too has it all: a wonderfully perfumey fruit and wood bouquet, vinous and layered flavour, long finish which perfectly binds everything together in one great apotheosis and the potential of shifting colours and shades as it is further cellared. This is what ‘tripel’ is capable of, but in stark contrast with the countless tripels brewed on Belgian soil, very few actually do; more than anything, though, this is Belgian style ale at its best, coming from one of its greatest, earliest and most experienced ‘micro’ pioneers. Get this one if you still can (and especially if you missed out on the Trousseau du Jura version!).