The Spirit World

When you study for the Beer Judge Certification Program, you are told that if a beer gushes, or erupts out of the bottle when you open it, this usually means that the beer is infected. But when you open a bottle of a beer from the de Dolle Brouwers (Esen, Belgium) and it leaps out at you, it’s just those crazy brewers pushing the refermentation envelop. The first bottle from de Dolle I ever popped went off like violently shaken champagne — it was the 1996 vintage Stille Nacht.

I opened a bottle of Museum Bier this evening. I have six different beers from de Dolle that I’d like to write about. I’ll end with my favorite, Oerbier. This is my first taste of Museum Bier and I wish I had ordered several. This bottle I had to order directly from Belgium.

Eyes: This beer erupted out of the bottle creating a surging, swelling head of foam with a column of suds almost leaping from the bottle. The beer itself is golden, but because of the sediment from the bottle fermentation it pours cloudy.

Nose: The only problem with the near geyser of foam and the explosive head is that the aroma dissipates quickly. I only caught some floral notes and characteristic Belgian sweetness before my nose lost the scent.

Taste: I certainly get some alcohol on the tongue. This is a warming beer. There’s a dry, almost rye-like bitterness. An unusual flavor that I haven’t run into very often — almost citrusy, on the verge of grapefruit, but grainier. The predominant flavor is almost like smoldering wood chips - a smoky beer.

Overall: Pleasant, bubbly, frothy drink with abundant warmth and complex bitterness supported on a woody foundation.

My Rating: 15/20

While I was trying to find some more information about de Dolle’s Museum Bier, I found a really interesting web site by a group of Belgian beer enthusiasts. The site is called The Burgundian Babble Belt. I did find one reference to Museum bier there, but no tasting notes.

If you can’t find de Dolle beers at your local beer shop, you have have them delivered to your doorstep. Or you could try their US importer: B.United International.