Oerbier Special Reserva is another classic dirty band aid smelling beer—the nose is tart with plastic and adhesive aromas. There are
also some dark fruit aromas that linger along the edges, and low levels of alcohol warmth and sharpness. A rich brownish red colored beer is covered by a light tan head that dissipates to a ring rather quickly. Starting tart in the front, it moves to sour in the middle, although both are present on the palate, and then finishes with the rise of dark fruit flavors—most noticeably plum and cherry—and some adhesive flavors. There is little noticeable malt character; we’re guessing the aging allowed all that to nicely funkify itself. Lively and bright on the mouth, the carbonation is sharp and crisp, and helps accentuate both the tartness and sourness of the beer. The body is medium to light—pretty thin, actually, for a 13% ABV beer. Oerbier Special Reserva’s 
complexity and nuance of flavor is quite enjoyable, and it is certainly a beer to spend time enjoying—it is a very good beer. This is also certainly something you could throw in the basement and pull out in a couple of years to see how it changed in the interim. Too bad we don’t have any more hanging around. I’d make a sad-faced emoticon here, but then I’d have to kick my own ass.From the bottle: “Aged in oak barrels, refermented in bottle.”
From the K & L Wine Merchants website: “De Dolle Oerbier Reserva is a specially matured version of De Dolle Oerbier. This version is matured for 18 months in Bordeaux wine casks. Oerbier means original, from the spring. This beer has been brewed in small scale (5 gallons) in a copper wash kettle, by two brothers who were students not so long ago. They took over an old brewery which was out of business, and we are sure glad they did.”
ABV: 13%
(2/4/2010)
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