The brewery name translates to ‘The Mad Brewers’, and meeting brewer Kris Herteleer you do notice he is slightly eccentric. (I wish a had a picture to share of the bright blue and speckled pastel shoes he was wearing during our recent visit to the brewery!)
Arabier is one of the two main beers from De Dolle (the other being Oerbier). It is a Belgian Pale Ale, but is really so much more.
A golden yellow body supports a billowing white head (beware – you will need to poor this beer carefully). Typical Belgian yeast aromas come pouring out of the glass, along with earthy hops.
It is a heavily-hopped beer (65 IBU), with dry-hopping using flower Nugget hops from nearby Poperinge. The high carbonation is something brewer Kris believes helps make this beer special.
Lovely citrus and tropical fruits, clean, crisp malt backbone, strong hop bitterness and a little undercurrent of something in the background that is attributed to the open copper koelschip; which is a step in the production of all De Dolle’s beers.