25 Dodici
Birra Del Borgo

750 ml bottle, probably from Voldby Købmandsgaard. ABV is 9.5%. Dark brown colour with floaties, moderate off-white to beige head. Pleasant aroma of malts, caramel, orange peel and raisins, hints of mild spices. Medium sweet and mildly spicy flavour, again with notes of orange peel and raisins. Very moderate hops. A quite interesting and pleasant beer, which I’ll be happy to buy again for Christmas.

 

Pours a clear red-brown color with a small top of beige head that dissolves rapidly. Aroma is of plums,raisins, dates,caramel,bread,biscuits,orange peel,candy sugar and spices. The taste at the start is sweet with notes of dried and matured fruits while the background is malty with strong notes of caramel. It then gets more dry and spicy in the flavour before finish of with a medium bitterness with citric notes and still a good presence of caramel in the background. Decebt lenght in the aftertaste. Mouthfeel is soft and smooth with the alcohol hidden well. Medium carbonation with a medium body.
A very good brew all in all. Gets a christmas feel of it.

 

 

 

Alc. 8.0 %

8% ABV version.

 

Pours a sweet rusty orange. hazier at first then clearing with a few big bubbles but no head in the tasting glass.

Nose is brown sugar, orange, toffee, spice, hints of lemon, caramel and earth.

Drinks beautifully. Complex malt and vivacious fruity character. Rich and mellow but the hops dance on the palate. Pepper, spice and a generous herbal. Orange. The herbal form the hops will show you a very generous malt that is so sweetly done you almost have to close your eyes to really see it fully. When you do you will taste nuts, brittle caramel or hard crack caramel, sweet cakey bread. A wild hint of medicinal alcohol and then the perfect swallow. No harshness, no bite and hardly any bitterness from all those hops. Instead the bitterness you taste is from the orange and that is a bit of an illusion because the tip of your tongue does tingle a little as you notice a light mineral softness to the body of the beer. Tobacco leaf, light cocoa. It feels like silk.

This was one of the best beers I have had this year

100th review. Was going to save that for a special beer, but fuck, this is pretty damn good. The bottle gives no clear indicators of style, and though the 8% ABV would suggest otherwise, this drinks like a soft Barleywine. Candy-like malt, toffee aroma. Taste is caramel malts and melted tootsies rolls. Silky smooth. A bit thin on the mouthfeel.
Got this in an Adventskalender, but could drink it all night .

Vintage 2014 Edition. Bought at Systembolaget in Sweden in December 5, 2014.
ABV: 9.5% Best before: October 2016.

Iv'e had this in my beercellar for almost two years now and Birra del Borgo say: best before right now so it's time to pop it open!

The beer pours clear, mahogny with a lot of sediments. First I thought the sediments was because of the aging for 22 months but when I read others review this looks like it was there even fresh.
A three finger high, yellow-white head with lacing that clings to the glass for a long time.

Nose: Dried fruit, plum, raisin, orange, apricot, caramel, some vanilla, sweet syrup and balsamic vinegar.
Taste: Again a lot of dried fruit, sweet caramel malt, plum, very well hidden ABV - no alcohol at all! Toffee, raisin, malt and nuts.
Mouth: Medium body. Almost no carbonation. Sweet but dry and a complex body.

 

 

 

25 Dodici (25/12, Christmas Day) has an orange pekoe colour and sediment that floats in the glass like pieces of panettone. One doesn't have a choice in the matter - they come out with the very first pour and only get thicker from there. Its head is also thick and leaves lacing like reams of wrapping paper.

Clementines have always been part of our family's Christmas tradition and, through the use of dried orange peel, the aroma magically conjures that element of the season very well. Hints of ginger and toffee enhance the holiday theme and create a delicate bouquet of citrus, spice, and sweetness.

25 Dodici has a wonderfully balanced fruit profile that oscillates between dried and tropical varieties; flavours bounce from juicy clementine to golden raisin, ruby grapefruit to dried apricot, with plenty of fig in between. The taste of fruits of all colours really conjures summer yet retains its intended winter-y feel.

I've had this bottle in my possession for nearly a year and still have one more to go before the stamped 'best before' passes. While it's drinking beautifully tonight - mellow, nuanced, no trace of alcohol - I can't help but wonder how much more zestful it might have been fresh. No need to stash it any longer.

I can't think of a better way to say 'buon Natale!' This winter warmer has all the marzipan, clementine, and fruitcake notes to accompany your December meals and festivities. Italy as a nation knows a thing or two about Christmas and clearly so do its brewers. 25 Dodici is a true holiday treat.

 

 

 

Opaque shades of chestnut brown with two fingers of tan foam. Smell is light on the spices with large dark fruit especially date, black currant, caramel, roasted nuts and vanilla. Taste has a tartness to it that is misplaced, dark fruit carries, malts are woody and musty in a way. Feel is smooth, fruity and some what tart yet dark. Just a very odd take.