Régal Christmas
Brasserie Du Bocq

Régal ChristmasRégal Christmas
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From:
Brasserie Du Bocq
 
Belgium
Style:
Belgian Dark Strong Ale
ABV:
8.1%
Score:
88
Avg:
3.93 | pDev: 11.45%
Reviews:
11
Ratings:
13
Status:
Active
Rated:
Apr 27, 2021
Added:
Jul 30, 2004
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
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Photo of Sigmund
Reviewed by Sigmund from Norway

4.27/5  rDev +8.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
750 ml corked bottle conditioned, cool label! Brown colour, slightly hazy, good initial head but not lingering, lovely spicy aroma, yeasty, malty and spicy flavour - a real treat for the Christmas table.
Apr 27, 2021
 
Rated: 4.25 by WOLFGANG from South Carolina

Jul 13, 2013
 
Rated: 4.75 by RogerDoger from Minnesota

Oct 11, 2012
Photo of weissbierdrinker
Reviewed by weissbierdrinker from Belgium

3.98/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Pours a dark brown color that is hard to see through, leaves very nice lacing.

Smell is of figs, pear, slightly sweet.

If you could bottle christmas and make it a beer this would be it. Taste like I just ate a ginger bread house, christmas tree, and candy canes in liquid form.

Starts out with a heavy fig/pine flavor with a over ripe pear notes sweet bitter finish, very hard to describe, try it for yourself. I'll buy more for the cellar. Reminds me of Gordon's Scotch Ale
Nov 05, 2009
Photo of thierrynantes
Reviewed by thierrynantes from France

3.8/5  rDev -3.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Beer bottle (33cl.), tasted in 2007.

Appearance : brown dark color, with tan foamy head.
Smell : malty, lightly roasted and fruity.
Taste and mouthfeel : a huge and malty body fills the mouth and leaves the palate, with sweetness and spicy bitterness.
Drinkability : a good beer in the style Belgian strong dark ale.
Nov 26, 2008
Photo of bark
Reviewed by bark from Sweden

3.2/5  rDev -18.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 3
The liquid is clear; the colour is deep brown with a hint of red. The large head is first compact bit gets airy rather than sinks down. It is however beige and uneven.

The smell is sweet and wheat-y in a Belgian way. Some notes make me think of Coke and other sodas, there are lots of fruity esters here: Exotic fruits like mango, oranges and papaya but also some mild herbs and spices, caramel and a hint of evil alcohol.

The taste is spicy with some roasted malts. The body is surprisingly light for a beer of this strength. Sweet flavours of liquorice (aniseed?), citric fruits, pecan nuts and caramel. The aftertaste got a growing bitterness (much stronger than I expected from this style). There are also some alcohol and oranges.

The carbonation is strong, almost sharp. The bubbles are large and the liquid is very light in the mouth.

I didn’t really like this one: It tasted artificial.
Dec 09, 2006
Photo of wl0307
Reviewed by wl0307 from England

4.03/5  rDev +2.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Tasted by half-pint on tap at the White Horse pub, Parson's Green in South-West London. Served in a half-pint sized wine chalice. The abv. is slightly higher than the bottled version, at 9.1%~~

A: it pours a very dark brownish hue, with a fast-effervescent, huge rocky and frothy beer head, and the barman had to pour the beer in three turns with a pretty long interval b/w each pour~~ Finally the huge froth settles to a 0.5cm thick tight frothy cap and sustains literally throughout the drink, leaving equally tight and fine lacing along the way~~
S: the immediate aroma resembles ripe black plums coated with sticky, caramelised candy, it's just that rich~~ also noticeable are tangerine-flavouring, black-cherry/cherry-liquor aroma on top of a very settled and deep note of dark maltiness and dashes of alcohol--in a word, it smells a bit like a piece of "black-forest gateau"!!
T: creamy plummy and sweet caramel-dark malts upfront, bursting with alcoholic heat and a port-like vinous touch; leaving some woody, sweet plums and licorice-like herbal sweetness in the aftertaste.
M&D: going pretty light on the mouthfeel with unseen but lively carbonation, yet the body remains fuller than 100%, causing an interesting experience on the palate overall. Quite "quaffable", for such a high-octave Belgian strong dark ale. On the balance, it's less complex than the bottled version I had just weeks ago, perhaps due to the fact that it's served three centigrades too low~~
Feb 17, 2006
Photo of thesilverhand
Reviewed by thesilverhand from Canada (BC)

3.95/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
A splendid Christmas gift -- part of a line-up of Belgian Christmas beers given to me by my better half.

Pours a dark hazy red, topped by a big, light, frothy beige head that leaves tons of lace on my chalice.

Smells lightly spicy and very floral. Enticing and warm. Yeasty, with just a hint of the alcohol to come.

Sweet and darkly fruity. True to form, it reminds me of a dark Christmas pudding -- fruit and just enough booziness to be reminiscent of the brandy therein.

Quite active on the palate, with a lot of carbonation.

Overall, a very nice winter sipper. Also (post-review) it goes very well with a hearty beef-and-leek stew.
Jan 11, 2006
Photo of paterlodie
Reviewed by paterlodie from Belgium

3.41/5  rDev -13.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
BB 22-09-06. Nice and lasting head and dark brown and clear beer. Nose is lots of sweet gale, spicy, caramellic and fulled with alcohol. Still there is an unplesant raw and old vegetable note to it with lots of sprouts. Taste is good with full and heavy taste giving lots of caramellic and dark candy, well balanced with alcohol and sweetness but maybe missing a bit af a real bitter-raosty aftertaste/bite. Still a well drinkable beer and worth trying out once.
Dec 11, 2005
Photo of Naerhu
Reviewed by Naerhu from Japan

4.45/5  rDev +13.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5
The darkets amber with offwhite head (very far off).
Citrusy hop aroma, with belgian yeast and carob bean notes.
Great elegant bitterness, brown sugar and molases flavor.
This is a bigboned beer with a great smooth mouthfeel.
This is by far the best of the Du Bocq lineup. I think I have found my new official holiday beer!.
Jan 03, 2005
Photo of jahred
Reviewed by jahred from Illinois

3.18/5  rDev -19.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
The last of my beers from my trip to Amsterdam this summer. Pours with a huge, off-white head that caught me off-guard in my pour. Lots of tiny, tiny bubbles rise to the top of my glass. Very pretty in its brown color with reddish hints in the right light.

The smell is promising - dry, crusty bread, and plum.

The taste has a lemon-like bitterness to it that caught me off-guard. Later I detected some creamy chocolate notes, though the citrusy bitterness remained. It's not quite a hoppy bitterness - chalky is a better word. It reminds me of tonic water, and lingers in the aftertaste, disappointingly overwhelming all the other chocolate and dark fruit flavors. Not sure what causes something like that.
Dec 27, 2004
Photo of Paddez
Reviewed by Paddez from Belgium

4.11/5  rDev +4.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
I hesitated a long time before picking this one up at my local supermarket. It comes in a Duvel-shaped bottle but has arguably one of the worst labels ever wich doesn't add to it's appeal.

I was pleasantly surprised however.

Poured a cloudy brown brew with a medium-sized head that drops very quickly, leaving behind a small layer of foam that stays put for quite a while. The smell is pretty vague, there's coffee but not much else.
The taste starts off with stout-like aroma's: coffee and caramel to be overtaken by a complex taste of honey, nuts and hops and finally finishes off with a long nice bitter aftertaste.
Drinkability and mouthfeel are good.

A very nice and original beer, almost like they mixed up a nice stout with a Hoegaarden. If you come across this one, give it a try!
Oct 27, 2004
Régal Christmas from Brasserie Du Bocq
Beer rating: 88 out of 100 with 13 ratings