Biere De Noel
Micro-Brasserie Breughel

Friend bought two of these not knowing anything about them. I'm kind of scared of opening one (hate drain pouring) but my ticking reflex is saying ''do it''

Served in flute.

A- Half a glass of head (more ifyou don't pour carefully). A tightly knit beige foam. Lacing, really looks like lace and is all over. Head receded quickly enough but a good size mound is left which doesn't look like it's gonna budge. Deep, brown/ruby which is just a little cloudy. Head is nice but a bit crude. Liquid is a pretty colour but there's something dull about it.

S- Alcohol. That early fermentation smell you get when you sniff your airlock after a couple days of activity. Dark fruit malt. A little cranberry.

T- Oh shiiiit. This is sour. Almost crabapple sour with a red wine tannin background. After-taste is a strong wood with a side of paper. Cheap caramel malt/LME backbone. Good? Bad? I'd say not good but drinkable. I guess this kind of tastes like a bad wine with a bit of LME diluted in it. Cranberry too.

M- Medium carbonation. Very dry. Medium to thin body. Not nearly as much life or character in this as most other BSDA's I've tried.

D- Light, refreshing. Not really tasty though. Didn't want a second glass but I think the 11% got to me and I'm gearing up to finish the bottle. I am kind of scared of getting a tummy ache though... seems like the kind of beer.

Is this what it's supposed to taste like? Seems like a fluke... Maybe this should be classified as a wild ale or something. How can every Breughel beer be infected? He's got to be doing this on purpose. This is one crazy brewer.

This thing blew up in the glass. Couldn't drink it for 10 minutes after I started to pour it. Insane amount of almond coloured head. Aroma is sweet grape and alcohol. Taste is horrendous. Dry, acidic, alcohol and malt. Just in all bad proportions. I don't wish this beer on anyone. Drink wine it taste better and is put together more properly as it doesn't have this bitterness. As a beer, this fails miserably.

Okay, here's an example of too much head. The ENTIRE glass was foam. Five minutes later, 1/4 liquid-3/4 head. Spotty lace. Neutral brown color with a significant haze. I'm torn between a 2 and a 4 for a rating.

Bready and doughy with a hint of raisins and raw alcohol.

Thin and mildly carbonated (must have gone to its head, pun intended). Highly alcoholic. Lots of wine and raisin flavors. Decent hop finish for the balance. The aftertaste is all throat warming alcohol. Since the beer is so dry, I'd describe this sensation as closer to a vodka warmth than a brandy flavor.

Bottle: Poured a deep burgundy color ale with a small foamy head with minimal retention and lacing. Aroma of weird deep sugary malt which almost taste like adjunct. Taste is a mix between some medium sweet malt with some adjunct like-sweetness. Body is quite thin for the style with some average carbonation and no alcohol could be detected. I thought this was generally bland but not as bad as I had expected.

Strange brew.Insane foaming. Foam epidemic at moment of opening and it continued. Taste: some mollasses brown and caramel, a bit metallic. Drinkaable.Burnt so I cannot list the flavours. Creaminess though medium and light when you get down to the liquid.