Serafijn Kerstlicht
Microbrouwerij Achilles

 

 

 

Poured into a snifter glass. The beer pours dull hazy orange with a thick, slowly retreating white head. There are some visible tiny bubbles rising in the beer. The beer has those typical Belgian pale ale smells of bubble gum type yeast, toffee, citrus and grassy hops with the bready malt. The taste follows the nose with a bit more of the yeast coming out here. The citrus takes on a more tart character. Some of that hop bitterness comes in the back. The malt is pretty light in the flavor. The beer is medium bodied with lively carbonation. The finish is slightly dry and the alcohol has a nice warming quality. This is a good beer.

 

Maybe the recipe has forges changed, because I don't recognize much of the first reviews. This is a decent beer with a continous interesting smell.

L: gold, orange, great foamy top;
S: you keep on exploring: very bready, raisins, dark beer smells (dark sugar, caramel), apple, pear;
T: like Heksemiebier the taste cannot compete with the smell, but it's good, ultra round, no bitterness, bready;
M: a bit overcarbonated, alcohol feels quite strong though it's only 7%.
O: I will certainly pick this one up anothertime, if only to train my nose!

Reddish color, slightly hazy,with some yeast chunks in it. A lot of foam, maybe even too much, white.
Lively carbonation.
Very sweet smell, with royal jelly, sweetness, and some warm spicy note.
A bit too heavy and cloying.
I know is a Christmas beer, but anyway, a bit too...
Not a great drinkability in the end.

33 cl brown gold foiled bottle with a consume before date on the side of the label.

Appearance: Lacing is nothing special but it is there, very hazed amber orange is a bit stubborn.

Smell: Touch of soft grapefruit and ripe pear with a cake like maltiness as well, handful of yeast and mild alcoholic esters get to the nostrils too.

Taste: Lots of yeast, slightly tart … more yeast, alcohol is there but clouded. Malt is thin and puckering. Light hopping but the bitter phenolic action makes up for that. Finish with a bitty yeast flavour that does not want to leave.

Mouthfeel: Decent smoothness, medium body and struggling crispness.

Drinkability & Notes: Very raw and hard to swallow. The off flavours are not horrible, just more or less bothersome on the palate. Not a brew I’d go back to but it was worth the try.