Barbe Noël
Brouwerij Verhaeghe

 

 

Bottled and poured as it as bottle conditioned to reveal a nice clear amber body with really inviting white head
Aroma is Belgian candy and crystal Kayline
Flavour is that with a little Blackpool multi coloured rock

 

L- Mid gold, clear. 2Cm white head.
S- Rich and spicy.
T- Esters.
F- Deeply
O- Very much of it's mold, and good.Glad I bought two bottles, so I can enjoy the other another day.
330ml bottle. Bought from Trmebling Madness York. BB: 26/02/2024

Nov. 2017: 330 ml bottle, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 10%. Clear golden colour, huge white head. Strong sweetish aroma of white kandij sugar syrup, mild spices, dried yellow fruits and Belgian ale yeast. The flavour is medium sweet, again with notes of white kandij sugar and mild spices, hints of yellow plums, some alcohol, moderate hops.

 

 

Pours a clear golden body topped with impressive retaining head, lacing excellent. Very good, but not what I expected of a Christmas seasonal beer.

On the nose is strong, plenty of spice with a vinegary/sour tone. Quite appealing.

Taste is solid if not sublime, and takes a few mouthfuls to get to grips. Malty but also a bitter/sour finish. Aftertaste is pleasing, gentle warming and nothing harsh.

Feel is quite dry like an Uber strong quad, yet this is only 7.2% abv. It isn't ultra drinkable, more of a sip by the open fire type brew. The batch I have is not 10%? Headscratch.

Overall, this is a solid brew, but a little confused. Great in part and fairly mediocre in others. Still worth a try, especially on special offer out of season.

Gushed a bit when opened; pours a very effervescent amber. traces of lacing & head retention

S: Brown bread & a little fig, some metallic notes as well, booze & cinnamon as this warms

T: Cinnamon, a little juicyfruit, dryness & a little clove up front. Pears, cinnamon, a little juicyfruit as this warms, a little booze burn as well, started getting a little candi sugar dryness too. Finishes with pears candi sugar & a little cinnamon & raisin

MF: Strong carbonation, kind of watery body, thickens up at room temperature

Had high hopes for this,will probably sit on my other 3 bottles for a while, pretty much a bottle of disjointed meh right now

Blonde, just a veil of foam.
Good smell, candy sugar, honey, but fresh and pleasant.
Again candy sugar in the taste, with fruity notes of apricot. Some wood hints.
Freshness. 10 ABV absolutely not perceptible.
Vanilla.
Average body, sugary starting aftertaste, fresh and long.
Good,
Belgian Christmas!

 

11.2oz bottle bb 2/8/19 poured into a becher glass at fridge temp 10% ABV. The beer pours mostly bright with a few floaties in a light amber to blonde color. The head is off white and rises quickly to a rocky mass only to fizz away to a few bubbles and a thin ring. The aroma is clove, bubblegum and a touch of band-aid. The taste is more band-aid with some mild clove and alcohol heat. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with above average carbonation and a semi dry finish. Overall, ok. I bought this without looking for a date at my local store between Christmas & New Years when it first appeared on the new single shelf. It has probably suffered in handling as it's rated well here and all I got was liquid bandage. The aroma & taste improve as the beer warms. Reading other reviews from last Christmas on the same bb date batch seem to indicate my bottle has not held up well.

 

 

Pours a clear golden color with a medium top of white head that dissolves slowly and leaves some nice lacings on the glass. Aroma is of malts, ripe banana,apples,grains,herbs and spices. The taste is sweet and fruity at the start with some malty tones in the back. It then gets more notes of spices and herbs before finishing of slightly bitter and dry with notes of herbal and floral hops. Aftetaste has a good lenght and the flavours are balanced quite well. Mouthfeel is smooth and silky with the abv hidden well. Medium carbonated with a medium body.
A surprisingly well made belgian ale. Enjoyable.

 

From the back label: "Best before 2019-02-08"
I purchased this beer as an import to the US so your mileage may vary.
From the front label: "Belgian Christmas Ale"

Appearance: It has a nice light color to the beer with a medium shade of amber and a lot of visible carbonation leading to a thick white head that is creamy textured and frothy with an off-white color. It has good retention and very good lacing.

Aroma: I get banana off right off the bat, and that is immediately followed by a strong raspberry and old mulberry aroma. It has very strong notes of a very fine aged red wine. It is simply divine...there really isn't much to say except that it must be experienced in person. I absolutely love this aroma. Retronasal character after a few sips is a bit peppery.

Taste; There is a tartness that hits the palate at first and then it is supplanted by this earthy banana flavor that just lingers and tapers off very slowly. It has a bit of a black pepper flavor to the beer up front and then it spends a lot of time floating off...very slowly receding from the palate.

Mouthfeel: There is a lot of carbonation in this beer and it should be approached with a bit of caution. It won't bubble up while pouring but it tends to retain a lot of the bubbles in the liquid. The body is medium with an even mix of syrupy character and effervescent bubbles.

Overall: It is really good. There really is no substitution for experience in this case. This really isn't a Belgian Strong Pale Ale as described on this website. There is a host of beers that are released every year from Belgium during Christmas time and this could be considered one of them. If you are a Belgian beer lover or you know a Belgian beer lover, this beer really strikes at the heart. You will not be disappointed if you enjoy complex Belgian beers. Please do give this a try.

From cervezasespeciales. In Grimbergen glass. Very typical belgian pale ale sugary profile, light in a leffe but less cloying. Inviting nose.Minigeyser when open