Saison Saint Medard Cuvee De Noel
Brasserie Au Baron

Shared 750 ml bottle at local tasting., from Vinmonopolet, Nettbutikken. ABV is 7%. Dark brown colour, nearly black. Large beige head. Malty aroma, hints of brown kandij sugar and mild spices. Well balanced and harmonious flavour, again with notes of brown kandij sugar and mild spices.

Pours a dark-brown color with a medium top off beige head that dissolves quickly.
Aroma is dried fruits, berries, caramel, spices and burned sugar.
The taste is sour and fruity at the start with malty caramel notes in the background.
I sense dried fruits and wild berries in the flavour as well as some sugary and spicy notes. The finish is a could be more ballanced. Aftertaste has a decent lenght.
Mouthfeel is soft and smooth with a medium carbonation and a medium body.
A decent and good biere du garde , but it lacks that little extra.

 

A very thoughtful ale. (Fortunately, I have StoneTrippin to help me unpack what it is all about.)

A hugely good-Looker with a full, rocky head that, after a long recess, still has active proteins swirling in my glass.
Smells are mostly malt being made to seem like dried dark fruit. Tastes are the same, but behind the yeast's handiwork I detect this very mild medicinal after-taste. I can't figure it out. I'm trying to eat dinner and the medicinal taste keeps interfering... unusual for how saisons or biere d'garde complement the meal. Then, I figure it out: this ale has elderberries. Traditionally used in brews (tea, too) to prevent colds and winter illness, elderberries have a purpose (and a distinct taste) in a winter brew. But, I'm eating pasta and the white sauce needs something to cut the butter fat.

So I set aside the Cuvee Noel, sip some water instead and eat my meal. And then, I have the Cuvee for dessert; then have some more Cuvee with some chocolate, then some more with vanilla ice cream. And it all goes great.

Only my second from Au Baron, I went on their website (and was annoyed there was not English button I could find.) And since my French is half as good as my Spanish, I didn't read much. But, Au Baron has this nice restaurant/taproom/brewery combo going on and it looks like it would be a good visit if time permits.

But for now, it all adds up well. ... Especially being a cheapskate, I’m pleasantly surprised by the bottle price; found at Woodman’s two years in a row on the remainder shelf.
Happy New Year 2019 and 2020.

i am a little biased on this because i am super into rustic french and belgian styles right now, so i forgive a little bit of dusty staleness here, and all the yeast sediment in it, that gets downright thick in the bottom third of the bottle, but this is a great beer nevertheless, and something fully appropriate well past the holidays. its deep ruby red to mahogany in color, not much haze, but lots of little yeast floccy bits that are beige in color, uniformly poppy seed sized, and just a little heavier than the beer, settling slowly. the head is rich and creamy, tan and peaky, pretty. the aroma and flavor feature robust toasted red malt here, mostly or entirely barley from what i can gather, a bit of cocoa too, short of fully fresh, a nice mellow spice from the yeast, bready and somewhat festive, with a ton of dark fruits in the finish, plum and dried cherry come to the fore, red apple and even pear behind that, playing wonderfully with the esters from the yeast. somewhat more mild in flavor than anticipated, but definitely an original recipe that i sure am glad came around a little bit this year. in need of a little refinement and cleaning up i think, its always a little disappointing to see this amount of sediment in a bottle at this price point, but i like the bigger picture, and am high on the style right now. cool take on a holiday beer. real keen to have more stuff from these guys!

edit: just had this much fresher and its amazing, apparently brewed with elderberries, which explains the fruitiness and slight astringency. i do think freshness matters with this one, despite the style, its so much better in tact on the grain side and while the yeast is still in full flight. lovely beer, these guys dont get enough credit for making some interesting and world class beers. raising a few scores to correlate with the fresher beer...