Bière De Noël
Brasserie de l'Abbaye du Val-Dieu

 

 

Semi-cloudy amber pour with two fingers of white foam. Christmas spices, strong molasses, candi sugar, apple, with floral and estery tones atop the sweet base make up the nose. Taste has everything you want: Christmas spices, candi sugar, apple and lemon esters, flowers, belgian yeast, vanilla, sweeter dark fruits, a hint of honey, nuts, and toast, yet nothing was too powerful. Feel is sharp and moves toward dryness in every sip, spices are strong here. A wonderful Christmas beer that kinds of takes on an old world cookie complexion

Poured into a Gulden Draak tulip. Opens with a huge pop, but no gushing. Pours a medium golden amber with a half glass head that persists for a while; I had to pour very slowly to even get a half glass of ale. Looks nice though. Aroma of dry candi malt, apples, orange, pear and clove. Flavor follows with candi malt, apple, lemon, orange, pear, light stone fruit and clove. Starts semi-sweet and finishes dry and spicy. Medium bodied with sharp, active carbonation. A nice, classic Belgian tripel with great light fruit flavors and perhaps a bit more citrus than typical. There is an interesting alternating sensation of semi-sweetness and dryness before finally finishing fairly dry. Not sure what the Winter aspect is, it seems like a regular, nicely made tripel. My Thanksgiving evening beer, and a welcome one.

 

 

De color ámbar con un dedo de espuma de buena retención. Cuerpo y carbonatación media. Aroma especiado. En boca es una cerveza con un comienzo levemente dulce para llegar a un final donde se siente el cilantro y el clavo de olor.

 

 

Cloudy light amber color with off-white head. Aroma has some spicy and floral yeast esters, cloves being more prominent. Taste is slightly sweet and sugary at first, peppery and spicy, more bitter and earthy towards the finish with a lingering dry bitterness. Medium body with medium plus carbonation. A well made belgian ale but there's nothing festive about it.

Hazy dark golden color, white head, aroma of belgian yeast, fruits and spices, taste is medium sweet/lightly bitter, medium body, medium plus carbonation.

 

 

Pours a hazy dark-golden color with a nice top off white head that disolves slowly and gives some nice lacings. Aroma is off apples,oranges,spices,honey, bread and caramel. The taste is medium sweet with fruity and spicy notes and light sourness as wel. Finish is medium bitter with a decent lenght in the aftertaste.Medium carbonation with a medium body.Mouthfeel is creamy and soft. This is a good tasting and enjoyable triple, but I wonder why they label this as a christmas ale.Beside from that I enjoyed it.

750 ml bottle into chalice, best before 8/17/2018. Pours fairly crystal clear golden amber/light orange color with a 1 finger fairly dense and fluffy white head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lasts. Nice dense soapy lacing clings down the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big lemon, orange, peach, apricot, apple, pear, melon, plum, golden raisin, peppercorn, coriander, light banana/clove, honey, candi sugar, biscuit, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great complexity and balance of fruity/spicy yeast, bready malt, and light earthy hop notes; with great strength. Taste of big lemon, orange, peach, apricot, apple, pear, melon, plum, golden raisin, peppercorn, coriander, light banana/clove, honey, candi sugar, biscuit, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Moderate yeast spiciness and light herbal bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of lemon, orange, peach, apricot, apple, pear, melon, plum, golden raisin, peppercorn, coriander, honey, candi sugar, biscuit, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/spicy yeast, bready malt, and light earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/spiciness balance, and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Moderate dryness from carbonation and yeast spiciness. Medium-high carbonation and medium body; with a very smooth, crisp, moderately creamy/grainy, and lightly sticky balanced mouthfeel that is awesome. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 7%. Overall this is an outstanding Tripel! All around awesome complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/spicy yeast, bready malt, and light earthy hop flavors; very smooth, crisp, and quite refreshing to drink. Very bright and complex on yeast, with great malt balance. Very well carbonated, but not prickly or foamy on mouthfeel. A highly enjoyable offering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Uvinum. In La Trappe Chalice. Playing Unepic. Not much taste nor aroma here. Drinkable but not memorable.

 

Flashback #220

 

 

 

 

 

Cork and caged 75cl bottle, opened on 1st Dec 2013.

Expected a darker hue to this brew, it poured a clear deep gold with a full if un-lasting head.

The nose was spiced nuts and sweet malty molasses with good old Belgian yeast esters.

The taste followed the same lines, malty, nutty and yeasty with hints of spices within the flavourings.

OK and another Belgian Christmas beer worth finding.

 

 

 

 

 

330ml served in a Trappist glass.

A: Pours an orange to beige color. Very cloudy. Forms a big white fluffy head. Good retention. In fact, a small layer remains forever and many lacing are left in the glass

S: Very yeasty. Honey and sweet malts. A bit spicy too with hints of pepper

T: Sweet malts, honey and yeasts. Quite dry, in overall. A bit spicy and a good bitter end

M: Medium body and carbonation. Mild bitter aftertaste

O: Good drinkability. Quite dry and lacks sweetness and spiceness to a Belgian Triple. It lacks some orange zest too but, in any case, a Val-Dieu

 

 

11-12 season. Lucky opportunity to have run into a small, new beer store smack in the middle of paris (unfortunately, i lack both their address as their name, but can suggest simply walking some 200m east of the sous-bock, along the rue st.honorė).

Pour is an interesting hue i must claim never to have seen. It's mostly tending towards a deep, reddish tone, sort of that of ripe watermelon.

Smell is strong, and spicy. Dominated by an astringent half zesty feel. No sweetness to it. A slight alcoholised feel.

Taste is a bit bland. Feels a bit watery but very grapefriuit like bitterness throughout. Grainy thereafter. Not sweet, but never overwhelming bitterness. There's a very mould yessty feel to it, much à la belge. Thin, slighly fizzy. Alcohol is nonetheless well hidden.

Overall a nice beer, but not extraordinary. Not the best of noëls, but not too shabby.