Abbaye des Rocs Speciale Noel

a tasty, fruity beer, not as good as the standard, sweeter with higher carbonation.

Bottle. Lively stuff! Opaque cloudy light brown / chestnut pour, medium but vanishing tan head. Great aroma, darkly malty and caramelly with some fruit (light banana and plum), yeasty and spicy with a very subtle note of toffee. Sweet taste, spices play wonderfully on the palate. Very complex. A little bit of smoke and hoppy bitterness in the finish. Soft, perfectly spiced for the holidays, caramelly with just a touch of alcohol. You’d have had a hard time convincing me this was at 9%. Plum, molasses, maybe a dash of coriander and cinnamon, creamy, brown-sugary. Only knock against this: a bit hard to finish a full bottle - flavor overload. Overall: Lovely, absolutely lovely.

Went to AMsterdam with Hans+Gert-jan and this was the winner overall that night. Now the name was speciale noel and after e-mails and research, i think this is it....was dark and pretty...nice smell...had a sweet delicous warming decadent taste. i liked this alot.

Dark amber coloured, small white head. Sweet malty aroma, some light alcohol touches. Full body, nice balance finish, some sweet.

Pours a dark red brown and doesn’t have too much head...some yeast and spice floaters. Aroma is very spicey...much more like a vegetable/spice beer. Aroma also has a lot of malt, candied sugar, and a bit of fresh dark fruit...not much yeast aroma. Taste is very spicey and sweet...candy sugar and cloves...and a bit of roasted malt. Again, not much yeast or bread flavor. Hides the 9% unbelievably well. Mouthfeel is smooth and very balanced. Probably one of the more interesting BSA I’ve had...but wish the flavor was a bit more kicking.

Bottled. Reddish brown beer with huge floaties and a lasting beige head. Aroma is complex and mild, with cigar, alcohol, spices, plum, tea and prunes. It is a delicacy just to sit back and sniff the aromas. The flavor is equally complex, but unfortunately a bit short, with candi-sugar, tea, alcohol, bitterness and a slight roastiness. Sweet, full and slightely fizzy mouthfeel. The finish is light hoppy. It is a fresh beer that gives me more spring/easter feelings than christmas feelings, but that is maybe a result of the Norwegian beer habits. It’s wonderful anyhow. (060320)

Bottle 330ml. Orange/red color with nice, rich beige head. A bit reduced rating points on appearance due to a big amount of rather big floaters, otherwise a lovely pleasant body. A fruity, spicy aroma with prunes and a clear hint of alcohol. The taste is also alcoholic with lots of candy sugar, complex and surprisingly still quite fresh. A bit short on aftertaste, still rather sweet.

Bottle: Poured a muddy dark brown color ale with a huge off-white bubbly head with better then average retention. Aroma of big sweet malt with a distinctive yeast presence. Taste is semi-sweet caramel malt with some faint presence of prunes with a slightly funky yeast presence toward the end. Body is quite full and alcohol is very well hidden. I still feel that it lack a little something to make it truly spectacular but very good beer nonetheless.