Abbaye des Rocs Speciale Noel

From bottle, best before 2010. Cloudy brown body with a lasting puffy beige head. Strong aromas of cinammon, coriander, orange peel and caramel. Roasted malts appearing in mouth, together with a long finish in which you can notice liquorice, caramel, chocolate. A spicy and slightly hoppy aftertaste. Smooth and pretty consistent body, brandy like, with a mild carbonation. An excellent Christmas beer.

Huge beige head, quickly disapearing. Dark amber in colour and hazy appearance. Powerful aromas of spicies and a wide range of fruits (cherries, orange peel above all). Tasty, with the same reminiscences of aromas in the mouthfeel. Alcoholic but well balanced and body enough. Nice brew.

Bottle 33 cl. Pours a muddy brown with a small tan head and an aroma of citrus, orange, brown sugar and coreander. Taste is pretty complex, brown sugar, caramel, honey, spice and carame. A long both hoppy, sweet and mildly sour finish. Nice one

Draught. Poured in a nice growler glass. Deeep dark brown colour with a nice beige head leaving a very good lacing. The aroma is sweet with spices, roasted malt, dark fruits and liquorice. Very good mouthfeel. The flavour is nicely spiced with a good roasted maltiness, roasted caramel, dark fruits, liquorice, slight smoke. Roasty spiced welllasting finish.

Sweet, spicy, sour, dry - a fine Belgian that has it all, including Christmassy spices. Lovely.

Pours a gorgeous dark honey color. Cloudy with lots of yeast present. Good cappuccino like tan head that persists. Sweet, yeasty smell, reminiscent of prunes, dark fruits. Fizzy in the mouth. Flavor is sweet but not too much. Lots of dried dark fruits/molasses. Little bitterness present. Incredibly delicious ale. One of the best Belgian I have tried. A+

Tasted 2007-12-08. Fresh bottle, 33cl. Pours thick, hazy, dark brown with small, frothy light brown head. Aroma: Alcohol, yeast, spices, cocoa and banana. Flavours: Very chocolaty! Burned notes but without much bitterness. Very complex and rich. Sweet - maybe too sweet. Very accessible for a beer of this magnitude.

Sampled two bottles side by side. One labeled best before 2007, the other 2010. The older one was insanely much better, both ratings below

BB 2010 (33 cl bottle, thanks rickgordon!)
Muddy shady dark brown color, tan head. Spicy Belgian ale yeast scent. Spicy, Belgian ale yeast taste as well. Spicy aftertaste. Spritzy mouthfeel, medium bitterenss.
It might not have been very fair to rate this side by side with the older one, but interesting though!
5/3/6/7/11=2.8

2007 (33 cl bottle, thanks ekstedt!)
Muddy shady dark brown color, tan head. Color is a few shades lighter than the 2010 "fresh" version above.
Sweet, spicy and chocolate scent, also lots of nuts. Smooth chocolate and vinous, raissin taste. Smooth mouthfeel, medium high bitterness. This is a winner in regards of storing, nice work there!
8/3/8/4/16=3.9