Affligem Noël (Christmas Ale)

Brewed by Brouwerij Affligem / De Smedt (Heineken)
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Opwijk, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

Belgian yeast, candy, and banana in the aroma. Malty, bready flavor with caramel and a little fruit, Carbonation gives this a smooth mouthfeel. This is a holiday beer that will definitely make you feel merry.

A sweet slightly sugary aroma. A nice orange brown appearance. This is pretty tasty. A tad sweet, but also a tad orangey. Very effervescent and bubbly in character. Pretty good.

750ml corked and caged bottle served in a chalice. Poured a dark copper with a finger of off white head. Bottle conditioned. Spicy aroma also seemed like there was some pine/spruce. Plenty of carbonation, medium bodied. Some caramel and burnt sugar, fair amount of malt sweetness. More spice in the finish. Also thought I tasted a little licorice. There was a lot going on here, I liked it.

Today is the 2 year anniversary of my joining Rate Beer and also my 350th rating (and also Friday the 13th!), so I wanted to do something special. Since this was my last last Christmas beer of 2011 and one I’ve wanted to try for a long time, it seemed an appropriate beer for a turning point. Candied fruit and bubblegum aromas rise off a clear medium amber body tinged with ruby and a rocky off-white head. Sweet candied and dark fruit flavors show up first along with milk chocolate, caramel, and even a little bit of coffee followed quickly by a warming alcohol bite. That delicious Belgian yeast flavor comes in spades next and then a slight roasted bitterness to keep the sweetness from going off the rails. It somehow feels creamy yet rather thin which keeps it relatively easy drinking. Leaves behind a nice Belgian beer flavor and a smooth, creamy sweetness. Great Christmas beer and one I’ll enjoy next year for sure!

Yeast aroma with hint of spice or dark fruit. Flavor is traditional Belgian ale.

2011 version. Nice looking mahogany red with dense off-white, thick head. Malty, toasty, bready nose. Caramel sweetness in the taste not present in the nose. Carbonation provides a bit of a bite, alcohol is apparent. Not overly sweet or bitter, a bit thin on the palate for a seasonal. This should improve as it warms... and it does although alcohol steps up a bit more and is a bit distracting to what this could be.

In my house, Belgium dominates the Christmas seasonals every year. The winter seasonals and winter warmers pouring out of American breweries are fine - even better than fine. But the rich and textured tradition of Belgian Christmas brewing really shines in the weeks leading up to the biggest Christo-secular commercial frenzy of the year. One of my seasonal regulars is Affligem’s Noel. It pours dark brown and red, dotted with bubbles, and crowned with a great blustering head. Warm scents of apples and pears invoke the sweeter side of winter cooking, the scents soft, mellow and a hint of grainy dryness. The taste is less meek. Beginning with the apple and pear flavors, it shifts to a richer and savory palate of flavors: cream, cedar and a cheesy umami. The savory cascade ends with a light aftertaste of wheat, completing the cycle of flavors and beckoning another sip. The Affligem Noel runs through old world flavors at a comfortable pace, and orchestrates disparate flavors into a single, delicious beer. The Noel is a welcome new tradition to my present and future Decembers.

750ml bottle in a shaker. Pours amber/brown with a lacy, light beige head. Aroma of spicy yeast, other spices, some caramel malts and dough plus a little hops. Flavor about the same. Average texture. A pretty good beer, but a little too spicy.