Baladin Noel du Baladin

Brewed by Le Baladin
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Piozzo, Italy

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

2004 bottle sampled at the Belgian Beer Fest 11/04. Pours a murky brown, medium dark with tans and beiges swirling about. Modest tan head and an aroma of sweet chocolate, light raspberries, touch of alcohol and plenty of residual sugar. Flavor begins big and stays that way. It’s a full malt assault with plenty of red fruits interwoven with chocolate and caramel malt. Finish is lightly yeasty with alcohol and vinousness. I guess that must have been the "must of wine" but I don’t taste any roses. . . . Stronger and a bit more complex than the likes of other Belgian Christmas Dark Ales (affligem, delirium, etc). It didnt have a candied apple flavor and the yeast wasnt dominant, but the body stood up well. With the dry yeast, the acidic vinousness on the finish, it’s a strange ride all the way through, but I enjoyed it anyways.

UPDATED: FEB 20, 2005 Purchased in Milan, Italy and sampled one lonely night in Rome. Deep Mahogany. Pleasantly aromatic with notes of tangerines, peppers, dead flowers, pit fruit, toffee, vanilla, cocoa and dried fruits along with a very unique yeast strain. Lovely. Front is cherries and cocoa. Tangerine, dried fruits and plums in the mid-palate. Lingering, alcoholic, finish. I was expecting more but this beer was still very good.

UPDATED: JUN 4, 2004 I was stunned to find this Italian micro at a local bottle shop - the wonders of beer importation and distribution constantly amaze me. Pours an opaque brown colour with a big head which settles to a nice layer of foam. Would ordinarily get a 4 for appearance but the bottle bumps it up to 5. Aroma is yeasty with apple cores, some acidity, vanilla and nail polish but it’s all a bit underwhelming. Low carbonation for a Belgian. Slightly sweet flavour without being malty in the least. Slight burnt roastiness (too much roast malt) and some acidity in the finish which make for a weird experience. Kind of dull flavour, lacking the vibrancy (if I can say this without sounding like too much of a wanker) that most Belgians have. It seems to me like it has potential for aging as it had some very faint similarities (the mild acidity) to aged Chimay Grande Reserve, but frankly I’m not sure I’d finish the whole bottle if it were my own home brew. There were some positives in there but ultimately it’s a pretty poorly done Belgian and maybe I’m just trying to find nice things to say about it to justify the twenty bucks I spent on the bottle...

Dark brown coloured. Vanilla and banana notes in the aroma. Dark fruits in the flavour. Rather yeasty. Medium bodied.

The aroma is sweet, with notes of yeast and cloves. The color is brown and it has a beutiful though disappearing head. The flavor is sweet malty with alcohol prickling the tongue and notes of chocolate and wood. It ends on a dry and somewhat alcoholic note.

A very nice brew. Some alcoholic notes combined with something burned (sugar, caramel?). Nice malty dryness at first in the flavour. Bitter chocolate and dry cocoa in end of flavour and palate. A little sharp, could wait a couple of years...

Bottled. Coffee colour, creamy head. Aroma of plum and alcohol. Lightly roasty and medium sweet with short, rounded maltines. Vaguely acidic with a hit of cherries in a drysih finish. Baladin can do much better than this. Is the spelling Nöel Italian humour?

dark brown colour, big creamy head and a nice lace, licorice, alcohol and malt aroma, some spices, sweet and full-bodied, (too much) alcohol presence, touch of sourness, long finish with reminiscence of fruits, spices and alcohol - should be more balanced (and they should learn how to write Noël...)

Pale brown colour, cloudy appereance, with visible yeast particles. The head is bubbly and thin, but really persistent. This beer has a high carbonation, really strange for a Belgian strong style. The flavour is delicate and smooth with the alcohol well hidden and good roasted malts notes, with hazelnut, liquorice, caramel and plums traces. The aftertaste is yeasty (in the glass remains a big yeast sediment), spicy (pepper) and quite bitter. This beer can compete with some of the best Belgian beers!

UPDATED: JUL 7, 2003 03 June 2002, 7-5-8-4-16
Dark ale, beautiful thick head. Nice malt aroma, not very strong; some roasted malt as well; nice alcohol note. Maybe too much carbonation, but wonderful mouth, full, complex; caramel, liquorice, malt, bitterness; good hop notes, quite hidden but very nice; roasted malt, light nuts; perfect marriage. Smooth sensations, average palate, undertone for this beer, but long.

04 July 2003, 6-4-7-3-14
Brown color. I don't go mad for the aroma, the taste is ordinary, with a light sour note, missing any originality or good character.
And do they write nöel or noël? ;-)