Bush de Noël (Scaldis Noel)

Brewed by Dubuisson
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Pipaix, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Bottle. Color is dark amber with a nice head with good duration. Aroma is sweet with lots of spices. Taste is fruit and spices with a sweet alcoholic finish.

A deep red beer with a fantastic head. The aroma is sweet malty with fruity and spicy notes. The flavor is rather sweet with notes of fruits, spices, berries, peaches, and caramel.

(Bottle 25 cl) Beautiful dark amber with a fairly small head, hazy with a lot of sediment. Extremely complex with flavours ranging from walnuts to chocolate. Very full body with the alcohol present and warming for the long, cold winter nights....A great experience, and THE beer to spice any boring family Christmas-dinner. 071193

75 cL bottle, seriously this deserves a sep. listing as it is has a dif. ABV and dif. label. Light caramel malt aroma and a mild alcojol aroma. Pours slight hazy brown with a lacing off-white head. light spiced malt based aroma. Flavour is sweet caramel with a distinct caramel malt base. Nice and different from the normal noel.
Earlier Rating: 12/3/2006 Total Score: 3.5
25 cL bottle. Has all the good elements of the blonde just added flavours that makes this a great Christmas beer. Orange/brown colour with white head. Malt, spice and alcohol dominates the taste. Very enjoyable beer

Bottled. Strong raisins and alcohol in aroma. Flavour is very nice, toffee, sweet malts, with weak hints of alcohol. Hides alcohol very well. Very complex. A bit too biting carboration for my taste.

UPDATED: DEC 14, 2004 2002 vintage sampled draught at Akkurat, Stockholm.
Dark amber with small creamy head. Very sweet and peppery. Hugely malty, big on caramel. Some grassy hops. Salty and roasty with rounded mouthfeel. Bitter grassy finish. Despite it’s huge maltiness it is overly sweet and alcoholic.
Extra rating for Bush de Noël Premium, unfiltered and re-fermented in bottled, 2003 vintage:
Orange-brown. Very lively with rich head. Malty nose with ripe fruit and a hefty dose of alcohol. Loads of toffee, some red berries, very sweet - too much so. The rich malt flavours struggle to compete with the sweetness. Some grassy hops manages to shine through in the finish. This beer really needs to be rounded off, it begs for barrel aging. (6/4/6/2/11)

Bottled. Clear golden coloured with a small off white head. Aroma of alcohol, malts and spices. Flavour of alcohol, malts, caramel and spices. Too much alcohol for my liking.

UPDATED: DEC 15, 2004 Bottle. Malty, sweet, alcoholic aroma. Colour is dark brown, small white head. Quite dry bonbon/peppery flavour. Aftertaste has a nice dry bitterness and leaves a slight burning sensation, probably owing to the high ABV.

UPDATED: JAN 2, 2010
Name: Scaldis Noel
Date: April 20, 1997
Mode: Bottle
Source: total beverage, DC
Appearance: hazy amber, scant head
Aroma: fruity orange aroma
Flavor: rich spicy malt flavor with lots of fruit character

Name: Scaldis Noel
Date: November 26, 2005
Mode: 750ml bottle
Appearance: dark cloudy amber, slow progression of foam oozes fourth, pours with a huge off white head
Aroma: light sweet spicy malt aroma
Flavor: fruity malt flavor with lots of spicy character, very warming without being alcoholic at first but alcohol finally saturates and comes through and then fades again, fruit flavor enrichens as it warms and balances nicely with the spices

Name: Scaldis Noel
Date: December 04, 2005
Mode: draft
Source: Lucky Baldwins
standard fruity and spicy character, maybe less intense than the bottle, but maybe just too cold

Name: Scaldis Noel
Date: November 30, 2008
Mode: draft
Source: brick store
Score: 3.4 to 3.8
Appearance: hazy dark amber, big creamy off white head, lots of lace patterns
Aroma: sweet spicy aroma, fruity esters, touch of peppery alcohol
Flavor: rich and fruity flavor, nice spicyness, plum and apricot character keeps growing and picks up sweetness, lots of peppery alcohol manages to meld with the spices and sweetness before fading away

Name: Scaldis Noel
Date: December 04, 2009
Mode: draft
Source: brick store
Score: 3.8 to 3.6
Appearance: hazy dark amber, creamy beige head, heavy lace
Aroma: light sweet fruity aroma, touch of spicyness
Flavor: sweet fruity flavor, peach and apricot, touch of pineapple, balancing spicyness, sugary sweetness, light fusel alcohol, light bitterness follows the spicyness

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *** /4

Name: Scaldis Noel
Date: December 28, 2008
Mode: bottle
Source: cellar stock
Vintage: 2004?
Aroma: sweet and fruity spicy aroma
Flavor: rich and fruity flavor, brown sugar sweetness, light spicyness, touch of oxidation mixed in with the earthy spicyness
Overall: this is not a beer to age

UPDATED: DEC 20, 2007 2007-12-14, corked bottle, as Scaldis Noël Premium, 13% ABV, 7-4-7-3-15=36
Hazy dark amber color. Appley malt aroma, with wallnuts. Medium body, alcoholic, with sweet caramel/malty flavor, with apples and wallnuts. Correct bitterness. Should I try it aged? Anyway, quite good.

2002-12-01, bottle (small or big?), 7-5-8-4-16=40
Amber color, beautiful cap of thick foam. High alcohol content in the nose. Sweet, a lot of alcohol, good balance with a strong bitterness. Not special, but a big, huge, winter warmer beer.