Caulier Bon Secours Blonde de Noël

Bottle. Clear golden colour with a big white head. Aroma and flavour of spice, spice, fruit, yeast and a lot of alcohol.

<i>Bottle.</i> Pours a cloudy yellow/orange with a big off-white head. Bit of lacing. Acidic, sweetish yeast and yoghurt aroma. Spicy notes as it warms. Flavour is tart/yoghurt with yeast notes. Finish is sharp alcohol and yeast. Overall, the whole yoghurt thing is a bit so-so, but it pulls through. <i>11-01-09.</i>

330ml swing-top bottle, bb. Oct.09, thanks to Skinnyviking. Hazy golden body under a low, white head. Aroma of dry white wine with a spicy touch. Spiced taste containing late, sweet banana and acid fruits, with underlying candy sweetness. Foamy-alcoholic on the swallow. Short tail, though. Alright, but much of the flavours are pushed into the background by a prominent element of alcohol. [Tromsø, New Years Day 2009].

Brugge Festival 2008. Sickly blond beer. Spicy aroma. Bit meaty in mouth. Its not awful, but I dont like it very much.

A Mes rate. Draught at Brugge fest. Not very impressed with this. Very hazy yellow with a slight white collar. Smells similar to a bad pina colada. Fruity as hell flavour and overly sweet with lots of cheap lemon liqueur. Thick and cloying. Not good.

Bottled 33cl. It pours a murky light golden beer with a tall, nicely remaining head. Very spicy nose with hints of orange, cider, cork, melon and vinegar. Complex taste. Beautiful lacework. Melon, cider and cork showing up in the taste too. Full bodied. Quite a lot of alcohol appearing with the swallow. Some fennel in the finish.

0.33L bottle, courtesy of fonefan. Thanks! Pours a slightly hazy, golden color with fine particulates; white head with fine-bubbled lacing. Lots of intricate honey, yeastiness, and Belgian sugars in the aroma; intense, gently sweet. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: chewy honey, Belgian sugar, and yeast; nicely dry at the perimeter, with plenty of complex Belgian character throughout; solid, generous, big Belgian beer. Lengthy finish: Belgian sugars, honey, and solid yeastiness; nicely dry.

My Bottom Line:
Inelegant honeyed super-sweetness crashes into alcohol torrents in this nearly flat and certainly flattening Belgian Strong Ale.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A fleeting head of foam fails to decorate the cloudy blond.
-The low carbonation is surely a symptom of these illness-prone swing-top bottle.
-Pear esters are perceived underneath the sweetness and the heat.
-I fear the age of this bottle has little to do with the decidedly unpleasant experience it offers.
-There must be lots of added sugars here?
-Like a lot of artisanal meads around here, there is no finesse to be found in this product.

Bottle; best before August ’08.