Corsendonk Christmas Ale

Brewed by Du Bocq
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Purnode-Yvoir, Belgium

By and large the best Christmas beer that I’ve had this year. It helps that I picked the bottle up from Binny’s in Lakeview, and it had been aging for a year on their shelf. Lots of nice vanilla and cocoa, a touch of cherry, some brown sugar, and a little bit of raisin. A slight carbonation tingles as it goes down, typical for most Belgians. A great Christmas beer, highly recommended!

Reddish brown, medium white head. Little aroma. Full mouth, very smooth vanilla flavor with a cocoa finish. Very nice.

Draft at the beechtree. Pours a clear but dark brown with a faint white head. Aromas feature faint esthers and sweet spices. Smooth mouthfeel with ample cherry notes and a clean crisp finish.

Pours a dark amber red with a lot of effervescence in its white head. Strong aroma of yeast and tons of fruits. The flavor is full of fruit and sugar. Apple, cherry, maybe some banana, and raisin. Creamy mouthfeel. A great beer.

One finger of tan head over a very dark ruby, ruddy brown colored ale. Warm brown maltiness, dark fruits, slight spiciness. Biting carbonation. Mellow spice flavors and not a whole lot else mild fruits and candi sugar, but its a holiday spiced Corsendonk Pater.

Amber-brown color, with a nice frothy beige head, yeasty, spicy, fruity nose of light dried dark fruits, with some earthy caramelized, toasted malt accents, with a hint of nutmeg spiciness in the aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a sweet spicy, toasty malt character, with some dried date, raisin notes, with a hint of green molasses and candi sugar, with a dark chocolatey, kind of warmth liquorish brandy mouthfeel, leading towards a malty, warming finish.

Bottle from Johns Marketplace in Portland OR. Dark reddish tinged amber color with a slight beige head. Aroma is sweet darkish malt with fruit cake? Citron? Medium body with frothy carbonation. Flavor is darkish malt, with non-hot spice and fruit cake. It’s damn pleasant, and there’s no way I would suspect this is 8.5 abv. I would not argue with -smoky, spicy and citrus-, but I don’t know that I would figure that out on my own. Finish is pretty balanced. This is a really, really good ale.

750ml bottle. Reddish dark brown color with nice beige head. Sweet aroma of dried fruits. Spicy, sweet and fruity taste. Softly carbonated medium body.