Corsendonk Christmas Ale

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.

Aroma:Dark fruit,light spicy,light oxydation... Appearance:Dark redish-brown,good head... Flavor:dark fruit,caramel,light spicy oxydation....

Brown pour with white head. Spicy and sweet aroma. Sweet, spicy, and cookie/bread flavor. Not what I was expecting, not something I would try again either.

Poured a nice dark red/brown color with a big off white head. Aroma was of dark fruits and some nice spices. Flavor was just incredible. Most christmas beers are either weak, over overloaded with spices, but this was perfect, nice and spicey, but did not overtake the other complexities of the beer.

Very nice but subdued Belgian ale. Nice and sweet, but it was a bit off with the sweetness, darkness, fruitiness because it was combined with a light colored yeasty flavor profile of the more stereotypical belgians like Delerium and Duvel. Odd, yes, because even as it warmed the sugars never popped. But hey I’d buy the stuff again and enjoyed it, so I’ll rate it verrr nicely.

I just can’t get into these malt-driven Belgian ales. Alcohol, ripe fruits, sweet and bread-like. Well-crafted beer, but it’s not for me.