Corsendonk Christmas Ale

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

Did not enjoy this popular brew. Pours quite dark and looks rather tasty. However. aroma is of boiled ham (much like the same notes in Hoegaarden) along with orangy notes and unlike with the ham my mother makes for christmas, these flavours does fit for beer (in my opinion, that is). Taste goes pretty much in the same way add lots of sugary sweetness.

THOUGHTS: I am very behind on my logging my reviews. I had this one on Christmas. A Christmas gift from a coworker. I had really high hopes for this one. It was a nice Belgian, I was just expecting something a little different. And if it wasn’t so carbonated it might have been. The carbonation was so heavy it took away from the flavor. It was a little tongue numbing. Sort of like a soda and a Belgian had a baby. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a clear, dark reddish amber with a small, fizzy, off-white head that quickly diminished. I could actually hear the head crackle as it went down. The aroma was moderate to heavy malt with cherry and other dark fruit along with candy and maybe some cola. The initial flavor was lightly sweet and heavily acidic, while the finish was moderately sweet and heavily to harshly acidic with an average duration. The flavor was malt dark fruits and, again I think, some cola. The medium body was somewhat syrupy at first and then dry with extremely fizzy carbonation and a moderate to heavy astringent finish.

On tap @ Mahar’s on Albany. Very creamy flavor with excellent Belgian sugar sweetness and spices to balance it. Smooth and easy to drink.

8oz bottle Sep 6 2008 drink by date. Clear dark amber with a frothy tan head. Good spicy, peppery, caramel sweet aromas. Frothy, expansive mouthfeel. Good taste is malty sweet caramel with pit fruits. Has a spicy peppery dryness to finish. 3197-9177

pour a rich mahaugony from witch the head blooms and settles to a thin foam clinging to the sides of the glass. subtle aroma almost leathery and sweet at the same time. well balanced and mature. hits a few different parts of the tung, citrus sour and coffee bitter in harmony a bit like black or dark rye bread. And dried fruit.

had this with maniac4016. pours a dark tea color with a nice two finger fluffy tan head. aroma is caramel malt with some spices and a little alcohol. has a medium body with good lacing and just right on the carbonation. flavor is the same as aroma with some hops and Belgian yeast thrown in. as it warms the Belgian yeast comes out a bit more all together. not bad. the spices almost taste like cinnamon and nutmeg and there is a little citrus as it warms in the flavor as well.

Bottle. Aroma very typically Belgian with wide-ranging fruits and spices. Flavor can be a bit overly sweet at times (although it seems lately I find that to often be the case, so I think it’s just a personal phase), but the spices really balance things out, increasingly at the finish and increasingly throughout the bottle. I don’t really know my spices, but I do know that in beers if there are a lot of them I usually find them overwhelming and feel like if the beer needs so much spice there must be a lack of character elsewhere. However here I really love the various spices blended together and don’t find them overwhelming at all, rather very nicely complimented with that Belgiany fruitiness. Very nice. Update: pretty much just for personal use, but upon another go at this beer, I found it to have a refreshing tart character that I may have discarded as unnecessary sweetness previously...doesn’t make much sense that I did that, but, ya know, shit happens.

Bottle. Pours a dark ruby/brown with a small light colored head. Aroma of Belgian yeasts and fruits. Tastes of apples, pears, bubblegum, spices. Strong spices in the finish. A very good, very drinkable beer. I could drink this all day...