Corsendonk Christmas Ale

Pours deep mahogany into a tulip. Brown head leaves slight lacing as it slowly recedes. Plum and fig aromas. Sharp and dry mollases, cinammon, nutmeg and plum with a lasting bitter finish.

Ouugh! Nice! Great complex spicy aroma from the yeast. Like a box of candy! Light body and refreshing, even if it’s 8,5% alcohol. Second time: Feels a bit sweeter, could benefit from a drier finish.

Pours dark amber with an effervescent body with a thin, mostly receding beige head. Aroma of sweet cloves, bubble gum, raisins, and doughy yeast. Taste is clove, bubble gum, toffee, smoke, and spices. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with lush carbonation. Very enjoyable, but the esters were not explosive. Well balanced with esters,phenols, and spices, a nice digestable beer.

750 ml bottle. Pours a very dark brown,slight amber hint, with a thick foamy beige head. Beautiful lacing. Aroma is winter spicy-nutmeg,cinnamon,clove,bread dough,molasses and a hint of fresh leather. Taste is spicy as well, with a malty nutmeg flavor as well as a clovy bready mix. Very tasty and one of the better Christmas beers that Ive had to date.

Clear deep ruby body with a small creamy tan head. Sweet spiced aroma with some light caramel. Light spiced flavor with some thin caramel.

Poured from 750 ml champagne-style bottle into a trappist glass. Nose is Christmas all around, with strong spices, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, orange zest. Taste reflects the nose, but gets a little disappointing about halfway through. Great taste, its probably just a preference thing.

Bottle. Christmas is close, and what other way to celebrate it with a good Christmas ale. And what a pleasant surprise this was as well. I am a fan of the other Corsendonk that I have tasted, and this ale defiantly has some of the same catachrestic. Still this was the highlight of the evenings tasting. Colour is very dark with the particles density being average, and initial appearance of head was average and creamy like and mostly lasting. Head colour was slightly light brown I thought, or though the light was not great in the bar we were sitting at. Some fairly good lacing could be observed in glass. Aroma was an array of different notes coming into play. Predominant notes being heavy malt and moderated yeast. Dark bread/Cereal, roasted, nuts, molasses, leather, earth, fruit. Some miscellaneous other notes was ripe banana, plum, raisin, date. Initial flavour was heavy sweet, with slight bitter notes in there as well. Medium to full bodied, with a very oily/creamy like texture. Carbonation was soft and finish feel was medium sweet, with surprisingly short duration. I really enjoyed this one, and I have a 75 cl. Bottle just waiting to be opened…can’t wait.

(Draught at The Rover, Göteborg) Clear dark red brown color, tan head. Fresh fruity and Belgian ale yeast scent. Thick mouthfeel. Apricot and banana fruity taste. Low bitterness.