Corsendonk Christmas Ale

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

Bottle. Dark brown. Genearly a very sweet beer. Dominating sweetness in aroma and taste, a little fruits and spices. But a pleasant sweetness.

Bottle. Poured a dark brown with a creamy tan head. Aroma is primarily malty, hints of clove, fruit, spiciness, and raisins. Flavor is malty as well. Tasting raisins, smoke, malts, roastiness, some slight sourness, and toffee. A dry taste from beginning to end but it doesn’t take anything away from the beer. A fairly good beer.

A hazy ruddy brown with a dense light grey to cream colored head. The nose is lightly tart (that typical Belgain smell). Assertive dark sweet malts suggest molasses beside the light cloves and cinnamon. The mouthfeel is substantial and creamy, though there’s a bit of unexpected chalkiness that bugs me a bit. The flavors are really very nice. Sweet dark malt, with bright hints of caramel and roasty notes at the extremes. A hint of that typical Belgain sourness, though not nearly so overwhelming as most Belgian styles I’ve had, bringing to mind lemon in particular. (Perhaps that’s why this is the one most to my liking!) Dark figgy flavors and smokiness seem to mingle with cinnamon and cloves. In later sips I even detected that bubblegum flavor usually characteristic of a good barleywine. A slight astringency gives this a nice parting herbal bitterness. The cinnamon notes also linger in the finish. A nice brew, I just wish the bottle were bigger! Appearance: 4, Aroma: 7, Palate: 3, Flavor: 8, Overall 17 Update: 8.1.15: 2006 vintage? Appearance: 4, Aroma: 7, Palate: , Flavor: 7, Overall 16: I like this beer still, but not as much. Much of the description is really spot on. Now I’ve have had better, and this reminds me a decent dubel, but there’s much more character I think here than in most one-dimensional dubel. More toast and fruit for one. I less smoke than I remember. I think I’m now picking up this flavor as "Brett." Aha, I knew I’d figure it out one day! A bit more alcoholic than I remember. Now I find the body a bit on the fuller side, though perhaps there is a suggestion of chalk? Perhaps they don’t filter the spices out. Note: new rating reflected.

Brown with a bubbly white head. Malty, raisins, slight sourness, some smoky flavours, some spice, some peach. Fairly smooth on the palate.

12 oz bottle. Very nice deep brown pour with a fluffy tan head. Aromas were very sweet dark fruit. Raisin, molasses, spice. The flavor was very different. Very Dry. Still some dark fruit, but way drier than I had expected.. Not bad, but I expected more i guess.

Best by date January 2007, Sampled July 2006
Pours with a large, initially three and a half finger thick, amber-cream colored head that leaves a rocky, lace leaving texture as it slowly falls back into the beer. The beer is a dark, brownish color with a touch of amber. It shows a brilliantly clear ruby hued beer when held up to the light. Rich, aromatic notes of concentrated malt greet my nose. Notes of raisins, dates and figs mingle with sweet notes of caramel, toffee, . both a spicy note of clove and bit rum-like hot alcohol are just slightly noticed among the other notes. Overall the aroma is quite sweet and almost even a bit sticky; very desert like in its aromatics.

A creamy mouthfeel is balanced almost immediately by a tingly carbonation. The beer is not nearly as sweet tasting as the aroma would suggest, which is good as I was not sure if I was up fro a sticky brew. Notes of concentrated malt are here though. I get notes of dark caramelized fruit, notes of burnt raisins and roasted plums. Light notes of toasted malt join a hint of roasted grain. The fruit notes are what really stand out here; this brew is rich and satiating, yet actually not heavy and even a bit light and easy to drink, though I would characterize this as being light on the palate. Some spicy cola like notes are also in this beer as well as some light notes of clove. Actually the cola like note is definitely interesting, it is mostly the caramel flavors from cola, but definitely some of the spiciness is in this beer as well. This beer is quite interesting, perhaps a touch on the simplistic side, but quite good none the less.

<font size=-4>Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson, AZ<font size=-1>

Dark cloudy cola-mahogany colour. Sweet aroma of flowers, coriander and honey. The flavours include cherry, honey, oak, smoke, lemon zest. Extremely complex. Long, strong finish with some alcohol. Very good as a whole.

Draft. Pours a dark brown with little head. The aroma was spicy, with some excellent malt notes. The flavor was very smooth. Malty, with a hint of cinnamon, cloves, hint of tart cherries. A very even flavor, but not as intense as I would expect from a strong ale.