Corsendonk Christmas Ale

Had thi at BJ’s Winter Ale Fest. The ber poured a clear dark reddish-brown color with a small, fizzy, light brown mostly diminishing head and a tiny fringe of lacing. The aroma was balanced: moderate notes of sweet caramel and molasses, a moderatley strong hop note of resin / pine; light with a yeast note of cellar; miscellanous notes of ginger, plum and candy sugar, too. The flavor was moderately sweet and lightly bitter with a short, lightly bitter finish full of funky retros. The body was light, the texture was watery and the carbonation was fizzy. Not a bad beer, but I wasn’t looking around for more after my sample was gone, either.

This fine beer would benefit from more complexity. The pleasant aroma is simply malt. The beer is black, and retains a very thin head until the last sip. Flavor is simpler than I expect a 96th percentile beer to be; with sweet malt and light smoke. Very light dried fruit, and not really any citrus at all. Fairly sweet due to the dominance of the malt, and thick and heavy as well. This beer is a winner but needs more complexity; which might be brought on by ageing. It is overall very quad-like, or in this case, quad-light.

Bottle. Pours deep red/brown with a big beige/brown head. Aroma is sweetish, fruity and yeasty. Flavour is sweet and yeasty with notes of wood and plums. Nice, but it gets a bit cloying. Sweet finish with notes of licorice. 13-01-06.

[LCRBM] sweet nose, chocolate, toffee, some hazelnuts, also fruit, some cherry slightly spiced, cinnamon. good body finish is both sour and slightly bitter.

Black pour until you hold it up to the light, then there is some red/brown. Head was huge creme froth. Aroma is a little alcoholy. Flavor is very smooth. Dark fruit with a little alcohol as it warms.

Ver dense, dark winter brew with nice malty taste with some vanillaish hints and a bit smoky finish, my bottle was lacking a head, but still very good.

Rasins and other dried fruit. Centered with a slight sour note that did not sit well on the roasted malts. Not what I was expecting and not a re-try.

12 oz bottle. Clean light brown beer with coppery highlights. Delicious candi sugar aroma, some toffee, light ginger, sweet plummy special B and a bit of orange zest. Falvour is less compelx than the aroma would have suggested. Sweet caramel, special B fruitiness but some farily astringent spiciness as well. Finishes quite bitter and hoppy. In back of the malts there is a nice sprucey flavour. As it warms the maltiness intensifies a bit, decent richness and a bit of honey flavour behind all the darker malts. Some spicy yeastiness.