De Ranke Père Noël

Brewed by Brouwerij De Ranke
Style: Belgian Ale
Dottignies/Dottenijs, Belgium

On tap at DBA. Poured a dark brown with a thin head Nose was spicy, and ? Had some hints of maybe chocolate, and coffee tasting. Lighter and thinner mouthful than its dark appearance. Had a sort of stale taste to it, even though it was freshly tapped keg. Not bad, but not my favorite flavor.

33 cl bottle. BB 08/2012. Deep amber-gold beer, creamy white head. Aroma is lovely and spicy, fresh noble/floral Saaz hop character. Lightly floral and spicy. Lean pilsner and belgian malts. The flavour is quite a bit maltier than the aroma suggests. Some light breadiness and a touch of caramel as well. Spicy hops on the back, but the bitterness is quite lean. Fairly herbal/grassy flavour on the back. Pretty nice beer.

~Pours a cloudy cider colour with small dimishing off white head. ~ The aroma is spicy and fruity ~ Taste has a quick spicy kick and then turns a little bitter from the hops. Kind of a dusty hop flavor. Ashy maybe. Like drinking smokey water. ~ Dry with a bitter finish. ~ This beer doesn’t really appeal to me. Scent is decent. Taste is a little strange. Would be nice if it was a little sweeter. Wont buy again unless it comes in a xmas pack again.

Pours a cloudy, orange color with a white, creamy, rocky, full head; longevity is good and lacing is little but nice. Nose is nice but not great; notes of estery and dusty yeast with lighter notes of spicy and grassy hops, caramel, and some orange citrus notes. Flavor is similar with lots going on but nothing special; certainly plenty of yeast bringing some estery notes as well some celler notes of must and dust. A moedrately light bitterness from the grassy hops is felt throughout with some peppery notes as well; other notes include honey, coriander, and some orange citrus. Palate is nice; soft to lively, creamy but drying a bit, maybe even almost oily, and almost medium to full. Finishes quite progressively with the sweetness diminishing first and the yeast notes following, leaving only a lingering grassy spicy biterness and dry hints at citrus peel and maybe some oregano? One of those beers that took some time to appreciate but, by the end of the bottle, seemed new and imaginitive. Not an earthshattering brew but strangely unique.

My bottle had a beautifully sweet, fruity aroma with a think hazy pour. The frothy white head died down quickly revealing a hoppy (but less than I expected for a Holiday Ale) palate with hints of citrius and other spices.

Pours a hazy brownish-orange with a little white head and what looks to be lots of carbonation. Aroma of spices, hops, yeast, caramel and citrus. Flavor starts off sweet and malty then quickly turns to bitter with some spiciness. Interesting brew, but not my cup of tea. The bitterness at the end has a little strangeness that just didn’t appeal to me, still this isn’t bad by any means.

Bottle 33 cl. Pours a hazy orange with a small white head and a nutty aroma. The flavor is caramelly sweet in the beginning but then turns bitter. The bitter finish stays in your mouth for a long time. Nice, but nothing special.

350 ml bottle. Hazy orange body with a big foamy off-white head. Aroma is spicy, yeast, alcohol and castor sugar. Flavor is sweet, spicy (coriander) and alcohol. Sweet, bitter and ester in finish. Not to balanced.