Delirium Noël

Brewed by Brouwerij Huyghe
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Melle, Belgium

Tap @ House of Brews, NYC (December 2006). Pours a nice deep ruby color with a lacy white head. Aroma is spices such as coriander and cinnamon, along with some malt and candy sugar. Taste is highly spicy, and the flavors become increasingly complex as you savor the beer. A wonderful, wonderful Belgian Christmas ale.

Pours reddish amber with a fully receding off-white head. Aroma of heavy phenols, toffee, and caramelized sugar. Notes of apple and bret. Mouthfeel is full bodied, sticky with soft carbonation. This one had been aging for 2 years, and had gotten a bit too phenolic and acidic.

Had this after a 3 day ski trip to Canada. So it seemed much better than it actually was. However, We had a second bottle the next day. It has a light colored head with an slight orange tinge to it. Surprisingly, the alcohol flavor is scarce. There is that spicy freshness present that I associate with Christmas beers. I noted an awful lot of particles floating about, but that was just an appearance related note. The crisp sweetness that dissolves that holiday spice makes this a wonderful beer for the holidays.

750ml, 2006 bottle aged 9months or so. pours murky amber with off white head. nose has some light fruits of pear, prunes, and spicy yeast. flavor is dark fruity but sweetened with dark candy sugar, some spiciness to it as well. alc is very well hidden. mouthfeel is a touch watery. palate is pretty short with a sort of maple syrupy finish. decent and straight forward example of the style. thankfully i found this on clearance for $5, which is probably what it’s actually worth. however, i liked more than my score suggests.

12oz. Bottle: Spicy, malty aroma. Smells of coriander, yeast, malts, and spices. Poured dark amber/ruby in color with a small tan head that diminished quickly. Medium lacing. Cloudy. Full of tons of particles. Flavor is sweet and spicy. Tastes of cherry, merlot, candy sugar, coke syrup, malts, and lots of spices. Medium to full body. Average texture. Lively carbonation. Long, sweet finish.

The .75L bottle poured a beautiful deep amber beverage with, at first, an ample frothy off-white head. The head slowly settled and turned to a small creamy head that fully lasting and left great lacing on the glass. The aroma was characteristically sweet keeping with the style. There were greater notes of bubble gum and rock candy with more subtle aromas of orange and pepper mixed in. The body was medium-full with soft carbonation and a creamy smooth texture. The flavor starts out sweet and stays that way through the long finish. There is also a nice afterglow warmth at the finish that, although it’s now June, reminded me of December.

Delirium Christmas, 0,75l bottle. Bottled 2004, bb dec 2006. Fruity aroma of strawberries, peach and red grapes. Oaky. Looks orange, a bit hazy, with a long-lasting peach-coloured head. Extremely fruity, oak and portwine flavours. Nice thick foamyness and long finish.

330ml bottle used by September 2006, whoops, although a beer this strong should be able to stand the test of time. Rich yeast aroma, Vegemite-like, plenty of spice and roasted malts, liqueur-like, some citrusy fruit in there too and a tad of alcohol. Palate is very lengthy with the abv showing its full colours. Rich liqueur-like texture with flavours to match, dark chocolate, roasted and raisin-like malt flavours, balanced with a bit of Cointreau-esque bitter orange flavour, dark grape and plum fruit flavours, slight oakiness too, plenty of spice in there, cinamon comes to mind. Finish is lengthy and dry, a fair hit of lingering bitterness, alcohol makes it presence but only as a mere reminder. Definately a sipper, a winter warmer as some call it, rich and flavoursome and overall enjoyable.