Delirium Noël

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

Bottled @ Cardinal. Pours unclear brown with a big white head. Aroma of yeast , some sourness,spices of cinnamon, and some light appleish tones. Taste is light sweet, with a moderate warming. Nice Xmas ale.

Spicy and flavorful beer with hints of cinnamon, piney hops, and alcohol. Slight carmel flavor and has a balance of sweetness with a slightly bitter aftertaste. Great flavor that I look forward to each Christmas. Great beer!!

Pours murky amber with a small white head. Aroma is of sweet apples but has a bit sharp alcoholic edge. Nice flavor of caramel, mint, licorice. Sweet and slightly sour. Very well carbonated. Long bitter finish where unfortunately the high alcohol content becomes prominent again. Decent beer overall.

Amber pour clear malty bready dark fruit clove in the aroma ... light white head lacing ... belgian taste caramel dark fruits raisin clove and bready malt flavor ..... spicy bitter hop finish you kind of taste of alcohol in there too ... a good warming winter beer never a disappointment from this brewery

Tap->fluted water glass: pours a thin, diminishing white head atop a cloudy amber body. Aroma of hard Christmas candy. Sweet taste, medium body with a bitter finarming very warming brew.

Poured to a fluted fest glass at Brixie’s Holiday Beer Tasing in Brookfield, IL. The color was a deep, whiskey amber with a modest, off white head, and lace of clingy, translucent spots. The aroma and flavor were very similar notes of malt and fruit sweetness, light caramel and spice, and noticeable alcohol. Good body, and a light syrupy texture contributed to making this a nice holiday warmer.

bottle. cooper pour, no head. malty nose, alcohol taste. very flat, no pop with the cork release. won’t seek it out again this season.

I had high expectations for this one - both because of its excellent little brother, Delirium Tremens, but also perhaps due to the stylish, rustique-like clay bottle and charming xmas label. The fact is, when you are up against so much competition among the holiday winter seasonals, you better make sure to get a mighty fine brew if you’re going out as strong image-wise as Delirium Christmas. Unfortunately, it does not quite deliver. The beer pours a clear, nougat transparency covered by a thin, off-white head that vanishes quickly. It reminds me of a common dark lager more than any Belgian Strong Ale, and the smell seems a bit immature and too vinous. The taste follows the track of my nose, revealing a poorly hidden high alcohol content which can only be forgiven because of the warm, christmasy feeling it generates in my system. Nevertheless, plums, figs, raisins and dark malts scatter around in my mouth, somehow reminding me more of a port wine than a beer. The various aromas could’ve been better fused (maybe I should have saved it for 2010), but my tongue eventually becomes more accustomed and ends up finding the overall result rather nice, if not exactly memorable. I long for some kind of aftertaste to add to my scrutiny, but little is to be found. However, the thin, barely existing palate does make it very drinkable, which comes in handy in those holiday situations requiring a fast intoxication curve in order to get through the evening without trauma. As a stand-alone xmas brew, however, it doesn’t quite stand up to most of the other seasonals. At least not from it’s native country.