Le Trou du Diable Grivoise de Noël

Brewed by Le Trou du Diable
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Shawinigan, Canada

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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Bottle from Hayduke. We had this together via facebook chat. This beer pours a deep brown and is opaque. A creamy beige head is not thick but is steady. I smell egg nog. There is cardamon in the flavor and perhaps that is what I was smelling. The flavor is complex. Fruit, yeast, chocolate, spices. A creamy feel is nice. Alcohol was not hidden. This was a nice beer. Nice complexity, flavor, and feel. I wish the ABV had been lower or hidden better. Still, this was kind of in my wheelhouse.

Pours hazy dark and kind of a copper to amber with a good sized and creamy beige head. Nose of classic Christmas spices, with what I think is cardamon dominating Medium body with a little alcohol in the mouthfeel. Flavor is quite spicy, and there is fruit from the yeast....showing banana and pineapple Chocolate appears. The finish is somewhat dry and the spices go on and on. Almost earthy at this point. This is a very nice holiday ale.

Bottle shared with ClubGonzo. Has a hazy mahogny colour with a small light beige head. A spicy aroma with leather, dried fruit, cardamom, fruity Belgian yeast and banana choclate. More banana and fruits in the flavours along with more spices, leather, wood, lots of sweet syrup and some dark berries. Has a slick and nice mouth feel, and a light bitterness. A sweet and spicy Belgian ale, and a good Christmas beer.

Appearance: Red brown, quite clear. Tiny bit of off-white head. Aroma: Fruit, prunes. Sweet. Taste: More fruit and prunes. Slight sourness and sickly sweetness. Info: 500ml bottle, 21/4-2013

More boring then it looks. Pours a beautiful muddy red with a dark tan head. Smells of cherries and vanilla. Taste however, is a little bland. Very malty, a little too much, actually. Leaves a sweet flavorless aftertaste. Meaty, but not much cream filling. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

0.5l bottle. Oh, it wants out of the bottle this, and it has a medium sized quickly fading light beige top and a clear dark nut-amber body. The aroma is somewhat sweet, lots of dark Belgian candied sugar, some glazed ginger, nuts and ft wood. Not horrible, but not to memorable either. It has a near lively carbonation level and the mouthfeel is what I would call sticky-oily. A bit sharp at first, lots of sweetness from brown sugar and ripe old fruits. It feels soft spicy, but I’m having a hard time finding the name of these spices. Also some good traces of alcohol here, both in the finish and aftertaste. Perhaps a bit to far out there on the sweet side, but it’s not tipping over. Not something I will remember way to long. Oh, it’s from Canada you say huh? I guess that doesn’t really help that either. 21.03.2013

Gusher. Managed to catch and contain it, with some difficulty. Huge deep offwhite head. Deep amber body made hazy by lots of little floaties. Some carbonation. Spicy licorice and dried fruit aroma with seeds of paradise notes. Sweet banana and alcohol taste with peppery earthy notes. Fullish body. Mild, flat, slick mouthfeel. Dryish-sweet earthy spicy licorice aftertaste with alcoholic banana notes. Probably a good beer when in good condition, but after gushing it was not in top form. Also too alcoholic. (0.5l bottle, wine monopoly, web order.)

50cl bottle from Vinmonopolet. Pours dark amber with a small off-white head. Fruity and almost floral aroma with malt, caramel, dark fruits, (Belgian) yeast, caramel, spices and hints of alcohol and honey. Hints of some roasty notes too. Medium to full body with fairly soft carbonation. Quite sweet and the flavours are mild, but well balanced. Pleasant beer to drink. Decent winter warmer.

500 ml bottle, from Vinmonopolet Kvadrat. ABV is 7.5%. Dark reddish brown colour, moderate off-white head. Sweetish aroma of herbal candy and liquorice candy, some Christmas spices. Malty sweet flavour with plenty of caramel, brown kandij sugar syrup and warming Christmas spices. Quite tasty, and very "Christmasy", despite becoming available here in March ...

The beer pours a reddish mahogany brown with mild haze. The head is small and beige and fades to a ring of bubbles after a minute or two. The initial aroma is a tad boozy, but once I took a sip and stuck my nose in closer for a better smell, the alcohol presence blends into the mix of sweet malt, Belgian Christmas-y spicing and earthy yeast. Nutmeg, peppercorns, cinnamon, cookie dough, honey, gooey caramel, wood, raisins, figs, dates, candied plums and overturned earth. It’s warm and sweet. Kinda makes me think of eating fresh snickerdoodles and oatmeal raisin cookies next to a Christmas tree. It really just oozes Christmas in a Belgian-style ale way without getting cloying or overly spiced like many Christmas beers. More of the toasty, bready malt notes come out as the beer warms. The taste is similarly strongly holiday-ish - sweet, spiced and earthy/woody - without pushing any one note too hard. More honey flavor comes through than expected. It’s a warm, rich beer. Lots of malt flavor. There’s an unexpected hoppiness and a mild chalky note in the finish. Mouthfeel is smooth, though there is a bit of booze lurking around the edges. It’s mostly just warming, though. I had no real expectations with this beer, and happily, it turned out to be one of the best holiday spiced ales that I’ve tried.