St. Bernardus Christmas Ale

Popped the cork and was greeted with an almost mythical styled mist emitting from the open mouth of the bomber. Poured a hardcore ruby brown/black with a massive bobbing foamy crown. Smell was predominately that of marshmellow and spiced melon; with a little bit of toasted caramel in there. Flavour is quite delicate and fairly complex here...sometimes differing from sip to sip and certainly changing with temperature adjustment, etc. Some things that I noticed: coffee, toffee, taste of autumn leaves and snow (i mean that in a good way), gumdrops, apples, licorice, pepper, jasmine, Earl Grey tea, and even a slight bite of bitter honey. Not much of a finish..and to tell you the truth, this could have benefitted from a bit more body--but overall...supremely drinkable and worthy of your next festive time--you lousy stinking drunkard!

Bottle: very malty, loads of dried fruits but mainly dates and some raisins, caramel, some faint chocolate and coffee notes, delicate alcohol all the way through, late mild hoppy bitterness, very rich, very complex, very good beer.

75cl, from De Hopduvel Gent, very complex, balanced, hazy, good head, one of the best X-Mas brews, a topper!

want some get some cause you just cant have none watercress and chicken are surely good with this beer so is watermelon

Pours a dark brown with a huge white head. Aroma is subtle dark fruit, raisin, malty, spicy Flavor is of roasted malt, raisins, dates, dark candi sugar, caramel. Finish is lingering, complex sweetness with a slight warming as it comes to room temp. Awesome beer. Very nice with the closing of the Olympic games this evening.

FOOMF! The pour on this festive brew from St. Bernardus immediately explodes into a mushroom cloud of tasty foam. After a considerable wait, this hemisphere of bubbles slowly erodes into a huge, volcanic crater, allowing a more passable attempt at drinking the feer without getting foam on my eyebrows. The aroma is slightly spicy, exhibiting a sturdy whiff of black pepper, cinnamon and the more rounded white pepper, with a squeeze of both lemon and lime lending a Caribbean air. The whole of the aroma is extremely creamy, and though the scents are prickly, they’re delicious all the same, though I hardly see how this makes for much of a Christmas beer. The flavor has that same certain Belgian woodiness to it, which can only be wrought delicious by skilled artists, and indeed the workers at St. Bernardus are very skilled. Most of the wood and dry flavors encountered in the beginning flake off towards the end though, replaced by a boisterous alcohol flavor. Piercing notes of sharp wood flavors remain through the taste, though, and makes for an appropriately passive and pensive beer for drinking next to a holiday fire.

bottle courtesy of homer321: pours a clean dark brown with a small tan head. aroma is awesome with fantastic cherry adn sark fruits, bright caramel, jsut fantastic araoma. flavour is a tingly bright malt wth some to the cherry comes through nice adn the dark fuits are good but not overpowering.

Beautiful amber-brown in colour with a lingering beige head and excellent lacing. The aroma was of sweet toffee, some alcohol, yeast, plums and spice. The flavour was plummy, toffee covered fruits, light sweetness, some alcohol and smooth throughout. Creamy mouthfeel, medium body, medium/high carbonation. Finishes long, sweet with a light and lingering alcohol warmth.

An excellent winter beer, the alcohol never overpowered this, good balance.

750ml bottle obtained in a trade with Beerlando, thanks Bryan.
Opened on February 18, 2008
Best before August 7, 2012.