St. Bernardus Christmas Ale

Pours out a dark brown to settle a nearly mat black with a small sense of brownness to its body. Very heavy looking and an impressively tall capping to top it off of light crispy brown foam thats a bit rough and tumbled. Kinda crunchy looking at first but developes into a moderately creamy bubbleness and density as it sits. It keeps well and stretches all sorts of wonderful lacing that looks of wet powdered sugar. Nice lofty aroma of cookie dough and spice. Crisp yet round with a full on malt tilt of breads and dark fruits. Mostly figgy, touch of raisin, perhaps some dates and molasses covering the big breadyness. Nice yeastyness to it which seems to be adding a root beerish type of hints to its dryness. Slender hops add some grassyness to its spicy complexity which included some anise, cinnamon, mint, and ginger cookies. Flavors are bold, lasting and carry alot of what the smell leads to with its big maltyness and yeastified balance. Firm grip of dark candish malts leads right in with a nice holiday cake-like dimension of figgyness first, then dark cherry, dates, chocolate covered raisins, and then the peppy spices. Notes of root beer, anise, pepper, carrot cake, and ginger make their way in and out of the malty doughy darkness but linger mostly across its finish with a slender, delicately woven dryness of grassy hops. Pretty damn solid! Perhaps not quite a match to the Abt 12, but damn if its not close! Feel is big, bold, and beautiful. The girth is massive in the body of this stuff. Heavy yet smooth, crunchy and crisp yet creamy with a whole lotta malts to create an exceedingly thick bread/cake-like structure of body. Not to mention the subtle details of yeasty play, dark fruity tang, perfectly intensed warmness, hoppy dryness, and spice. Which all lasts forever and a day the second it spills on to your palate. Wow! Great stuff! No big surprise really. St. B knows how to impress and this is perfect for the holidays!

I really like this, although I am not sure if its better than the Abt 12. Yeasty sweetness and high carbonation is the same, but this brings some nutmeg spiciness to the table. On one hand, it makes for a great winter treat, but on the other I am not sure if I could drink it regularly. ABV is well hidden, and at only $10 a bottle its a steal!

750ml - Pungent aroma lingers across the room. Spicy yeast, bubblegum, chocolate malt, nutmeg and clove. Pours deep transparent garnet with a medium lasting head and great lacing. Flavor matches aroma with a strong alcohol bite, very warming which is ok for a xmas brew. Palate is sticky. A tasty brew perfect for the season.

Draught. Deep amber colour, mediumsized beige head. Aroma is lots of spices, some yeast and candy. Flavour is really much the same in a good balance. Wellbalanced and hides the alcohol well.

25.4 oz bottle. Almost clear brown with an off-white froth. Nose is yeasty, funky and light caramel. Taste is a touch hot with light banana and mild spices; nutmeg, cardamon and mace. Not as rich as the 12 but still pretty tasty.

(Bottled, 0.75l@Home) Very dark ruby with a medium, foamy, lacy and tanned head. Strong aroma of cloves, some cinnamon, and slightly grainy-rye-puddingy malt. Grainy-malty, raisiny and rye-puddingy flavor with a hint of metal. Medium to full-bodied with somewhat foamy carbonation. A reasonably smooth and full, spicy Xmas brew. Not anisey like the Abt (sampled side-by-side) - but slightly more sour and bitter, leaning towards the Grottenbier. (Draught@Kerstbierfestival 2007, Essen, way too cold) Slightly hazy reddish brown with a smallish, lacy head. Dried fruit in the aroma with caramel and grainy malt. Flavor is much like Abt, but with more malt sweetness. Medium-bodied, slightly sticky palate with low carbonation. Nice. Bottle rating coming up...

2007. Good Looking muddy brown brew with a slight orange tinge. Head pours large and stays pretty well. Head is an off-white tan in color, creamy smooth in texture, and has nice lacing. Aroma is complex with citrus hoppy-ness coming through. Allspice and a light yeasty-dough aroma , followed by many other smells including chocolate, apple, and possibly even red wine. Flavor was pleasant, starting on the sweetish side and over a long duration finishing ever so slightly bitter-sour with defined fruit undertones. Medium in body with a lively carbonated but creamy texture, the overall mouth feel is clearly the best part of this brew. Pretty good stuff.

750 ml bottle shared by highibus - Pours a slightly hazy deep amber color with a large off white head. Aroma is esters(banana), spice, and light yeast. Flavor is basicly the same with some light bready malt coming through. Medium body. A good beer. Thanks Tom.