 DenverLogan (420), Oceanside, California, USA
Mar 22, 2008
Cork had a nice pop...color is ruby brown...big head of amber bubbles. Caramel and spice aroma. Big flavor with that distinctively smooth St. Bernardus yeast effect, yet it also has flavors of rich dark malts, funky tart tropical fruit, bitter fruit rind, burnt toffee, black pepper, alcohol, slight cinnamon...yet all in all is quite tasty.
paiste2002 (16), Saugus, California, USA
Aug 25, 2008 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.
GarrettB (410), Seattle, Washington, USA
Aug 1, 2008 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.
mcbackus (637), Merritt Island, Florida, USA
Jul 28, 2008 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.
radiomgb (1749), Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Jul 13, 2008 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.
uhre (235), Denmark
Jul 11, 2008 A dark brown beer with aroma of roasted malt, caramel and candis. The flavor is also of caramel, but also alcohol and a bitternes from the hops and a spicy aftertaste.
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