Verhaeghe Noel

Brewed by Verhaeghe
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Vichte, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

Bottle. Clear golden with giant off-white head. Aroma is malt, fruit and yeast. Flaovur is malt, fruit, medium sweet, hops, yeast, and a little bitter.

Boring christmasbeer. Not distastefull, but nothing special. It’s clear, has some caramel and spices in it’s flavor. Not very sweet for a christmas beer. Won’t buy this again.

Servert fra flaske på Den Tatoverede Enke, København 5 Nov 11. Gylden. Høyt kremaktig skum. Svakt syrlig aroma. Syrlig fruktig smak. OK.

Pours clear gold with fairly large white head. Leaves quite a bit of muddled lacing on the glass. Malty aroma, full malty flavour with some bitterness and warmth. Pleasant, but not outstanding enough to justify selling it in a 25 cl bottle!

bouteille 25cl, bb 03-2012. Dorée, col blanc épais. Arôme, malt et levure, légère épice et grains. En bouche, même profile qui reste assez banal, pointe de fruit, malt pale/cara qui ressort bien, le tout sur un fini levure avec une amertume moyenne pour un palais sec. Je m’attendais à qcq chose de plus Après avoir gouté la Barbe d’or, je vois ici dans cette bière exactement le même profile, sans plus avec ce côté malt qui reste agréable.

I think I sampled this from bottle at Kerstbierfestival Essen (Belgium) 2010. Clear golden color, small white head. Smell malts and spices, not really nice. Tastes less spicy and more bitter. Nicely balanced, firm carbo and a medium to full body. Useful beer.

BB 03-12. The beer pours a sparkling clear, gold color with an average, white, pillowy, fluffy head which is somewhat lasting and leaves some Belgian lace. The nose is full of light candi sugar and cotton candy, light rosemary, some spice, hint of citrus, and doughy yeast. The flavor is similar but more balanced; citrus almost becoming peachy, more dried herb notes, some light white pepper, still light candi sugar, and some doughy yeast. The palate is medium, less than moderate carbonation, creamy, and round. The beer finishes drying with some spice, mild warmth, dry herbs, and lingering residual candi sugar sweetness. Kind of an odd Belgian, especially for a Christmas beer with plenty of sweetness and some notes that I would usually expect to clash. But overall, the beer worked well for, just not what I was expecting.

Bottle. Nice head with good duration. Color is golden. Aroma and taste are yeast, grass, malt and hops.