Zinnebir Christmas (X-Mas) 2007

For me it’s the beer of the year, an amazing surprise. It have many subtiles aroma. Fine, not to heavy , grat beer.

11.2oz bottle. Murky brown color with a small and steady head. Sweet and bitter at the same time, almost like a bitter Dubbel. This unique taste combination works very well, and the beer is oh-so-drinkable. Not your standard spiced Christmas ale, this one is new-school and hoppy. A great beer from one of Belgiums coolest new breweries.

Pours deep amber into a snifter. Tan head with good retention slowly recedes to skim surface leaving no lacing. Clean malt and pit fruit aromas. Bittersweet caramel upfront with a lasting, puckering grapefruit pit finish. Made my lips tingle.

33cL bottle. Head is initially average sized, frothy, light brown, mostly lasting. Body is hazy medium to dark amber, bottle conditioned. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain, cookie), lightly to moderately hoppy (apricot, resin), lightly to moderately yeasty (cobwebs, barnyard), with notes of juniper/gin, lemon and lime zest, clove, autumn leaves, gum, cinnamon, hint of band-aid. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, watery/velvety texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. What a fun beer. Highly varied aroma with nearly equal weight of all components; malt, hops, raw yeast, esters/phenols...it’s all balanced remarkably well. Ditto the balance comment for the mouth experience as well. At 6.5%, it’s not all that rich or warming, but what a tasty quaffing-style holiday beer! I wasn’t a big fan of Equinox last year, but maybe I should give that another go this year.

Courtesy of kmweaver. Hazy amber body with a medium sized beige head. The nose is bready with some munich/vienna malt, light dark fruits and herbal hops. The flavor is lightly sweet, moderately bitter, bready/crackery malt, spicy herbal hops, raisins and light brown sugar. Medium body is soft with moderate carbonation.