[1] Review by Phil B from Gatineau, Canada who has tried this beer once. (5/6/2008 2:28:11 PM)
"Bottle: Poured a cloudy dirty hazy beige color ale with a huge foamy head with good retention and some good lacing. Aroma of Saaz dry hops with some light dry funky notes. Taste is dominated by dry Saaz notes with a light funky notes, some floral notes and a quite dry ending and all this being supported by a nice Belgian malt backbone. Full body with limited filtration and great carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Interesting experience but maybe a tad too dry to be enjoyed on a repetitive basis."
Aroma:
7/10
Appearance:
9/10
Mouthfeel:
6/10
Flavor:
8/10
Overall:
8/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.8)
Sampled: Bottle
Value of this beer for its style: Not Sure
[2] Review by beerguy101 from Newark, CA, USA who has tried this beer once. (11/22/2007 12:52:29 AM)
"This Belgian Ale pours a cloudy deep brown color from a 33cl bottle. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is fruity and sweet, with some hops and some spices. A medium bodied Belgian ale. The malts are fruity and sweet. The hops are herbal and floral. A nice mixture of fruit, spice and hops combine to make an interesting beer. Nice hoppy dry finish. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is crisp and dry. Aftertaste is slightly bitter and spicy. "
Aroma:
8/10
Appearance:
6/10
Mouthfeel:
6/10
Flavor:
7/10
Overall:
7/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.4)
Sample Size: 33ml @ $4 Unit Cost: $57.35 per Pint
[3] Review by oh6gdx from Vaasa, Finland who has tried this beer once. (3/30/2007 2:36:57 AM)
"Nutbrown colour, small white head. Aroma is yeast, cartboard. berries and some hops. Flavour is nuts. fruits and slight yeast. Also slight alcohol to be notes. Quite a watery brew for being 7%. No winterwarmer... nor that much Christmas in it..."
Aroma:
6/10
Appearance:
6/10
Mouthfeel:
6/10
Flavor:
6/10
Overall:
6/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3)
Sampled: Bottle
Value of this beer for its style: Not Sure
[4] Review by RedHaze from Bellevue, NE, USA who has tried this beer once. (3/2/2007 4:18:37 PM)
"750ml bottle, with a best by of 11 2010.
Pours a very hazy orange with a frothy two finger head, that settles slowly to a thick cap, leaving behind a thin, patchy lacing.
Smell; mildly spicy and a little musty. There's a little bit of hops in there as well. Pretty nice, but the aromas are fairly subdued, with nothing really standing out all that much.
Taste; I was pretty surprised with the first few sips, because there was some nice fruit flavors that were not present in the nose. There's some mangoes and pears, but there's also a touch of some tart fruits. This finishes with a mild peppery spiciness, with a some bittering hops, and really dry.
Mouthfeel/Drinkabiliity; mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with a bit of a biting carbonation in the finish. Drinkability but would be better if it were not quite so dry."
Aroma:
7/10
Appearance:
8/10
Mouthfeel:
8/10
Flavor:
7/10
Overall:
7/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.7)
Sampled: Bottle Sample Size: 750ml @ $5.99 Unit Cost: $3.78 per Pint
[5] Review by EyeChartBrew from CA, Liechtenstein who has tried this beer once. (12/27/2006 6:14:00 PM)
"As per usual M.O., I showed up to my wife's family's place with a large bottle of imported, fermented holiday beery goodness -- this year, with a new one for me, the Père Noël.
750mL bottle (no label), wrapped in paper only, that was both bottle capped and corked.
Looked rather peachy/reddish in my father-in-law's Stella Artois glass (I figured this was a much more worthy beer for such a glass than it's namesake!). Very little head formation.
Both the nose and (especially) the flavor profile almost scream what this beer is mostly about. That is to say "spices" and "hops!" In fact, my first few sips immediately reminded me, without a shadow of a doubt, that this in the same tight-knit family as the De Ranke XX Bitter.
Once the palate gets accustomed to the almost raw hop acids in the foreground, the rest of the beer's characteristics start to make an appearance. Namely, the subtle spicing, with what I perceive to be hints of clove, thyme...., and maybe even coriander (a spice I normally dislike, but seems to work here well enough).
There's also some interesting fruit-ish hints here too, it seems to me. Maybe orange, maybe pear, or maybe none-of-the-above. But whatever I'm picking up on, I like it.
Other reviewers have remarked on this beer's heavy sedimentation -- but oddly enough, it was a non-issue with my bottle. Seemed almost as if there was less lees in this bottle than what I normally see in Belgian 750's. Odd.
Either way, I liked this one. Not a cheap drop, by any means (to the tune of $12.95 @ Holiday Wines Cellars), but for a once-a-year seasonal treat, this gets a thumbs-up from me.
Music: "Shrapnel Records Presents: Fretboard Frenzy"
Cheers!
//TB"
Aroma:
8/10
Appearance:
8/10
Mouthfeel:
8/10
Flavor:
9/10
Overall:
8/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(4.1)
Sampled: Bottle Sample Size: 750ml @ $12.95 Unit Cost: $8.17 per Pint
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(3.8)
