Affligem Noël (Christmas Ale)

Brewed by Brouwerij Affligem / De Smedt (Heineken)
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Opwijk, Belgium

Has a very festive aroma to it, kind of spicy. Nice appearance, nice tight foamy head. Good flavor, lots of caramel and dried fruit. Good beer for Christmas.

Pours a beautiful caramel color with full, tight, foamy head. Wonderful nose of caramel malt and somre dried fruit. Flavor is wonderfuilly malty and sweet with caramel, with a warming effect. Nice dry finish. Excellent beer!

Bottle, bought @ Kolding Vinhandel. Pours a deep red-brown with a small creamy off white head that leaves good lacing. Aroma has caramel, only slightly burnt, and a good spicyness, dominated by anise, but having cinnamon and nutmeg as well. Nice, creamy mouthfeel. Flavour starts of with a bang! Lots of spices, subdued anise mixing with sweeter spices, cloves, coriander, nutmeg. Then a nice roasted caramel spreads along with liqourice and a rather powerful peppery bitterness. Great balance. Not as sweet as other Belgian Christmas brews, and all the better for it.

Pours a deep amber into a Tulip. Tan head quickly subsides leaving no lacing to hug rim. Nutmeg, cinnamon and pit fruit aromas. Crisp caramel upfront with a lasting dry spicey finish.

75 cL bottle. Pours dark brown and with a reddish hue, clear to visible. Head is huge and light brown and diminishes into a nice lacing. Aroma is sweet, mildly fruity and solid spiced. Heavy carbonation. Flavour starts and ends quite sweet with a strong caramel note. Inbetween a nice set of spices appear in a well balanced manor. Nicely balanced brew, very good.

750 ml bottle. Hopefully the crappy label isn’t an indicator of the taste. I did love the Affligem Tripel I had last night, however. Poured a very cloudy dark brown with a moderately sized off white that looked like it would lace nice. Aroma was pretty strong fruit--a little more intense than I prefer but still teriffic. Corriander, yeast, and citrus fruit. Taste was slightly bitter but very rich. Similar to the Tripel; had a Kwak/Angostura taste that was a little less intense. I really like this brewery. More intense than the Tripel, this is perfect for the holiday season. A wonderful beer.

750mL bottle purchased at Nugget (Covell) in Davis, CA. Fruity, sweet, sweet, spicy, herbal, caramel, roasted, estery aroma present. A lot going on in the nose of this. Mild-moderately hazy amber color with some garnet hues present. Nice, frothy manilla head with nice staying-power. Start is a little spicy, lightly sweet, with more yeasty esteriness than anything else. I get just a touch of anise flavor. Some caramel maltiness presents itself in the middle before a long burnt, lightly bitter finish. Decent stuff, but seemed to have more potential.

Fad. Meget markant rørsukker islæt hvilket ikke gør noget da jeg er ret vild med den søde smag. Desværre er det det primære islæt i denne øl hvilket gør den en tand en dimensionel. Ikke den bedste belgiske juleøl, men bestemt heller ikke den værste.