Affligem Noël (Christmas Ale)

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

Aroma of belgian yeast, apples and spice. Pours cloudy caramel. Flavor is big time cinnamon, Belgian yeast, sweet malt and a little sour fruit and a tiny bit alcohol. Fantastic balance of spice, alcohol and malt.

This Belgian offering pours a dark opaque brown that has a slightly orange hue to it, and a nice tan head that left some nice lacing behind. Phenomenal smell; very sweet and consisted of yeast, cherry, apple, and some pleasant spices. This brew has a very warm taste to it; sweet yeast, cherries, almond, cloves, and coriander mix to make a unbelievable taste. This was a very smooth beer to drink, and the high alcohol content could hardly be detected. The flavor was not over powering like in some other strong Belgian ales what makes this beer very drinkable.

bottle from metzlers in denton, tx. poured brown/amber color with a beige head. aroma of caramel, dark fruit, slight liqourice, and some spice like maybe nutmeg. flavor was pretty much right on with the nose. body was medium-full with high carbonation. a pretty sweet beer, but would match up with the holiday spirit very nice.

Pours a deep translucent brown with a fantastic thick and dense creamy head. Smells of rich sweet malts, caramel, and chocolate. Sweet caramel malts show themselves first but they are soon followed by some hints of spice. There is a bit of grain flavor as well and small hint of chocolate. Medium bodied. This is definitely sweet, but not overly so.

Bottle, Geers, Oostakker. Pours ruby red with a small head. Malty nose. Malt and spicy aroma’s. Also fruits and a bit of yeast. Quite well balanced and medium bodied, a bit alcoholic as it warms.

Dark colour with malt, caramel nose. Taste is full in the mouth with malt, caramel and spices. Extremely pleasant palate with a solid finish. Can’t wait till next year.

Bottle. Pours dark red/brownish with a generous beige head. Strong malty aroma, fruit and caramel. Taste of dark fruits, chocolate and raisins.

Bottle. Poured a healthy sized (2" or so), pitted, creamy, off-white head. Murky, red-brown body with light particulate. Heavy malt aroma - caramel and prune dominated the first whiff. The second and third smells pulled out all kinds of spices. Reminiscent of Glühwein. Clove, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice. Some brown sugar. Definitely a Christmas-time holiday beer. Raisin and caramel dominated the flavor profile with the spices going lost and then finally coming through a bit in the finish. Alcohol was also very prevalent in the flavor profile...too much so, as it detracted from the other flavors. Light-medium body with an alcoholic texture. Lively carbonation. Overall a good beer, but it could be a lot better if the alcohol flavors were toned down some. I’d also like to see a little more balance in the caramel malts and the spices, as the malt flavor and aromas hit really hard.