De Ranke Père Noël

Brewed by Brouwerij De Ranke
Style: Belgian Ale
Dottignies/Dottenijs, Belgium

Hoppy smell. Golden orange appearance with big head. Spicy and hoppy taste. Smooth feel.

Here comes another Christmas beer which, like television specials, seem to come in every shape and form once December rolls around. I found the bottle charming with the pint sized Santa gnome attempting to tackle an equally tall glass, as this is how I often feel tackling a heavy 750mL bottle of beer sometimes, but I didn’t fear anything from this, the Pere Noel from De Ranke. The pour produces a thick and honey-esque liquid, covering a wide breadth of oranges and reds, and capped with 1 centimeter of plain, white foam. Flecks and specks float around the glass, indicating the raw, unfiltered creation of the beer. I find the smell is relatively faint, with a certain slightly hoppy dryness and a good wheat flavor, opposite a shade of pale ale astringency. The beginning of the sip has a low-key fruity touch, exhibiting lemon and orange, with some coriander spiciness added to the mix. The aforementioned hops pipes up a bit near the aftertaste until the beer is sent onto the esophagus, leaving behind only a pale ale sweetness. Really, an elegant, low n’ slow grapefruit bitter kind of beer with a Christmas touch. I’ll drink it, but I much prefer the Belgian "cheese and wood" approach to Christmas.

33cl, from De Hopduvel Gent, easy to drink X-Mas brew, but not complex, cloudy, good head, nice brew

A hazy dark orange colored beer, with a beige rocky foamed head. The aroma of nice bitter hops, fruity sweet, and spicey. The taste is malt bitter, orange sweet with floral and notes of pepper. A long bitter aftertaste.

750ml bottle, age unknown. Of course I was carrying this around all day and mixed it up quite a bit, so it poured brown and muddy and kinda disgusting looking, but that’s my fault. At least the lacing was thick, cake-like and attractive. Huhge musty nose of funked plants and greens and heavy yeast notes of creamy hay and minerally herbs. Flavor is similar but a little less funky and has more of a soap quality. Texture is appropriately fluffy and smooth, heavy yeast of course, but overall it’s quite nice, but not a mind-blowing experience like the other beers from De Ranke.

750mL bottle, courtesy of acrdz. Thanks, Mike! Pours a murky orange color with tan edges; off-white head with good retention and fine-bubbled lacing; very nice pour. Nice dry mineral and piney bitterness in the aroma; complex yeastiness and crackers; some light saltiness; excellent nose. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: crisp mineral bitterness upfront; again, solid yeast character, pine, mint, and light breadiness; well carbonated and very drinkable; nice balance between a toasty / yeasty core and prominent mineral / piney bitterness. Good stuff. Lengthy finish: toasty breadiness, pine and mineral hops, and dry yeast.

Very murky, golden ale with a mid-sized, fluffy, off-white head. Aromas were some spice and vanilla. The flavor was lemony, honey, light fruit, and coriander. The mouthfeel was light bodied and lightly carbonated. Pretty good.

Perfect hazy golden amber body with a reddish tint and a perfect off-white head. Aroma of fresh malt, cranberries, raisins, hops and a bit of bitter alcohol. Full-bodied; Strong malty flavoured body with a good malt backbone and an alcoholic kick that lasts quite a while. Aftertaste shows the malt and spice with a bit of coriander seed freshness and alcoholic malt. Overall, a good belgie ale with some mild malt and spice characteristics. I sampled this 33 cL bottl purchased from the Bier Tempel in Bruxelles, Belgium on 01-January-2008, sampled on 26-May-2008 on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.