De Ranke Père Noël

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

Pours a cloudy golden orange with decent head that receeds at a quicker pace. If you pour the sediment in, it is a dark golden brown. Nose is slightly yeasty with the same level (or less) of citrus and overall that Belgian beer nose you come to expect. What an...odd...flavor. Lots of things going on here, but nothing that stands alone. Sweet like honey at first, and then a strike of spices comes over your tongue. Then there is an almost metallic tone that hits the roof of your mouth and takes over- but I think it is from spices, not any metallic influence on the bottle. If you pour the sediment in, it seems to be smoother with a more balanced profile. Feel is standard and heavy with carbonation, but not overdone. Very drinkable, though not highly so because it is such an enigma on the palate. Overall worth trying I would say. But not because of any particular thing. It is just a very mysterious beer. Here, there, but nowhere. I suggest trying to mix up the sediment in the beer as it seemed to provide a more even and smooth experience.

Name: Pere Noel
Date: June 24, 2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, RBSG 2007
Appearance: hazy orange, fine white head, drippy lace
Aroma: sweet fruity aroma with lots of spicy character
Flavor: rich fruity malt flavor, lots of spicy character, only a hint of sweetness, light bitterness keeps it too dry
Overall: rbsg frequent flyer finally gets opened after trips to montreal, dc, and minneapolis

Name: Pere Noel
Date: November 30, 2008
Mode: draft
Source: brick store
Appearance: hazy orange, big dense off white head, thick lace
Aroma: dry fruity aroma with lots of spicyness, earthy
Flavor: big fruity flavor, lots of earthy bitterness from heavy spices
Overall: no real difference from the frequent flyer bottle

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.7/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4

colore oro bevuta il giorno di natale forse un po’ troppo giovane molto speziata

Hazy orange body with a small off-white head. Aroma of lots of fruit and spice with some brown sugar. Sweet fruity flavor with some brown suar and spice.

RBSG 2007: From the monster bottle at the front of the room that sounded like a gunshot went off when opened. Poured a hazy gold with a white head, bit of a gusher. Aroma, funky, lemon, some bready notes, spices, smelled old. Flavor, pale malts, lemon, yeast, not bad.

Sample thanks to Maniac. Hazy apple juice, slight carbonation remaining. Lots of honey on the aroma, some apple juice, faint spice, including cloves and ginger. Flavor has honey sweetness with a good bit of spice reminiscent of potpourri. Not my thing. At all. Tastes like licking Christmas. Gave me the same shiver as a shot of cheap tequila.

Spicy nose with a hint of spruce maybe. Mostly malt body but plenty of balancing hop.

Pours a hazy orange amber with a small white head. Really hopy, grassy smell. A little fire smoke too, really unique aroma. The taste is a little more malty, but there is definitely a profound hop presence. Nice and smooth, but has a little bit of heat on the end too which caught me off guard. Nice unique spicy taste, I was very intrigued. The hops were very grassy and really worked with this beer.