Delirium Noël

Brewed by Brouwerij Huyghe
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Melle, Belgium

Cloudy reddish orange, no head. Nicely yeasty, musty, slightly banana aroma. Unusually "bright" flavors of maybe cinnamon (?), then earthy, woodsy, "basement" flavors. Obviously, I poured this too cold - as it warms, pronounced "spiced apple" flavors emerge, which give it much more of a Christmas feel. Not bad at all.

Classic Belgian dubbel appearance, wonderful bruin and attractive lacing. Requires some warming to release flavors, but still not particularly rich and flavorful--too strong of alcoholic and acidic overtones. Decent palate, satisfying in its alcohol warming, but not a brilliant beer in its style.

12oz. Bottle: Spicy, malty aroma. Smells of coriander, yeast, malts, and spices. Poured dark amber/ruby in color with a small tan head that diminished quickly. Medium lacing. Cloudy. Full of tons of particles. Flavor is sweet and spicy. Tastes of cherry, merlot, candy sugar, coke syrup, malts, and lots of spices. Medium to full body. Average texture. Lively carbonation. Long, sweet finish.

On tap. Dark reddish brown colour with a lace head. Nice sweet aroma of berries. Really great flavour of malt and some blend spices.

The smell is fruity with yeast and alcohol. It pours with a huge head and leaves wonderful lace. The color is a cloudy brown. Taste is sweet and has hints of raisin. Obvious yeast and alcohol as well. The bitter hops get you in the finish. But, what I like most of all is the rich malty taste. Two thumbs up for the pink elephant!

Delirium Noel 2001: On the pour a delicious orange to cherry red color as it sits in the glass. The body covered by a voluminous head, frothy in texture that melts to a fine sheet of lace that drapes the glass. Aroma’s of ripe fruit, such as pineapple and banana with hints of yeast also an underlying malt sweetness, quite a refreshing. Start is agreeably sweet, the top voluptuous in feel, the finish has a razor-sharp acidity and the hops scrumptiously hopped, malt dry aftertaste that has a slight alcohol bitterness. The big 10% ABV, warms the tummy and seals off a quite quaffable beer. Ranks #313 on my current 1000 beer master list.

Big beer aroma - stewed fruity, candied, brown sugar, a bit musty, alcohol. Fun label, faux-crockery bottle, red foil covered cork-n-cradle, mostly clear medium brown beer, thin head earn good appearance marks. Too tart. Spicy and warming, woody bittering, not too sweet, vanilla. Tart-bitter finish with some candied/caramelized aftertastes. Technically good, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I was hoping.

Bottle on 12/06/2008 at the James River Homebrew Club Christmas Party. Very clear copper amber body with a medium creamy off-white head. Sweet caramel, fruit, raisins and candi sugar aroma. Sweet caramel, raisins and rum-soaked fruit flavor with a bit of candi sugar. Medium full body with moderately low carbonation and a somewhat syrupy finish. 7/4/7/4/14 - 3.6 12/6/2006: 2004 on draft. Very cloudy reddish brown body with a medium creamy tan head. Sweet caramel and fruit aroma, with a candi sugar background. Sharp caramel flavor with a sweet fruity foreground, some carndy sugar and a bit of yeast. 7/4/8/3/15 - 3.7