Delirium Noël

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

11.2 ounce bottle from Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville, VA. Pours a medium brown color with a medium head. Good head retention and decent lacing. Brown sugary aroma with lots of spices, predominantly orange peel and nutmeg. Taste is brown sugar, orange peel, other spices, cherry. Full bodied. Very nice beer.

Thin fruit up front - raisins/grapes. Thick and malty towards the back - some chocolate. Strong alcohol. This was an average Belgian.

Aged sample on draught at the Half Moon in Kennett. Poured a dark brownish color, tripel fermented, they said. Nice initial head that subsided and provided ok but not outstanding lacing. Aroma was spicey and of dark fruits and caramel. Flavor was much of the same, mouthfeel nice and creamy. A very enjoyable beer with a touch of bitterness to finish.

This brew pours with a slightly cloudy amber body wtih a thick head and a good amount of lacing. The aroma is sweet and malty with nice spicy notes and a little candy sugar. The flavor is slightly sweet and spicy with a malty note and a touch of candy sugar. Full bodied and slightly dry.

Bottle: Poured a medium amber color ale with a super huge foamy and creamy off-white head with perfect retention. Aroma of cinnamon and another spices which results in a weird perfume that doesn’t excite my olfactory sense. Taste is also dominated by that weird perfume that I have a hard time to pinpoint. I also noticed some sweet malt. Body is real creamy with a good lacing. Alcohol is very well hidden. Even though Belgian Christmas beer is not a well-defined style, there are still some things that I expect (high ABV, full body, spice mix…) which I couldn’t find in here.

750 ml bottle from Wholefoods. Clear rich golden amber with almost no head. Apricot aroma with hints of sourness and spice. Nice fruity tart taste with a good breadiness and some mild spice to the finish.

750ml bottle, aged about one year. Pours a dark, cloudy, nearly opaque chestnut body. A massive, spongy, cream colored head shows nice retention, settling to a thin film only after about 10 minutes. A minimal, spotty, sudsy lacing dots the glass. The aroma is nothing short of divine. It shows a complex blend of lightly toasted caramel, nougat, heavy cream, hazelnuts, oak, and heaps of vanilla. The nose resembles a well crafted English barleywine blended with a strong Belgian. The flavor is similar, and very solid, though a bit sweet. Caramel blends with faint hints of coffee and chocolate on the tongue. An oaky, woodsy earthiness is present throughout, with vanilla making a strong push for top billing. Hazelnuts also play a strong role. Medium-full bodied, smooth, and just a little sticky. This is a damn fine brew. Considerably better than the Nocturnum. I would bet that a year of aging has done this one well.

750ml, 2006 bottle aged 9months or so. pours murky amber with off white head. nose has some light fruits of pear, prunes, and spicy yeast. flavor is dark fruity but sweetened with dark candy sugar, some spiciness to it as well. alc is very well hidden. mouthfeel is a touch watery. palate is pretty short with a sort of maple syrupy finish. decent and straight forward example of the style. thankfully i found this on clearance for $5, which is probably what it’s actually worth. however, i liked more than my score suggests.