Delirium Noël

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

Draft, at the Map Room, Chicago. Dark body that “glows” with brown highlights around the edges. Slightly minty taste like a root beer, then a little bit of fruitiness. Finally resolves to a winey taste at the end. Complex brew that you don’t realize is overpowering you until it’s too late.

Pours cloudy dark bronze, with a head of large bubbles that fades very fast. Aroma is big alcohol upfront, with dark fruits and some candi sugar and malt backing it up. Body is suitable medium to thin for a Belgian beer. Flavor is very fruity, sweet malt, with some balancing hops, an d a bit of sharpness from the alcohol. Finish is sweet but not heavy or cloying.

This is a surprisingly good Belgian. On tap, hard to tell what color it was due to poor bar lighting. It was dark copper maybe. Has a great aroma of hops and yeast. First Belgian I’ve had that you can actually taste some hops. Quite tasty. Gets ya drunk...(RERATE) Had it again out of the bottle and it still rocks. This is like Belgian Strong meets IPA. I can’t get past this. ps. you get one hell of a buzz if you take on a 750ml of this.

Wow, amazing complexity. Sour at first, but the candied sugar jumps out at you afterwards, and makes this one amazingly balanced brew. I wish I had another right now to drink...

Copper apricot color, small lingering head with sideburns. Half way thru this bottle are big amber chunks...major fishies!! Aroma varies with time opened, glass used, and age of brew...since 1654...I’ve been drinking fresh and aged Delerium beers for years, and I love this Noel. The glass rocks also, one of my favorites out of the hundreds I own...ayieeee!! Flavors of rich malts, powder sugar, honey, amber malt, bready, minerals, persimmon, raisins, slight funky fruit rind but really a smooth and rich brew IMHO. Faults could include a very slight bandaid and bitter fruit rind, but this bottle that I’m guessing is two or three years old, is really good. I’ve been drinking this for over 10 years and always look forward to it fresh, and better, a couple of years old. Smokin!!!

750 mL brown corked bottle purchased from Whole Foods, Deerfield, IL. ABV 10%. Hazy dark orange amber ale having an average-sized diminishing creamy off-white head with fair lacing. Aroma bouquet of toffee, fruity esters (prune?) and alcohol. Soft carbonation. Full bodied that starts with sharpness and mouth exploding flavors of slight sweet malt, fruit, and toffee. Finishes dry with lingering bitterness. A very delicious Belgium ale. 12/12/05 update insert. On tap at Firkin’s, Libertyville, IL. Clear amber hued ale having a long-lasting large white head with good lacing. Nice aromas of fruity esters, banana, and spice. Medium bodied that starts with slight sweet malt, dried fruits, toffee, and spice flavors. Finishes dry with malt aftertaste. Notable alcoholic warmth. An excellent spicy Belgium ale for the winter holidays. Enjoyed on my birthday. Rating stays the same but I thought that the tap version was more aromatic and flavorful than bottled version.

Large 1pt 9oz bottle, poured red/brown with off-white frothy head, which lasted mostly and left nice lacing. Aroma of malt and dark fruit like Belgian Strong, but also some tart apple like a Tripel. Taste of dark fruit, tart caramel apple, and slight citrus. Light/medium body, and clear, not murky. Fizzy carbonation. All in all, some characteristics of a tripel and a belgian strong...clear and tart apple like a tripel, but dark fruit and malty like a belgian strong. I was very impressed with this beer...excellent!

from Total Wine - thin dark head, spicy with coriander, full with malty body and cant put my finger on all the other spices, finishes very smooth with lite alcohol but you feel the warmth. Most enjoyable and my 3 brothers enjoyed this the most of all beers tried so far.