Gaverhopke Kerstbier

Brewed by ’t Gaverhopke
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Stasegem-Harelbeke, Belgium

Bottle that I picked up at Dranken Geers, Oostakker, Gent, Belgium, 31-10-09 consumed 10-12-09 Initially poured clear copper in colour but then a rather careless second pour set forth all manner of yeast and sediment, it was now a hazy sludgy colour. Taste is pleasantly tangy with some slight sour cherries, oak and generally fruity throughout. Some oak on the nose. Nice gentle sour tang but tempered well by sweetness with some raw cane sugar flavours. Alcohol is well hidden, nice beer. A6 A4 F7 P4 Ov14 3.5

murky muddy brown with an explosive light tan head that fizzes out rapidly and leaves thin bubbles with scant lacing. Aroma is unique; unfinished, newly cut oak sawdust, and pine nuts. I have never sniffed a beer like this before. unique taste, like a smooth cream liquor with a bot of chili and acid (but sort of in a good way). some hints of butterscotch and light spice, maybe nutmeg. good body, very smooth. this is a strange one. I think maybe I like it, at least enough to try it again to see if it grows on me.

33cl. bottle at home: Dark red copper with orange edges under a small, fading large-bubbled tan off-white head. Some floaties. Spices burst from the glass. The ususal christmas suspects... nutmeg, clove, cinnamon. Cardamom, tree bark and some tea mix nicely with the other spices. Bready, doughy notes like sweet rolls or coffee cakes. A light metallic hrbal note can be conjured up enough if you try. CO2 is quite lively in the mouth. Spicy but more restrained than the aroma. Quite a bit of mixed fruit. Whole oranges with peel, apple, pear, even fruit cocktail from a can. A dark unknown spice stays constant with a more earthy leaf coming in the middle. Pear, tea, and winter spices finish out the beer. Lightly oily. A little heavy on the spice for my liking.

Bottle at the brewery. Floaters in a reddish amber beer. Thin ivory head. Spice/herb aroma, bit too carbonated makes in hard in the mouth. OK fruit in mouth. Not bad, spicy frutiy beer. OK

Bit of a mouthful. Murky ruby beneath a fine beige collar. Attractive apple yeasty English BCA aroma snorting with basement, cherry fruit, caramel, hop fustiness, gelatinous sweet berry notes, strawberry jelly once warm. As with the Slaapmutske, booze-sodden black cherry to the fore, but underpinned this time by the occasional gnaw of sprucey hop. Alcohol-free, balanced, complex. Almost spearmint and aniseedy spice hints as it warms. Blood and teaspoon of sour. Thick clods of yeast if youre so inclined, visible silt of spices. Getting cinammon now Ive tipped the bits in loud and clear, but not overdone. Berry fruit, yeast, caramel and sourness melding nicely with the spices. Definite gust of pine holding everything in check. Festive, busy, integrated brew. English brewers of crimes commited in the name of Christmas take heed.

A Mes rate. Bottle at the brewery. Amber coloured with a good white head. This is certainly worthy of the Kerst title. Very christmassy indeed. Full of spice and bread and dried fruit. Good malty base. Lots of germoline in the finish. Not bad.

Bottled at Kerstbierfestival 2007. An amber beer with a thin beige head. The aroma is sweet with notes of malt and caramel as well as lighter notes of spices. The flavor is sweet malty combined with notes of over ripe fruits and light notes of spices - especially cinnamon. Somewhat boring.

33cl, exclusive brewery, from De Hopduvel Gent, complex, balanced, cloudy, nearly no head, nice X-Mas brew