La Choulette de Noël

Brewed by Brasserie La Choulette
Style: Bière de Garde
Hordain, France

Red/Brown Coloring With Off-White Head. Strong Malt and Bread Dough. Flowery Notes.. Light and Subtle.. Hoppy. Overall Not Bad.

Subtle, roasted malt aroma. Very nice dark amber in color with not much visible carbonation. Light tan color with a very small head. Highly carbonated mouthfeel. Rich, caramel, sweet. Improves as it warms.

Alcool on the nose, lively carbonation. nice malt taste withsome ops. Has a familiar friend kind of taste. It felt a bit harsh on my throat, and a bit too much alcohol i think.

Has a cloudy dark brown color with a small off-white head. Smell is of fruit and spice. Taste is of sweet carmel malts, spice and finishes with a dry spice swetness. Overall a fine holiday brew.

Best by date of April 2004, Sampled October 2004
Rich raisin-like dark fruit notes emanate from my glass as I pour this beer. It is brilliantly clear ruby-highlighted amber color, and is topped by a fluffy thick head that is light tan. There is lots of sweet fruitiness in this beer, I get notes of candied cherries, raisins, fig, and fruitcake. The same candied note dominates the finish of this one, it is definitely an added flavor, but I am not quite sure what flavoring would produce this taste. The taste is pretty dry and malty up front, but then moves to the hyper sweet character in the finish (by hyper I don’t mean that this beer is super sweet, just that the sweetness seems to be a sensitized component of this beer). Actually this beer is showing its age a bit as well, there is a certain mellow oxidation character here as well that contributes notes of sherry.

Upon reflection, the hyper sweet character that I have been sensing may in fact just be the aged character of this beer kicking in, it is not distracting, and perhaps adds a certain something to this beer.

Sweet, spicy, marzipan aroma with some barnyard temptations. Clear, mahogany-brown with off-white/tan head that recedes to cover. Smokey character to the lightly spiced, licorice-like flavour. Medium body and fairly full carbonation. Though there is a lot going on, it seemed rather subdued and perhaps a bit simple. Bottle enjoyed with MartinT, muzzlehatch and Rastacouere.

Biere de Garde and Various Oddments tasting, #9, with MartinT, Rastacouere and tiggmtl. 750 ml bottle. Nearly opaque dark mahogany; rather light, sweet caramel nose with a touch of baked fruit....dark, burnt caramel flavor, perhaps a touch of smoke, earthy tones and some licorice. Lovely, without being great.

Frothy fruitiness of pomegranates and strawberries strive for candyish levels of sweetness and sometimes succeed...Smoky malt fumes languidly hover over rummy spiciness...Blatant proof that French Noël beers are of very distinct constitution than that of their northern neighbours, but can still offer interesting sweet quaffers...