La Choulette de Noël

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

2005 vintage. Mostly translucent and scarlet caramel brown in color with spread out saliva masking the top. Submerged nose cackles under coriander, maple vanilla fudge, muskrat, sandpaper, brandy over golden raisins and a liquor flambé array. Creamy orange toffee dances with maple almond butter, coriander and white chocolate covered white peppercorn. Pears, almonds and spumoni creaminess. Orange glazed sweet potato pie with a graham cracker counter spiked with coriander. Supportive carbonation lets the spiced butterscotch pudding enjoy the company of palate titillation. Medium bodied and fairly charming around the bends, with subtle café con leche sweet cream wiggling around with a hint of subtle sulfurous substance. Grains of paradise and muskrat scrape butterscotch sandalwood in a dry open prairie.

A French beer with strong Belgian taste. Full. Malty. Almost like Petrus. Very nice and a bit of a surprise.

Dark mahogany, almost brown. Light, fluffy head and some lacing. Aroma is full of sweet malts. Brown sugar and dark fruit, like prunes. A little heat with a hint of bitter hops and some citrus. The flavor is comprised of bitter chocolate and cherries. Almost like a Queen Anne cherry, but nowhere near as sweet. I guess that makes it nothing like it at all. Shrug. Plenty of malts there. The palate is rather lackluster. Thin and watery, no weight behind it. The finish is dusty and dry of caramel malts and fruit.

hazy burgundy with a large cream colored head. flavor is light. dark fruit with hints of toffee and cola. notes of tea leaves and herbs. forgettable.

75cl bottle from Auchan, Calais. Clear mid ruby colour with lasting beige head. The rich dark fruits are slightly sour on the aroma, along with a bit of choc. Plums and cherries also. Moderate fullness in mouth supported by some great syrupy fruit which never gets too much. Fruit is quite intense. Not too much boiled sweet which some of these beers suffer from. Finish has a bit of dryness almost a bit of powder. Fruit is prettygood. Syrupy but great. And a bit of spice, nutmeg/cinnamon.

Dark and hazy amber colour. Malty and nutty with hints of spices but somewhat boring...

750mL bottle BB 3/22/07. It’s supposed to be in the 30s this week... I can drink a Christmas beer :) Poured a translucent lighter ruby with almost nothing going on for head. The nose resonated with lighter, fruity candi sugars.. sweet, but natural.. a bit dried with light spicage and a bit of bread. Sweet syrupy flavors, but not the texture in the mouth.. free-flowing sweetened dried apricots and other fruits, a pinch of cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and mild floral bitterness come together quite nicely with increasing complexity and intrigue culminating in a sweet and spicy long-lived finish. Body became thicker as the drink progressed, and lower carbonation provided an ideal pace across the palate. This was very enjoyable, and almost impossible to beat at $3.99 :)

Bottle from the latest ’06 shipment. Very little pop from the cork, and not much head. Undercarbonated. Dull aroma, vegetably, cabbage, molasses, beets, radish, brown sugar. Tastes pretty good, though comes across quite flat. Supremely easy to drink, as a result, though I’d trade a bit of that for a little more life. Bad comments, for sure, though this was still enjoyable.