La Moneuse Speciale Noël

Brewed by Brasserie de Blaugies
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Dour-Blaugies, Belgium

750 ml bottle, blue/purple lable, not the one pictured. Unsure of year. HUGE head that left copious amounts of clotted lace as it retreated. It’s actually a winter saison, and smells like it, with notes of sour and must mixed in with a citrus tartness. Mouthfeel is decent and light, but not as noteworthy as the aroma and taste. Doesn’t feel or taste as alcoholic as the 8% ABV would indicate. Overall, a pretty awesome beer from two teacher who make beer in their garage! I can only hope my own brewing someday gets as good....

Pours a hazy dark apricot color with large amount of froathy offwhite yellowish head. Aroma is very yeasty with some banana and bubblegum. Flavor is tart fruits and dry yeastiness. Overall, a little dissapointing.

Bottle @ Cole’s Christmas Tasting 2007. Amber body with a good foamy white head. (3+) Sweet aroma, mild fruit I can’t quite place, hints at dry spice. (7+) Similar fruit and malt in the flavour, chestnuts? dry toasty malt, fruit with a touch of alcohol. Average palate. Not bad.

On tap, yesterday @ Kerstbierfestival. Hazy amber with a white head. Aroma complex, sweet, malts, alcoholic. Medium body. Taste roasted malts, yeast, bit citrus ?, warm alcholic feeling in mouth, caramel. Good.

750ml $9.99 Binny’s Orland La Moneuse’s Winter ale pours with a deep golden hue. There’s a slight chill haze with solid carbonation bubbles rising quickly to the giant three finger meringue like head. The head that forms is big and chunky and leaves very respectable chunk sheet lacing on it’s way down the glass. Smells of a saison. Toasty biscuity like malts are blanketed by lemon drops and a nice sweet sugary profile. There’s a touch of hay and an earthiness found in saisons. As this beer warms the sugar seems to be brown instead of candi. There’s a faint hint of spicy alcohol wafting around in there every now and then. The flavor and smell are almost identical although the flavor is a little more subdued. The biscuity pale malts are there and create a sturdy base. There’s a refreshing squeeze of lemon throughout. There is some sugar and it tastes to me like brown sugar. It’s not heavy at all and adds a nice layer of complexity. My only complaint of this beer is the mouthfeel. It has the thinner body like you would want from a saison (which I’ve come to believe this beer is) but the bubbly carbonation just isn’t there to move it along the way it needs to. Finishes dry. This beer goes down easy and is a thirst quencher. It’s also dry so it leaves you wanting another drink immediatly after the last. This is a solid brew from Brasserie de Blaugies. A good thirst quenching saison. There isn’t a whole lot in the way of, what I think of, Winter spicing but it’s good none the less. Worth picking up if you’re a fan of saisons. 12/10/07

750mL bottle, courtesy of wickedpete. Thanks, Pete! Pours a hazy, bright-orange amber color; yellowed head with solid retention and fine-bubbled lacing. Pleasant, intricate yeastiness and a light estery, Belgian presence in the aroma; intricate and quite nice. Medium-to-full, slightly buttery and yeasty mouthfeel: biscuity and chewy Belgian sugars; great attenuation and intricate yeast character. Medium, doughy and plenty of breadiness in the finish.

Dark gold to amber color with a tall white head. Vinous aroma with other fruits, namely apples. Buttery fruity sweet flavor. Overall a bit too thick.

Bottle, bought @ Willems, Grobbendonk. Explosive when opening! Pours a muddy light pale orange-yellow. Giant frothy white head with lots of lacing. Aroma is sweetish, barnyard, ginger, hops, citrus, pine and flowers on top of a biscuity maltiness. Full, but lively mouthfeel. Light dryness in flavour, relatively bitter and lots of crispness. A good dose of flavours of spices.