Noël de Silenrieux

Brewed by Silenrieux
Style: Belgian Ale
Silenrieux, Belgium

250ml bottle. Lacey, effervescent, and rich. Deep dark ruby brown ale. Very well balanced in its use of spice and candi sugar (?). Clove and pine aroma, with a sweet finish. Recommended.

Hehe. Not everybody would like this... But at least for me who work with wine, this is a great brew. Some of the clesest you’ll come Lambic... Dark amber, slightly hazy. Aroma of light brown malt, animalic notes, red berries an vinegar. Nice wild yeast aromas, maybe a touch of bretts... Fine champagne’ish mousse with a bright intense, but not long lasting head (beet sugar’ish). Acidic entry on the palate, medium body, very dry vinous character. Then a slight malty taste with hints of sour strawberries. Aromas sit for a little while, but with a long acidic finish. Hints of mint in the after taste. Almost closer to a brut nature sparkling wine than "a beer". Most interesting... I love it, but definately an aquired taste.

250 ml bottle. Dark ruby red colour, almost black. Tall coarse off-white head. Soap, yeast and black pepper aroma. Feels thin-bodied, typical of the style. Complex spicy flavours that blends nicely with the otherwise dry beer. It’s a bit hard to say what spices that are there, but I’m pretty sure black pepper is one of them. And there is definitely some secret spice in there. Gentle hop bitterness throughout, but it stays nicely in the background. Really well-balanced. Somewhat acidic at the edges. I’ve seen others put their thumbs down on this beer, but I find it really nice.

Small beige head over stunningly beautiful red-brown beer. Nice nose, nutty, slightly oxidyzed (bottle 3 yrs. old), and somewhere a salty, smoked ham impression. Sweet, but aromatic malty and port-like flavour; oxydizing is more obvious, but in a very acceptable way: red fruit, alcohol, retronasal some walnuts. Slick but not sticky MF, alcohol obvious, and quite heavy body overall. Nice, but in 3 years this has aged a lot. Thankfully in the right way.

25cl bottle at Delirium Cafe. Pours dark ruby brown with a small white head. Sweet and vinous nose. Dark fruits and yeast. Plums , rasisins and caramel. Full bodied. Very nice!

Dark amber beer, poor head. Nice malt aroma, sweet light liquorice. Rich body, malty, well balanced by bitterness; very light corky taste; a nice aftertaste of roasted malt, and some liquorice. Final pretty strong, not too much aromatic.

250 ml bottle (2006), ABV is now 6%. Available in Norway (Vinmonopolet). Deep chestnut hazy colour, huge and creamy tan head. Pleasant aroma of dried fruits, candy sugar and oak, vinous notes. Flavour is slightly less complex, moderately spicy and herbal with some oaky and vinous notes, definitely acceptable but not quite as good as top notch Belgians. Mouthfeel could have been fuller.

Smells quite a bit of horse-blanket(Brettanomyces). Sour, fruity aroma. Very complex taste and aroma. Long lasting sour taste and hops in the finish, but not bitter tasting. Good dark belgian ale with a very interesting character.