 beermatrix (1497), Twin Cities, Minnesota, USA
| 4.6 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 9/10 | 5/5 | 9/10 | 5/5 | 18/20 |
Dec 20, 2007
Pours out a dark brown to settle a nearly mat black with a small sense of brownness to its body. Very heavy looking and an impressively tall capping to top it off of light crispy brown foam thats a bit rough and tumbled. Kinda crunchy looking at first but developes into a moderately creamy bubbleness and density as it sits. It keeps well and stretches all sorts of wonderful lacing that looks of wet powdered sugar.
Nice lofty aroma of cookie dough and spice. Crisp yet round with a full on malt tilt of breads and dark fruits. Mostly figgy, touch of raisin, perhaps some dates and molasses covering the big breadyness. Nice yeastyness to it which seems to be adding a root beerish type of hints to its dryness. Slender hops add some grassyness to its spicy complexity which included some anise, cinnamon, mint, and ginger cookies.
Flavors are bold, lasting and carry alot of what the smell leads to with its big maltyness and yeastified balance. Firm grip of dark candish malts leads right in with a nice holiday cake-like dimension of figgyness first, then dark cherry, dates, chocolate covered raisins, and then the peppy spices. Notes of root beer, anise, pepper, carrot cake, and ginger make their way in and out of the malty doughy darkness but linger mostly across its finish with a slender, delicately woven dryness of grassy hops. Pretty damn solid! Perhaps not quite a match to the Abt 12, but damn if its not close!
Feel is big, bold, and beautiful. The girth is massive in the body of this stuff. Heavy yet smooth, crunchy and crisp yet creamy with a whole lotta malts to create an exceedingly thick bread/cake-like structure of body. Not to mention the subtle details of yeasty play, dark fruity tang, perfectly intensed warmness, hoppy dryness, and spice. Which all lasts forever and a day the second it spills on to your palate.
Wow! Great stuff! No big surprise really. St. B knows how to impress and this is perfect for the holidays!
SamD (1), Ohio, USA
does not count  | 4.5 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 7/10 | 4/5 | 9/10 | 5/5 | 20/20 |
Dec 16, 2009 Brown coloured beer with small white head. Full palatewith a bitter sweet and spiced taste.
Pwn3d (1086), Manhattan, New York, USA
| 4 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 7/10 | 4/5 | 9/10 | 4/5 | 16/20 |
Dec 15, 2009 Xtreme Xmas at RnH. A delight and rich Christmas brew. Belgian influence all over the place. Ginger, cinnamon, and clove. Figs and dates .. One of the better beers of the night.
Fratto (740), Arlington, Texas, USA
| 3.5 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 6/10 | 5/5 | 7/10 | 3/5 | 14/20 |
Dec 14, 2009 On tap at the Fort Worth Gingerman. Cloudy brown pour with a nice white head. Faint aroma is light and yeasty. Taste is roasted malts, yeast, lots of spice, and plum.
Slokop (97), Tilburg, Netherlands
| 4 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 9/10 | 4/5 | 8/10 | 4/5 | 15/20 |
Dec 14, 2009 A modest smell because of low temperature. But a surprise in disguise. Some hand-warming did the trick. Round and full harmonic palate of bitters and sweets dance with some spices. Sticky sweets make after-taste hang round for long. Excellent.
Wim (1321), Turnhout, Belgium
| 3.7 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 7/10 | 3/5 | 8/10 | 4/5 | 15/20 |
Dec 13, 2009 brown coloured body with a off white head a spicy hoppy fruity aroma a sweet spicy yeasty hoppy fruity malty taste with a sweet alcholic bitter finish nice one
Yves (1035), Beerse, Belgium
| 4 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 8/10 | 4/5 | 8/10 | 4/5 | 16/20 |
Dec 13, 2009 Brown coloured beer with small white head and no carbonation visible. Malty yeasty aroma with a fruity nose. Full palate slightly sparkling. Finish is bitter sweet and spiced. Quite long finish. Top beer.
tennessejed420 (93), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| 4 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 7/10 | 4/5 | 7/10 | 5/5 | 17/20 |
Dec 12, 2009 750 ml. bottle. Cloudy brown body with great thin lasting off white head. Aroma of sweet spices, nutmeg, bubblegum, yeast, malt. Smooth, velvety mouthfeel with good carbonated bite. Caramel and sweet malt notes, with belgian spices on finish. The first couple of sips i thought were a little sweet for me but it’s really quite nice once you start drinking it. Masks the 10% masterfully.
JohnC (2282), Mission Viejo, California, USA
| 3.2 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 7/10 | 3/5 | 5/10 | 3/5 | 14/20 |
Dec 12, 2009 Thanks to moniesocal for bringing this to the Bruery’s Christmas 2009 Show and Tell. This rich, dark pour had some anise notes in the flavor. I’m not a big fan of anise, but otherwise, it was a well made beer. If you happen to like anise, you’d probably enjoy this beer.
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