Val-Dieu Bière de Noël

Brewed by Brasserie de l’Abbaye du Val-Dieu
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Aubel, Belgium

Best before Sept. 2004 Lovely sticky white foam with excellent retention. Lightly hazy cantaloupe liquid. Extremely fresh floral hop aroma welcomes the senses. Also notably airy, with traces of grass, metal, sweet melon, light peach, lemon, and a very subtle straw-like doughy/bready malt foundation. Perfectly carbonated mouthfeel, yet remarkably soft and round. Flavors of flowers, salt, and soft caramel are displayed oh so elegantly. Finishes satisfyingly dry with persistent fresh green apple and bread notes. At 7%, this makes for a less boring apéritif. A deliciously easy drinker bursting with classiness and cleanliness.

Loud explosive sound when I removed the cork. Huge creamy head, banana, pears and other fruits. Dark reddish-golden body. Takes a while to pour. I get the pears, grapes and flowers that others have mentioned. Body is just a touch flat, despite the great head. Some alcohol in the finish. Nice sweetness, complex, well-balanced. A winner.

Cloudy amberish color with thin white head. Yeasty citrus aromas and flavors of bananas, cherries & apple candy.

750ml Bottle(2002): A deep amber sunset hue with a lasting frothy head and outstanding lace. The aroma has notes of honey, banana, grassy hops, caramel and toasted malts, clove, juniper berries, spearmint, and dusty yeast esters. The taste starts with a spicy and earthy quality with lots of subdued fruit notes scattered throughout. A candi and malt sweetness dominates the midsection and a light dose of bitters and more of those wonderful spices appear on the finish. The feel is very lively, sharp and crisp. Dry upon the finish and no alcohol detected. I really dig this beer and maybe because it aged, it seemed to have fully integrated all flavor aspects. I bought this bottle in Buffalo over 6 months ago. Methinks I should have gotten more.

Pours a hazy dark orange color with an thick off-white head. Aroma of roasted malts, caramels, cinnamon and spices. Flavors of roasted malts, dry fruits, with hints of grapefruits, caramels, some cinnamon, yeast and spices. Good carbonation, a sweet and sour dry finish. A very pleasant, complex and well ballanced and warm brew.

A nice light toffee ambered brown color thats fairly clear fills the goblet with some slow but always active streams of bubbles. A small/mediumish, yet firmly smoothed and compacted capping of slightly tanned and grayed foam sits atop with good length. Tons of lacing coats the glass with lots of powdery spots and a glaze of frosty sheeting. Aroma is mild yet well fitting within a malt laden nose that resembles most bock-type smells. Toffee, plum, dried apricot, and fig dance lightly, with a dash of bakery spice, but with a clean, approachable roundedness thats sweetened and deep. Flavors are much like the nose. A nicely played out mildness in tone of malts that gather in a rounded fruity, darkened sweetness with some nice notions to peach, apricot, and plum surrounded but a tender toffee undertow. Slightly spicy in a few areas that speak of vanilla, cinnamon, and brown sugar develope as it finishes. some nice little sticky areas remain in the sweet toffeeish malts. Feel is very creamy and smooth with a fullish medium body of silken maltyness that glides down with amazing ease throughout each sip. Just the right amount of carbonation grab hits the front and middle. Nice and lengthy with a semi chewy body that really sticks the malts on the palate and memory. Especially in the finish. The cinnamom and vanilla spice make for a nice delight as the malts soak in. Very creamy and drinkable as the lower 7% for a Tripel makes this nearly effortless to put back. A beautifully made beer that nurtures and cares for your palate with a yummy, rounded, delicate, smooth, creamy, maltyness which endures the likes of its own presense in the mind as well as the palate. You then ponder how they can make such a lovely beer. Solidly delish!

Nice aged christmas beer. 750ml. Cloudy orange in color with a creamy head. It was a little spicy. I got nutmeg, and cloves.Cinnamon. Smooth and malty. Really good.

On discount for $5 at Donderbak's because Xmas was some time ago. I twisted the wire cage off and narrowly escaped getting severely injured by the cork, which bounced off the ceiling and wall and went into a dark corner behind all the bottles I'm saving for homebrew. Light amber, with abundant offwhite head. Dry yet caramel-like. There are some herbal and woody flavors as well. Nice stuff.