Jenlain Biere de Noel

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

June 2013: Shared 750 ml green corked "champagne" bottle, from Voldby Købmandsgaard. Reddish brown colour, moderate off-white head. Moderate but nice aroma, malts, herbal hops and a hint of caramel. Harmonious flavour, not very sweet, herbal hops, highly drinkable. Better suited to accompany Christmas dinner than its sweeter Belgian counterparts.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

750 ml capped and caged bottle. Poured in the old original Duyck seidel a clear ruby-brown coloured Xmas Ale with a generous one finger beige creamy foamy head that had a very long retention and tons of micro bubbles. Sustained carbonation. Great lacing. The aroma is faint toasted malts, faint spicy, gingerbread, faint floral hops. The flavour is pronounced caramel and toasted malts, molasses, toffee, spicy, licorice, dried fruits, walnuts, floral hops, notes of ashes. The mouthfeel is sweety, a bit syrupy and sticky. This medium bodied Xmas Ale has a dry sticky malty finish. For me, definitely not the best Xmas Ale.

Aroma: 3 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 5

Let me start by stating that I got a lot less from this one than I expected. Sure, a bright oranged colored beer, but the head, most disappointing, was a small soapy textured, off white colored cap that disappeared all to quickly, in fact nearly instanteousdly. There was no lacing. The nose and flavors like with most beers become clearer as they warm. The mint/peppermint was a bad idea in this one, leaves a metallic funky nose and taste. The sweet caramel, most dominate in the tasting helps balance out the spice additives. The body is the best thing aboutb this beer. Light, creamy, effervescent.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Nice white head leaves a good return of lace (about a 1/2 inch) on top of the orange/amber fluid. Scents of yeast, malt, hops & evergreens waft from the glass. Nice piney/pineapple flavors with other juicy citrus notes come together in this very smooth holiday treat. Noel has an herbal feel to it (heather? basil? rosemary?), with a well balanced hop character to boot. Not too bad for a French brew! But I have to ask, do the herbs make it a Christmas beer?

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Sampled on 12/27/2008. This Biere de Garde pours a medium amber color from a 750ml bottle. Small to medium sized white foamy head, with nice retention and decent lacing. The aroma is caramel malts, bready and some green apples. A medium bodied Biere de Garde. The malts are caramel and sweet. Somewhat bready with a good dose of ice tea and some green apples. The hops are fairly mild and mostly earthy. It gets a little sweeter and the hint of orange intensifies as the beer warms. Nice beer, very drinkable. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

Haven't had a Biere de garde in a while, it was nice trying this one. Pours a bright reddish copper colour with a huge off white head. Slightly bready on the palate, rich caramel malts. Mouthfeel is pleasent, soft and spritzy on the tongue. Aroma is soft, sort of tart,lemony notes with green apple and watermelon.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Pours out in a hazy brownish amber colour with a low creamy white foam. Toasted bread, cellar, pears and alcohol in the aroma. medium-bodied with notes of cellar, vanilla, caramel and peppery alcohol. Dryish finish of caramel, cellar and alcohol.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Bottle date of 09 2006, Sampled December 2007
I am not totally sure of the vintage perhaps 2005, but the label is black with an ornate red trim and has a blue & red neck label with oranges on it; it is newly distributed to my local bottle shop though. Pours with a brilliantly clear, dark, cranberry red color. The head starts out almost two-fingers thick and is a frothy, somewhat large bubbled consistency with a tan color. Definite aromas of citrus (as the neck label shows), almost more like orange juice spiked with alcohol as opposed to citrus zest which is usually used in beer. Underneath the orange is a toasty malt presence with a touch of caramel and a dry, biscuit like note.

Quite sweet tasting, almost in a cider like way. Very thin bodied for a beer of this strength. Citrus flavors play a prominent role, but it mixes in with the cider-like flavors to produce a sort of washed out juice flavor. The finish has a sharp, almost astringent bitterness to it as well as some toasted, malty notes. The astringent bitterness really lingers, it is linked to the citrus almost like a bitter orange peel flavor. In some ways it tastes like a soda.

Despite the flavors, this beer has held up really well if it is a 2005 bottling. Certainly not the greatest beer, and even fresh I have a feeling it was not all that great. It is somewhat refreshing, but a bit too simplistic and a bit to sharp in the finish.

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson, AZ

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Bottled, 2005 version. Reddish amber (copper) coloured, big white sparkling bubbly head, which disappears quickly. Aroma is alcoholic, fruity and caramellish. Flavour is fruity with hints of hops. Also caramel and toffee in flavour. The dominating fruit is orange (almost orange marmeladeish). It gets better as it warms up, a bti colder than room temperature gives the most of the orange-marmelade flavour. Long orange in aftertaste. I like!

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

Well... I don't know about this one....

Why the doubts? Only in that this had the makings of something interesting and/or special (coming from one of my favorite French breweries and all). But the actual execution falls a bit flat IMO. When all is said and done, this strikes me as neither partcularily special for the holidays, nor all that interesting as either a Saison nor a Bière de Garde. A rather typical Amber Ale is about all that ends up coming across to me, to be honest.

Adequate head formation and retention, though zero lacing. As the looks of a carbonated Scotch or Whiskey.

A bit lacking in the nose. Only the barest hints of some vague grainy/malty notes in the nose. Really, quite tame for the style, aroma-wise. Oh, and the "aromatisée à lòrange" proudly proclaimed on the neck label of this beer? Um, sure, if you say so....

Not a whole lot to talk about in the flavor profile with this one. The aforementioned malt is here, but, then again, not really. Some of the vague orange-ish highlights that were supposed to show up in the aroma actually make something of a cameo appearence in the middle and back-end of this, but really not enough to affect the outcome.

Sometimes listed as a Saison, which I don't buy as much as the bottle's label, which calls this a Bière de Garde. But to be honest, it's really neaither here nor there, all told. Nothing really stellar enough to put it into anything but a much more typical and hum-drum European Amber Ale pidgeonhole, IMHO.

Finishes okay, but I really got bored and tired of this qucikly, to be honest. Some sweet highlights in the finishing backend, that only hurts this beer, I'd say....

All told, a rather flacid effort for a holiday ale. The orange notes do show up rather randomly throughout the course of the bottle, but don't resuce this beer from medicority...

Music: Neuraxis' "Trilateral Progression".
//TB