Thiriez Bière de Noël

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

750 ml capped bottle, as a 5.8 % ABV, bought at the brewery. Poured in the original Esquelbecq stemmed glass an unfiltered clear (!), ( for the 2/3 of the bottle and an absolutely opaque last 1/3 of the bottle ), dark amber-chesnut BA with a three fingers beige foamy head that had a long retention and tons of micro bubbles. Soft carbonation. Poor lacing. Some fine floating sediments. The aroma is toasted and caramel malts, coffee beans, toffee, a spicy touch, cinnamom, notes of alcohol. The flavour is toasted malts, caramel, powerful burnt coffee beans, spicy, cinnamom and pepper, smoked notes, herbal tones, rosmarin and dried fruits, walnuts. The mouthfeel is crispy and light sticky. This medium bodied BA has a dry malty finish. A nice and well done X-mas Ale from a recognized small brewery in the North of France, not far away from Dunkerque. For me, more a Brown Ale as a Belgian Ale.

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

Surprise find @ Bearden Beer Market on Christmas Eve: Hazy copper-tea brown pour, fluffy cream head, streams of lacing. Spicy aroma, allspice, hint of brown sugar and ginger, orange peel zest, floral hops. Taste is better as it warms: nice spicy tone, allspice and pepper, some citrus - orange zest and lemon zest, a bit of malt sweetness, light floral bitter linger. Worth a try. Nice Christmas Ale - Merry Christmas to me!

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

Winter 2007 / 2008 Release; Sampled February 2007
An extremely careful pour still yields a six finger thick head that resides a good two fingers above the rim of my glass. Tightly beaded up top, but the bubbles get larger as you get closer to the beer, the head is a light tan color and has some incredible staying pour, it is at least a full five minutes before the head even recedes to the rim of the glass. The beer is almost brilliantly clear, it has a light amber hue to it, but when held up to the light it show a ton of mad, streaming carbonation bubbles and a lightly orange tinged, full copper color. The aroma is a mix of light fruit notes, malt character, and a hint of spice. The fruitiness can be a bit green at times with notes of unripe melon, ripe plum, rhubarb and a touch of cucumber. A hint of caramelized grain and a lightly toasty, cracker like malt character comes through the more I explore the aroma. There is an earthy, slightly woody, mildly phenolic, touch phenolic aromatic note here that I would be hard put to actually place, but must be influenced heavily by the allspice.

Luckily I am drinking out of a tulip glass so that the five fingers of head does not hinder my ability to taste the beer. It is also very well carbonated, though considering I had to wait quite some time to be able to taste the brew, it is no longer excessive; persistent, airy, with a peppery carbonic bite in the finish, the ample carbonation adds a rustic touch here and helps this beer to be quite quenching and drinkable. The beer has a nice, surprising yet welcome, tartness to it. The middle of the beer has a light malt sweetness that accentuates the fruit flavors found in this beer. The fruit notes remind me of a mix of Anjou pears, and grassy, yet ripe melons. This is nicely light bodied, really this is right in line with my idea of a Farmhouse Ale, which I would like to think this is. Spice flavors seem to accentuate the light tartness found in this brew; the spice notes are slightly woody, with a touch of phenolics, definitely peppery, but strangely lingering with an almost green vegetal note (but not really). The spice notes are really noticeable in the finish, though as the beer warms a bit an orange-zest note starts to become more noticeable in the middle of this brew. I should add though that if I had not known spices were added to this brew (and in fact I did not until I was part way through this beer), I would not have confidently said any were used here; they have been kept subtle, yet allowed to influence the flavor profile in interesting ways. The malt, which does provide a light sweetness, does not play a huge role here, especially for a holiday beer; caramelized bread-like notes in the middle play a role here and subtle notes of toasty grain, with soft soda-cracker notes are just noticeable in the finish.

It is hard to ask for more from the appearance of this rustic brew, the excessive carbonation produces a billowing, pillow like head that rests atop an almost brilliantly clear brew that has some color to it. The allspice adds an interesting dimension to this brew, it certainly did not take the path that I would expect and I am surprised how green the spice can be in the finish. In the end though I think it is a good choice for this brew, something like cinnamon or nutmeg would have clashed too much with the other flavors found in this brew. This is really a masterful use of spices by the brewer; light, subtle, yet significant and the particular choices really seem to work here. My second pour of the beer restores the ample carbonation and I realize how much I missed it; that peppery carbonic bit really makes this beer that much more enjoyable. I would definitely recommend drinking this beer quickly so that it retains the interesting carbonation (so share it, what else is a 750ml bottle for).

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ