Continuing with the holiday ale theme, this is Affligem Noël, brewed by Brouwerij Affligem in Opwijk, Belgium. Pretty good - not great. A very clean flavor and aftertaste which is slightly spicy with strong brown sugar overtones. At 9% alcohol by volume, Affligem Noel make for a good antidote to tree trimming, or watching the New Jersey Football Giants on TV.
As always, the cat is in the picture.
Just look at that head!
Continuing with the holiday ale theme, allow me to present Corsendonk Christmas Ale, brewed by Brasserie du Bocq for Brewery Corsendonk in Oud-Turnhout, Belgium.
I meant to get away from Belgium this week, but when I saw this bottle, I couldn’t resist the call of Corsendonk. Forgive me? The very first really good beer I ever had was Corsendonk’s Monk Pale Ale / Agnus Dei, which is truly spectacular and will quickly put you on the floor.
This particular holiday ale is dark red in color, a bit sweet and slightly bitter with a very clean aftertaste. I don’t feel like it’s their very best effort, but worth a number of tries nevertheless as even Corsendonk’s worst efforts are delightful. Additionally, this year Corsendonk is offering a holiday gift pack containing eight twelve ounce bottles and two Corsendonk Christmas Ale glasses, shaped similarly to what you see above, for only twenty bucks.
For those of you who prefer cat blogging, I’ve put a picture of my chubby little cat, lounging on the sofa with a bottle of Corsendonk Christmas ale and a stuffed Santa in the extended entry.
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Continuing with the holiday ale theme, here is Delirium Noel brewed by The Huyghe Brewery in Melle/Ghent, Belgium. Now you have to admit that any beer that features Santa being pulled by a team pink elephants is pretty damn hard to resist. At only $9.50 a bottle and 10% alcohol by volume, this dark and spicy holiday ale is the perfect choice when you are preparing to brace yourself a day of holiday festivities or shopping. In my case, I’m about to be dragged, against my will, to a Christmas Tree lighting in the park. Each sip of Delirium Noel makes the prospect just a little less ghastly.
By the way, if you prefer cat blogging, my cat is in the picture. See if you can find her.
If you can’t see Santa in this picture, I put a different one after the jump where Santa is a little clearer.
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N’ice Chouffe, 2003 Limited Edition. Brewed by Brasserie D’Achouffe, Achouffe, Belgium.
Now this is a holiday ale worth having around. Brasserie D’Achouffe makes a new edition each winter and this is the 2003 edition. If you can find it, be sure to grab a bottle. The price, at about $14 a bottle, will seem a bit steep until you crack it open and drink it. At 10% alcohol by volume, you probably won’t be regretting your choice by the time you’re done.
This is a pretty stupid idea, even for me. Oh well, what the hell. I thought of doing this because I chipped a tooth on a bottle of this very fine beer last night. It was one of those remarkably stupid moments, that you would very much like back just as soon as it occurs. You see, I had just cracked open a bottle of Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale, when it began to bubble over onto the kitchen counter.
What to do? What to do?
Use a finger to plug it up? Don’t worry about it, it’s just a little bit of a pretty big beer?
No, no, no. Of course not. Shove the bottle into your mouth as fast as you can in order to stop the spillage. Ouch! Pain! Oh no! Cracked tooth! Ug.
Anyway, Samuel (I call him Sammy) Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale is truly, a very fine beer. At 6.50 a bottle, the price is a total outrage. It’s not even all that strong in terms of alcohol content but, oh my, is it ever tasty. If you are a fan of English holiday ales, be sure to pick up a bottle. Only one though - they really are ripping you off.
Since it is the season, or getting to be, I’ll do another holiday beer next week.
By the way, for all of you suburban, subdivision dwellers with back yards and garages and pools and lawns and hedges and whatever else, that big, nasty, metal apparatus you see out my kitchen window is a fire escape. A damn handy device from time to time
…And yes, those roses are dead. I’ll work on that. I promise.
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