St. Bernardus Christmas Ale

Another in the selection for Belg-a-Rama, St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, from the Brouwerij Sint Bernardus, Watou, Belgium

Here's what I noted in December of 2007, from a bottle review:

Dark in color, in between violet and brown, with a nice head, if short, if a bit overblown with bubbles, and not sticking around...another pour gives higher head, but, it too, dies off with a quickness...

Aroma: sweet and spicy, dark fruits, plus dark rum, mollasses, some brown sugar, maybe, but green hoppy feels as well...ripe, fresh, lovely, beautiful....so good!

Tastin' it: ...cola, cocoa...fierce carbonation....big, fat, outlandish Belgian yeast, the kind that I associate with cookie dough...more carbonic effervescencem and cola feel, mixed with pepper, anise, and other spices ...needs more yeast, though...full mouthfeel, practically inhabits all the rooms of the senses...but doesn't do what the Abbot 12 does, which is my disappointment....I want that and then some, not less than that...
not bad, but too carbonated, very flavorful, and yet not flavorful enough..I expected the Abbot 12 and then some, and I got something less.
A good beverage, warming, alcoholic, spicy, a blast of pepper and malt, and somehow not quite what I expected from St. Bernardus...a bit less, a wee bit....there's burnished cherries, there's raisins, and dates, and more.
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Looking critically at those opinions, I'm not sure what my problem was. Another great brew from one of my favorite breweries, and I expected something superior to their finest ale? Seriously, dude, WTF?

On tap it's lush and sweet, more chocolate and spice, less cola. Bigger head on tap, though less fiercely carbonated. Delicious stuff. For our beer menu, I get simpler: "The smiling monk puts on a Santa cap for this one. Dark brown, rich and malty, cookie dough meets dark fruit and spice, a boozy Gingerbread brew."