The corked and caged 750mL pours with a dark brown body that supports a mocha colored head of foam. The aroma offers up full holiday spices and ginger as well as Belgian candi sugar and a slight hint of coffee. The taste delivers malt and apple sweetness with layers of various winter spice notes. Into the finish the sweet malts and sweet apple like esteriness shine through as the spices slowly fade away.

Bottle. Dark brown beer with a dark tan/grey head. Rich malt and spice aroma. Rich malt and light fruit flavor with spice and yeast. Medium bodied. Spice and yeast linger with dark fruit and rich malt.

Purchased at Trader Joe’s (obviously), enjoyed at home rooting for the Packers to win. Appearance is a very dark brown with a thin off white head. Aroma of clove, Belgian yeast, kinda smells like the other TJ ales I’ve had in the past. Taste is good and smooth, really enjoying this one. It’s obviously high potent but nice and smooth. $5 can’t buy a better brew, great bargain beer.

750 ml corked and crowned bottle. Dark brown opague liquid topped by a medium-sized bubbly tan head. Aroma is yeasty, fruity and spicy. Sweet toasted malt flavor is full of dark fruits and yeasty character. Bready and spicy with hints of ginger and cloves. Very raisiny and notes of vanilla and brown sugar.

Pours dark mahogany into a snifter. Off-white head with medium retention recedes leaving trailing sheets. Earthy caramel aromas. Sharp with caramel and treacle upfront turning to pit fruit in the dry, lasting earthy finish.

Bottle. Pours with a near black hued body with a lasting tan head that leaves good lace. Aromas are spicy, cardamom, Unibroue house yeast, dark fruit, candied figs, tobacco with a complex maltiness. Flavors show a low but slightly persistent roast, cardamom, spicy phenols, cola. Warming, medium malt, somewhat bitter, earthy, tobacco notes in the finish. Warming with lively carbonation and a dry, effervescent finish. Always a steal and something I look forward to every year. Possibly not my favorite vintage, but at $4 per 750, buying a case to drink/sit on might be in order!

750ml bottle. I don’t really think each years release warrants a new listing. Bigtime ginger spiced Belgian Black Ale, same as every other year. Not bad, but also not really good. Bitter, efferverscent champagne effervescence really carries it through the spicy sweetness. Too overbearing to really be a go to beer, The ginger and black malt combination sorts of lends a grape-like feel, sort of fruitcake. Probably a really enjoyable beer before the spicing or whatever they do, not so much afterwards.

Very dark brown. Aroma has some aniseed and spices. Lots of complex dried fruits. It’s quite sugary. Also rich and warming.

Bottle shared by my brother in law, thanks for the opportunity Dave! Pours a deep dark brown with a smallish off white head that shows moderate retention and lots of lace. The aroma holds lots of brown sugar, a smattering of dark fruit, lots of yeast and fruity esters, a bit of pepper, and a faint non descript spice. The flavor follows the aroma quite well. Lots of dark fruits and dark sugars with a strong bit of Belgian yeasty flavors. There’s a hint of spice but it is faint and compliments rather that overpowers like so many other holiday brews. Medium to thick body with a moderate to high level of carbonation and a sweet sugary almost bubbly mouthfeel. This is a very nice beer. It has that unmistakeable Unibroue taste and aroma. I’m told that this was six dollars for a 750, that’s a hell of a bargain these days for a great beer.

Deep dark brown coloured body with a thick, four centimetre tall tan head. Aroma of strong anise, cardamom, coriander seed, roasted malt and an almost fenugreek note. Medium-bodied; Strong spice of spruce, pine, nutmeg, anise and aniseed, fennel and a pungent chicory note complete with malt and a bit of alcohol warmth, of course. Aftertaste quite potent and complex with the spice notes front and centre and a good malty character with some nice sweetness at the very tail end. Overall, a good and relatively complex beer - nice to sample, and for the price, one of the best deals for a Christmas beer in the states (and Canada if you can get it from the producing country!) I sampled this 75 cL bottle purchased from Trader Joe’s in Falls Church (Bailey’s Crossroads), Virginia on 17-November-2012 for US$4.99 sampled at home in Washington on 24-November-2012.