Holiday Ale
Mission Brewery in San Diego, California, United States 🇺🇸
Belgian Style - Quadrupel / Dark Strong Regular|
Score
6.96
|
|
Dark and rich, this Belgian style dark ale delivers the promise of the holidays, both indulgent and delicious. Complex aromas of raisin, plum and fig with light spiciness makes this an indulgent treat.
Sign up to add a tick or review
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Super dark brown coloured body with a large, but very fast-dying tan head, only a centimetre tall thick after a few seconds, but starts around four or five centimetres thick. Aroma of roasted malt, raisins, figs, earth, nuts, light grain, metal and a touch of pure apples - nice and incredibly aromatic in terms of the yeast and sugars. Medium-bodied; Strong roasted malt flavours at first with a big dose of metallic funk along with some alcohol, pitted fruits, nuts, earth and a lot of light spices that fade to more of a mellow grainy bitterness. Aftertaste shows a lot of character with the pitted fruits and earthiness the strongest, but also some grain, alcohol, light spices and especially the nutty flavours towards the end, but this ends quite thin without any body at all. Overall, perhaps aged a bit TOO much, as it really diluted the body and the complexity/pungency, here. It was almost too simplistic and didn't show enough character in he malt and yeastie flavours where I assumed it would be stronger. It went down quite easily, in a good way, but it was a bit too thin for the style. Still, it didn't taste anywhere close to 8,5% abv. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from BevMo! in Manhattan Beach, California on 23-February-2016 for US$7,99 sampled at home in Washington a bit more than two years later on 15-April-2018.
Tried
from Bottle
on 16 Apr 2018
at 07:33
6.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle. Blackish beer with a dark tan head. Malt and spice aroma with light yeast. Yeast and spice flavor with red fruit. Medium bodied. yeast and spice lingers with red fruit and light dark malts.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Mar 2016
at 18:58
6.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
From bomber to glass. Chocolate and yeast predominate the aroma. Pours a slightly hazy mahogany with garnet highlights and a brown head that dissipates quickly. Flavor is dark fruit and ends with a spiciness. Chocolate comes in at the end. Not too bad.
Tried
on 20 Dec 2015
at 14:21
6.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
On tap: 10oz pour at the Stadium Brewery brewpub in California on 18th May 2015. Black body, tanned topping. Malts all the way here, slightly over carbonated for me but I thought it was a Porter anyway! No one else has mentioned liquorice in their tasting notes, so I will: it tasted of liquorice from start to finish with a few fruity traces around the base liquorice flavour. No Belgian influence for me, but a decent enough brew all the same.
Tried
from Draft
on 19 May 2015
at 10:54
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
22 ounce bottle into tulip glass; no bottle dating, but is a recent release. Pours nearly opaque dark brown color with a 1 finger dense tan head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Light spotty soapy lacing clings around the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big raisin, plum, fig, date, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, cocoa, toast, dark bread, pepper, herbal, slight smoke, and yeast/roasted earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of fruity/spicy yeast and dark/roasted malt notes; with good strength. Taste of big raisin, plum, fig, date, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, cocoa, toast, dark bread, pepper, herbal, light smoke, and yeast/roasted earthiness. Good amount of peppery yeast spiciness and light roasted bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of raisin, plum, fig, date, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, cocoa, toast, dark bread, pepper, light smoke, and yeast/roasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Damn nice complexity, balance, and robustness of dark/roasted malt and fruity/spicy yeast flavors; with a great yeast/malt/bitterness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, fairly crisp, and lightly bready/chalky mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish. Overall this is a damn nice Belgian strong dark ale style. All around great complexity, balance, and robustness of dark/roasted malt and fruity/spicy yeast flavors; and very smooth and crisp to sip on for the ABV. A very enjoyable offering.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Apr 2015
at 22:03
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Bottle. Caramel apple and chocolate malt aroma. Dark brown with small head. Sweet candied sugar, chocolate malt, and lightly bitter herbal grass flavor. Medium body. Very pleasant.
Tried
from Bottle
on 04 Mar 2015
at 19:00
7.8/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 10
Overall 7
Bottle: Pours black.....with a small beige head. Dark fruit, roast, cola aroma. Flavour is rich, spicy, caramel malt, figs..... Dark, sugary yeasty... Really tasty....
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Feb 2015
at 19:21
7.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Draft @ Titanic brewing. Pours hazy dark brown color with tan head. Aromas of dark fruits, spices, and Belgian yeast. Raisin and fig flavors with candi sugar, spices, and doughy yeast. Medium body with average carbonation.
Tried
from Draft
on 22 Jan 2015
at 14:24
6.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Keg at the taproom, SD, 12/11/14. Extremely dark mahogany brown with moderate tan edgeing. Nose is rich dark fruits, spice, toffee, malt notes, figgy tones. Taste comprises dark toffee, spice, raisens, plummy fruit, liqourice. Medium bodied, fine carbonation, light warming alcohol in the close. Ok but lacks depth for the ABV.
Tried
from Draft
on 20 Jan 2015
at 15:52
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Bmber from Bine & Vine. Pours dark brown with a tan head. Aroma is very heavy on dark fruit. Seems like sugar in the nose. Med + body. Flavor is initially very dark fruit, then a trace of chocolate comes along, and increases. Followed by what might be yeast spice. Tingling on the tongue a bit. Heavy duty ale. Finishing with a fig comeback. Recommended for those seeking complex, heavy flavor (but not like BA IS!).
Tried
on 04 Dec 2014
at 16:26