Presented as Saint-Monon en Fêtes at ZBF last week, but an alias of Saint-Monon Bière des Fêtes - in fact, even the brewer admitted it was the same thing (and coming to think of it, I still think this is also the same beer as Saint-Monon Bière de Noël, but I’m not sure if this name is still used nowadays). Murky, if not muddy, dark brown colour, not really appetizing especially since the pale beige, loosely structured head dissolved in instants. Very spicy aroma, overpowering ginger, coriander seed, caramel, cloves, some coffee grounds, thyme, bitter chocolate, and a big dosis of the dreaded DMS (cooked cabbage); in fact, the nose is overpowered by a ridiculous spice dosis combined with an off-flavour - not too inviting. Sweet, resinous, caramelly, some dried fruits in the mouth but again that absolutely exaggerated truckload of spices, cloves, ginger, coriander, drying the mouth and totally wrecking the balance of flavours. To say that this beer is unbalanced would be an understatement - this offering was even worse than the bottle I tasted eight-odd years ago, as far as I remember. This brewery did some good things, I’m a fan of their honey beer for example, but I cannot understand what this beer’s intention was; in terms of style, I’d probably describe it as a Scotch-inspired Belgian Christmas ale dominated by spices. I tasted this as Saint-Monon Bière des Fêtes years ago and it was already overly spiced then, so apparently they have persevered... --- Beer merged from original tick of Saint-Monon Spéciale Noël on 22 Dec 2014 at 14:43 - Score: Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6. Original review text: Tasted years ago under its original name Saint-Monon Bière Spéciale des Fêtes. Deep brown beer under a thin off-white head; aroma of estery fruitiness and caramelly malts overpowered by a strong, near medicinal, ethereal spiciness (cloves, liquorice, coriander, star aniseed) which returns in the mouth retronasally. Too spicy if you ask me, but interesting.