L'Hiveresse

0.33l bottle. Dark ruby body with an off white head. Aroma and taste of caramel, chocolate, plums and orange zest. Nice beer for sure.

Bottle from Les Fleurs. Nutty brown with s medium head. Aroma of caramel malt. Flavour is spicy malt, chocolate and dry fruit. Bitter chocolate finish.

Bottle from Aperitiv, Nice. Dark brown with no head. It's very strong, with a fair sweetness to it in both aroma and taste. There's a hint of chocolate malt in its aftertaste.

330ml bottle. Darkest brown colour with ruby glimmer and average, frothy, half-way lasting, minimally lacing, beige head. Chocolately dark malty and dark fruity aroma, notes of milk chocolate, dark chocolate, a touch of cococa, hints of plum, morello, bramble. Taste is slightly dry, dark malty, chocolately, minimally biscuity, hints of cocoa, subtle sweetness, fruity hints of morello, plum, bramble, a spicy touch of cinnamon, a dry leafy touch as well. Quite complex, thereby rather light, very drinkable - nice composition.

F: big, tanned, average lasting. C: dark, opaque. A: malty, herbal, fruity, grassy, molasses. T: malty, herbal, leaves, bit earthy, touch of chocolate, molasses, taste is better than aroma, good balanced, enjoyed, medium to full body, medium carbonation, 33cl bottle from färm.tongres organic shop in Brussels.

Donker bruin bier zonder schuim. Smaak is licht rookachtig en licht zoet met iets van zwarte bessen en pruimen.

Bottled 330ml (Beergium)
Dark brown color, small brownish head. Aroma has caramel, raisins, cocoa powder and hints of soya sauce. Medium-bodied. Candy sugar, cocoa, raisins, prunes, rye bread and odd dry hay flavors. Unbalanced.

dark brown colour, half inch creamy beige-ish head; aroma of dark chocolate, some coffee, raisins dried figs and plum as well as hints of christmas spices; taste of mild roasted coffee, dark chocolate, dried plum made from unripe plum, some anise and burnt sugar; good Belgian strong ale, though not among the best ones

Lesse’s winter ale, bottle from Beergium. Moussy, medium sized, pale greyish beige head leaving a dense rim around the edge but dissolving in the middle to a few thin beige veils, over an immediately hazy, very dark - yet still completely translucent - mahogany brown beer with ochre-tinged edges. Aroma of hard butterscotch candy, old fondant chocolate, unmistakable coriander, cloves, sugared tea, allspice (but subtly so), fermenting tree leaves, earth, old dried orange peel, ginger powder, dried out gingerbread, candied fig, soggy brown bread, dried banana, brown rum, cookie dough, beetroot, whisky, withering basil. Fruity onset but not overly estery, sweet with impressions of raisin, candied fig, red apple and dried peach, sourish elderberry-ish undercurrent, medium carbonation, some minerally accents here and there. Soft, smooth and full body, caramelly and a tad nutty, with a strong bready leaning due to the yeast, which provides spicy, clove-like phenols on top of this malt sweet middle; a mildly bittering toasted accent reveals that, as is the case with so many Belgian Christmas beers, this is inherently Scotch-inspired. The bitterness is further accentuated by a peppery and leafy hop note in the end, but the whole remains primarily malty, with a strong, soapy coriander flavor on top that sticks a bit into the finish. All the way at the back, this caramelly and lightly toasted maltiness, more sweet than bitter but with a bit of both, the coriander and the hops get the company of earthy yeastiness on the one hand and warming, vaguely whisky-like alcohol on the other hand, the latter flirting with astringency but managing to avoid becoming too obtrusive. In all, this is a very stereotypical Belgian, phenolic, Scotch-influenced Christmas beer with the usual coriander soapiness - very strongly so in this case, but luckily we are spared of an overdosis of other spices. Not the worst in this very particular genre I had, actually, apart from being clearly overcoriandered and showing too much earthy yeastiness even for this profoundly Belgian seasonal style. Still a bit pointless to my taste, safe and rather boring, but technically decent.

33cl bottle from Cagny . Very thin ring off white head. Clear amber pour. Quite herbal.