Classic brew from one of Italy's pioneering and most influential craft breweries, from a typically Italian style bottle bought at an Italian delicacies shop in Waasmunster (Lekker Zuiders), cheers Ken! Medium thick, mousy, pale yellowish beige, quite dense and stable but still gradually diminishing and eventually completely opening head on a clear, dark chocolate brown-bronze beer with ruby red glow, turning lightly misty with sediment. Aroma of dried prunes, old raisins, hard caramel, chewing gum, some blood-like iron, old dried out chocolate cake, damp cotton cloth, dried elderberries, hints of brown sugar, thyme, almond, old gingerbread, homemade cola, dry old tea bags, coriander, background minerals. Sweet onset, restrained fruitiness of glazed pear and raisins, brown sugary sweetness too but not too cloying, medium carb, slick body; hard-caramelly and brown bread crust-like maltiness with bubblegummy and somewhat metallic side effects, sweetish but restrainedly so, adding a soft toasty bitterish aspect in the end - clearly this beer was inspired by the Scotch-based Belgian Christmas ale tradition, as I was already expecting. Mild spicy notes in the finish, some thyme and clove, with that metallic aspect lingering, as well as 'hard unsweet caramel' and a bit of toast, alongside a dash of herbal hop bitterishness; just as I am about to lose the coherence a bit, a soothing glow of brandy-like alcohol appears, binding all these flavours together. The main thing that somewhat bothered me still, is that metallic aspect, which seemed to accentuate the toasty bitterness of the malts in a less pleasant way - reminiscent of industrial Belgian Christmas ales from larger breweries (macro-brewed abbey beers). Feels a bit 'semi-industrial', as if a brewery much bigger than Baladin would come up with the same old Belgian style Christmas ale formula. I had some very positive experiences with this brewery (mostly with that fascinating Xyauyu series) but this is a bit of a disappointment, I'm afraid...

750 ml corked and waxed bottle, as Baladin Leön, from Vinmonopolet, Nettbutikken. BB date Nov. 2014. ABV is 9%. Hazy dark brown colour, large off-white head. Aroma of mild spices, dark dried fruits and rotting fruits. Malty and mildly spicy flavour, notes of brown sugar and caramel, hints of vanilla, but still not too sweet. Dark dried fruits again. Light bodied for its strength, and pleasant to drink.

High quality sweet dark belgian xmas styled beer. Not much spice, but certainly sugary and full bodied. All around good yeast phenols. La tutti birra milano

Fles 33cl bij Grand Café De Tijd in Den Haag. Caramel, licht droog, rood fruit, chocolade, licht kruidig, toffee, zoet. (3-7-2020).

Donkerbruin bier met weinig schuim. Smaak is zoet en warm met iets van karamel, chocolade, honing en wat zoet donker fruit. Gevaarlijk bier want het valt nauwelijks op dat er 9% in zit en het drinkt makkelijk weg.

Bottle. Pours hazy dark copper brown with airy beige head. Clear but mild aroma of malt, yeast and caramel, with touches of spice. Botter, hoppy onset, giving way to sweet notes of caramel malt, Belgian yeast and dried fruit, with hints of cinnamon. Estery and malty aftertaste with herbal and hoppy hints. Decent.

Moutig, zoet, beetje hout, beetje karton, beetje oud, beetje kruidig. Niks bijzonders.