Schieve X-Mas
Brasserie de la Senne in Brussels, Brussels Capital Region, Belgium 🇧🇪
Belgian Style - Strong Ale Winter|
Score
7.27
|
|
By popular demand, we are back with a Christmas beer this year! The brilliant and crazy label remains unchanged (thanks, Jean Goovaerts!), but the beer has a new name: the SCHIEVE X-MAS. If you look closely at the label, you’ll understand why. And it also has a new recipe!
As you know, we like to test the limits while developing a Christmas beer. For the Schieve X-Mas we have been playing with the characteristics of the style, but without the typical syrupy and heavily spiced features.
The foam of the Schieve X-Mas is beige and dense. Its color is copper, with appetizing red highlights. Its aroma immediately presents a nice balance between malt and hops. On the palate, you’ll find delicious flavors of caramel, biscuit, and pudding, complemented by notes of candied fruits, mandarin, bitter orange, and licorice (all this without using a single gram of spices or fruits!). It has a beautiful bitterness that lingers in the mouth, with a dry and light finish. The beer is warming, but not overly boozy.
A perfect beer to end autumn and start winter on the right foot!
It has an alcohol content of 8% and is available in very limited quantities, both in bottles and on tap.
As you know, we like to test the limits while developing a Christmas beer. For the Schieve X-Mas we have been playing with the characteristics of the style, but without the typical syrupy and heavily spiced features.
The foam of the Schieve X-Mas is beige and dense. Its color is copper, with appetizing red highlights. Its aroma immediately presents a nice balance between malt and hops. On the palate, you’ll find delicious flavors of caramel, biscuit, and pudding, complemented by notes of candied fruits, mandarin, bitter orange, and licorice (all this without using a single gram of spices or fruits!). It has a beautiful bitterness that lingers in the mouth, with a dry and light finish. The beer is warming, but not overly boozy.
A perfect beer to end autumn and start winter on the right foot!
It has an alcohol content of 8% and is available in very limited quantities, both in bottles and on tap.
Sign up to add a tick or review
7.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 7.5
Texture 7
Overall 7.5
330ml @ Alex's.
Aroma: Belgian yeasts, some brown sugarsamd sweetness.
Taste: along the same lines. Finishes with some bitterness.
Overall: ok.
Aroma: Belgian yeasts, some brown sugarsamd sweetness.
Taste: along the same lines. Finishes with some bitterness.
Overall: ok.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 May 2026
at 04:40
8.3/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8.5
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
hazy dark amber to chestnut colour,medium sized dense ecru head; aroma of chocolate mousse, dairy milk, toffee, some grapefruity, herbal hoppy and biscuity notes; taste has the same notes as can be felt in the aroma; great one!
Tried
from Bottle
from
La Mise en Bière
on 01 May 2026
at 22:58
7.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 7
Bottle at home. Hazy briwn with very big thick beige head. Light spoces, alcohol, dry olums, berrie skins, coffee, bitter cocoa. Under medium sweet and bitter, light sour. Medium bodied, bit dry finish. Quite interesting but not really my thing.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Apr 2026
at 19:08
6.8/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 6.5
Flavor 6.5
Texture 7
Overall 7
Bottle. Pours a clear amber colour with a tight white head, plenty of hops and malt in the aroma, the taste is medium bitterness with caramel coming through with a dry bitter finish.
Tried
from Bottle
at
House Of The Trembling Madness (Stonegate)
on 27 Mar 2026
at 17:43
7.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 7.5
Texture 8
Overall 7
24th January 2026
Just a very light haze on this deepish amber beer, good bubbly pale tan head. Airy smooth palate, decent fine minerally carbonation comes through on the back end. Light smooth malts, a pleasant cream and caramel sweetness. Soft estery fruits, ripe fruits and a mild spice. A cooling pine rides over the top. A kinda baked cinnamon pie thing going on, not really apple but more of a general orchard fruits pie. Airy finish emphasises the esters. A layered and pretty tasty affair, if the esters could be dialled down a bit, for me, it would be a superior brew
Just a very light haze on this deepish amber beer, good bubbly pale tan head. Airy smooth palate, decent fine minerally carbonation comes through on the back end. Light smooth malts, a pleasant cream and caramel sweetness. Soft estery fruits, ripe fruits and a mild spice. A cooling pine rides over the top. A kinda baked cinnamon pie thing going on, not really apple but more of a general orchard fruits pie. Airy finish emphasises the esters. A layered and pretty tasty affair, if the esters could be dialled down a bit, for me, it would be a superior brew
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Jan 2026
at 19:42
6.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 7
33cl bottle from AbeerVinum, Rimini, Italy. Pours dark amber, with fine whitish foam. Aroma is noticeably spiced, but also malty. Body is average, with a good carbonation. Taste is fairly bitter, with some maltiness behind. Final is average in intensity, a little longer than usual.
Tried
from Bottle
from
AbeerVinum
on 24 Jan 2026
at 12:30
6.5/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 6.5
Flavor 6
Texture 7
Overall 6.5
Ambar cobriza. Abundante espuma de buen tamaño y retención. Aroma malteado notas frutales, melocotón. Buen cuerpo, licórico, notas dulces, notas frutales. Notas especiadas. Caramelo sobre todo. Potente
Tried
from Bottle
on 23 Dec 2025
at 22:38
7.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
18 December 2025. Christmas Beer Evening (at Stoumont) with the lovely Anke! Bottle from Geers.
A: hazy amber-brown, stable, foamy, off-white head.
A: cookie spices, raisin, red apple, biscuit.
T: sweetish apple & pear, cookie, clove, cinnamon.
F: herbal hops, lots of spices, bit harshly bitter.
P: medium body, fluffy texture, soft carbonation.
Slightly off-balance but decent.
A: hazy amber-brown, stable, foamy, off-white head.
A: cookie spices, raisin, red apple, biscuit.
T: sweetish apple & pear, cookie, clove, cinnamon.
F: herbal hops, lots of spices, bit harshly bitter.
P: medium body, fluffy texture, soft carbonation.
Slightly off-balance but decent.
Tried
on 18 Dec 2025
at 15:39
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 7.5
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Medium amber with a tall beige head. Candied fruits, grassy, a bit of spice, dark malts, citrus. Medium bodied. Pops in a festive way while the malts drive the warmth. A good one.
Tried
from Draft
at
Moeder Lambic Fontainas
on 12 Dec 2025
at 15:52
8.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
Bottle at Pigs Ear BF 2025. Hazy copper red dirty. Lasting cream head. Lovely Christmas beer. Some spice some candied fruit some light fruit cake. Some bitterness on the finish. Another winner from De La Senne. Its excellent
Put a smile on my face. Warming Christmassy autumnal fruits. Cake. Lovely.
Put a smile on my face. Warming Christmassy autumnal fruits. Cake. Lovely.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Dec 2025
at 13:47