Shared thanks to Zlotta. Dark, murky, ruby pour with a thin tan head. Aroma notes of soap, perfume, spices, milk chocolate, dried fruit. Sweet, soapy, spicy. Medium body, low carbonation and a caramel sweet aftertaste.

Bottle, 9%. Clear dark brown with medium beige head. Aroma is malt, caramel, yeast, dark fruit and lots of spices. Flavour is malt, caramel, yeast, dark fruit, sweet, lots of spices, plume, hop, warming and a little bitter.

Bottle from Geers. Dark red/brown colour. Spicy aroma, sweet, caramel and spicy notes. Interesting but too sweet and spicy.

Small if persistent whitish rim over hazy, UFO-filled reddish-amber beer. Lavender and other ’Christmassy’ spices (cinnamon, clove,..) Spices. Spices. And more spices. Malts in the background. Medium bodied, good carbonation. Sticky spices keep harassing the oral cavity. GUYS! Follow some brewing courses @ your Belgian brethern!! Moderation is a Christian value, no?

4 oz bottle pour at Birch & Barley during the 5th annual SAVOR Brewers Brunch. Poured a hazy very dark brown color with a nice off white head. Aroma was some light fruity notes with a decent spice character. Herbal and slightly barnhouse character to this one. Dry plums.

4 oz bottle pour at Birch & Barley during the annual SAVOR Brewers Brunch. Slightly hazy golden brown with beige head. Aromas of dark fruit, plums, spice. Tastes of spice, herbs, plums. Medium body with a dry finish.

Bottle sample at Birch and Barley Brewers Brunch, poured by Father Isaac. Clear ruby amber color, tan head with good retention and solid lacing. Aroma of peppery and spiced funky caramel. Taste is boozy fruity spiced caramel. Interesting.

Pours a nice warm brown with ruby tones from a bottle. Dark candi/brown sugar, candied plums, a little cardamom. Kind of a rummy burn. Good beer.

The second Spencer beer, still firmly rooted in Belgian trappist traditions, I expect a variation on Belgian Christmas beers... Anyway, 75 cl bottle obtained from a private collector. Medium thick, tightly lacing, pale greyish white, moussy head with decent retention, over a translucent burgundy coloured beer with vermillion red robe, practically clear at first with tiny yeast bits here and there but turning fully misty with deposit. Very sweet-spicy, perfumey aroma of toffee, lavender soap, an immense amount of soapy coriander, stewed beef, cloves, liquorish candy, fig, candied cherry, Belgian chocolates, aniseed, curaçao liqueur, marmelade, hazelnut paste, freshly grated ginger, chicken broth, cinnamon, port, damp earth underneath. Lots of candied sweetness in the onset, cherries, figs and raisins as well as candied orange, some ’deep’, soft sourishness for back-up, soft carbo, thick and resinous body, very caramelly malt sweetness gaining a deeply nutty and eventually bitterish toasted edge as the palate progresses, ending in a bittersweet malt finish adorned with warming, even slightly astringent, liqueurish alcohol, some spicy hops providing extra bitterness and, more than anything else, very strong retronasal ’winter’ spices (allspice, lavender, cloves and - above all, of course - the unmistakable, heavy soapiness of coriander seed). Soapy, resinous, bittersweetish coriander is what remains after swallowing, along with nutty and sweet caramelly malts, a ’beefy’ umami flavour and warming, slightly wry alcohol. I have learned to grow a bit weary in the vicinity of spice beers but like any other beer style, I can appreciate them when they are well executed; this one is a solid beer with a big, firm malt base, but the alcohol is a bit too pronounced for my taste and coriander rules with an iron fist. I have had too many ’overcoriandered’ Belgians I think, but whatever the case, this would probably have appealed to me a lot more without this exaggerated soapy spiciness, which makes it a bit hard to pour down. Liquid Christmas cake with Belgian yeast traits, but not the worst in this particular substyle. I got what I bargained for: an overspiced Belgian Christmas beer with a Scotch-like basis. Visit OBER’s Christmas beer festival in December and you’ll find many such beers... More interestingly: apparently the trappist monks in Spencer just released their first IPA, using a cleaner yeast than the Belgian yeast strain they started with, and with which they made their first three beers. It seems they are increasingly attempting to get in touch with the modern American craft beer culture rather than the Belgian trappist traditions - and so the trappist tale goes on and on, diverging ever more from where it started.

750 ml bottle split by Willrunforbeer. Nice appearance in the chalice; dark Amber color with some full head at the pour. Aroma is nice; Belgain yeast, dark fruits, big clove and a mild holiday spice.

Flavor has the Christmas spice lingering though out the entire sip. Real heavy on the clove. The body was medium with a spicy finish. Pretty good but after about 5 oz. The clove really started wear on my palate. Nice in a small amount.