Sampled from an 11.2 oz brown bottle this beer poured a very cloudy dark brown color with a large foamy tan head that left a bit of lacing. The aroma was tangy caramel, molasses and fig. The flavor was dryish with notes of molasses, caramel, vanilla, biscuit, tart cherry and malted milk. Long dryish cream, caramel and vanilla finish. Fairly full bodied. Interesting.

Draft at spuyten, not sure whom purchased but we passed around table trying to get through this. Pours a dull copper nose is some cough syrup and tart fruit. Tastes of apples, cheap wine, light aspirin, cherry cough syrup. Thin and vinegary finish. Not very good.

33 cl. bottle @ home. Procured from Willems. Bottled on 08/2013. Small gusher. Pours a hazy orange (gains a touch brown and turns almost murky towards the bottom of the bottle) & huge sinking white head. Nose is huge thick yoghurt yeast, bread from the yeast, sweet white sugar, very faint floral / grass note. Taste is thick yeast, faint yoghurt impression (just the yeast, nothing off), sweet white sugar and big chuck of sweet young banana, chunk of banana bread, very minor salty / floral in the back (only very lightly so). Carb. is huge, body is pretty nice for the unusually low ABV in Belgium of 4 %. I must say that if you put a flaming chilli on your label and a crocodile crawling out of it with the words Cajun written under it, you should get something at least slightly spicy and not a sweet and yeast bread with 0.00 % chilli. Granted I find Cayenne very mild generally but I couldn’t detect any chilli here whatsoever, maybe it went away with age but than there is a distribution issue here because it only recently wind up in the shops. Anyway I am not deducting any point for it but I was kind of disappointed with the lack of any chilli of any kind.

Bottle. Red brown colour with a beige head. Aroma is spices, roasted malt, dried fruits. Flavour is spices, roasted malt, hop, fruit, yeast, alcohol, caramel, dried fruits. Medium body. Ordinary beer.

Bottle shared by Joes @ weekly tasting. Cloudy pale yellow color, small white head. Smell and taste malts, some bitter, maybe just slightly peppers, but not nearly as prominent as I had expected. Medium body and carbonation.

Bottle @ joes. Clear golden yellow with lots of bubbles and a huge white head. Smells malty, green twigs. Tastes malty, slightly peppery.. Lots and lots carbo, thin body, slightly warming peppers.

New Beer Distributors, NYC 11.2oz ($6): Pours brownish with a big beige head. Aroma is burnt fruit, chocolate, yeast. Interesting. Taste is still more burnt. Nice Belgian mix with burnt malts. Not really an Imperial Stout. Invites quaffing, but should be reserved for sipping. Drinking this makes me want to smoke cigarettes. I shouldn’t. Interesting.

Labelled as Kerstsmiske. 33cl Bottle, well in date when opened on 10th Jan 2014. Poured slowly into a ’Leffe’ badged chalice. Some sediment did get out though. Good deep mahogany body (with a slight mist from the sediment): the thin head became a wisp and collar far too quickly for me. Port like aroma, this is a winter brew with attitude, my nose warmed up just sniffing it, actually you can add ’Bovril’ to the smell. Malty molasses sticking to a side of beef left in a shallow mash tun for a week and then had Port or Madeira poured onto them just before bottling, you get the picture. Rich, tasty and very alcoholic from the off. This is a monster brew that has prune, damsons and spices all vying for attention within the sweet beefy brew. Barley Wine in feel and taste, very drinkable, but dangerous.

Amber with a disappearing tan head. Aroma of caramel and dark sugar, dried fruit, spice and a hint of licorice. Sweet and full bodied caramel and dried fruit flavour