Bottle sample @ 18de Kerstbierfestival, Essen 2012. Getting the end of the bottle did not help as we got a nice murky yeast festival in our glass. Le tout est trouble voire très opaque grace à toute la levure du fond de la bouteille versé par le préposé, dorée avec un col blanc moyen. Arôme purée de fruits, malt et grains avec un bouquet léger et fleuri. Palais est fruité aspect sel de céleri, fruité fermenté entre abricot et pêche. Côté levure trop présent et enlève le plaisir de vraiment apprécier cette bière. Le tout est sec, tirant presque vers une saison. Dans l’état la bière ne mérite pas vraiment plus, la levure couvrant quasi tout le profil de la bière.

Sampled at OBER Kerstbierfestival 2012. Hazy murky yellowish color, virtually no head. Smell and taste herbs and spices, yeast, mint and saison-like. Don’t like it. Low to medium body and carbonation.

Imported from my RateBeer account as Authentique Blonde de Noël (2009 - ) (by Authentique Brasserie):
Aroma: 5/10, Appearance: 1/5, Taste: 6/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 11/20, MyTotalScore: 2.6/5

15/XII/12 - 33cl bottle @ Kerstbierenfestival (Essen) - BB: n/a (2012-1378) Thanks to the Belgian/Dutch ratebeer crew for sharing our beers!

Cloudy amber to muddy beige beer, no head. Aroma: pretty yeasty, cheesy, sweaty feet, sugar, honey, some banana. MF: soft carbon, light body. Taste: bit sweet, malts, honey, some sugar, banana, little bitter, yeasty. Aftertaste: banana, yeast, some citrus, bit fruity.
--- Beer merged from original tick of Blonde de Noël on 05 Feb 2010 at 13:48 - Score: Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 3.5. Original review text: Imported from my RateBeer account as Authentique Blonde de Noël (by Authentique Brasserie):
Aroma: 6/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 3/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 7/20, MyTotalScore: 2.2/5

Amber to ruby color, pretty strange for a "blonde de noël". Nothing blond about this baby. Smelled overwhelmingly like sour apple. Also a sour taste, with little sweetness in it. Sweet-bitter aftertaste, but the sourness keeps dominating the palet. No expiration date, but I'm afraid I got a very old bottle (Hopduvel, Gent). Fair enough, next time I went, they gave me a new one for free, but it tasted just as bad as this one. Needs to be revised, with a younger bottle.

Deep amber coloured body with a brown tint and almost no head at all - this is NOT what a trip should look like. Aroma of yeast, malt, wheat, alcohol, raisins and other pit fruits with a bit of cardboard and earthy nuts. Medium-bodied; Strong alcohol flavour at first with malt, pit fruits, apples, pears and a bit of caramel nuttiness. Aftertaste shows some yeast with a good fruity character and a definite alcohol flavour at the end. Overall, an interesting, but unfortunately not good beer that doesn’t remind me of any tripel that i’ve ever had - but who’s to say I can judge, since I’m not Belgian! I sampled this 33 cL bottle purchased from Beer Mania in Bruxelles, Belgium on 30-June-2012 for €2,50 sampled at home on the other side of the Ocean in Washington on 14-December-2012.

33cl bottle shared by 77ships. Dorée tourble, col fin. Arôme est houblonné sur une pointe citronné pour un bouquet entre pomme et abricot avec un bouquet peut être plus terreux. Palais est faiblard, houblonné aspect râpeux de fin de bouche, grains qui pour moi rappelle un le pâté. Je ne suis pas certain que ici le houblon Target marche correctement, pour une IPA, possible manque d’houblons additionnels qui résulte en un arôme et une fin de bouche qui tombent un peu trop court pour laisser une sorte de mélange surpassé par la levure et le malt/côté terreux grains.

Slightly hazy pale golden colour, white head. Aroma of malts, lots of yeast and bubblegum. Rather sweet flavour, again yeast and bubblegum / sweets, some mineral notes. Quite thin texture. Bubblegum finish, malts, ending with a light bitter touch.
Not bad, but I’m not a big fan of strong candy/bubblegum. And why call it ’Houblon’ when the hops only play a role in the background?
(33cL bottle @ pre-Zwanze 2012 tasting. Thanks for sharing, 77ships)

33 cl. fles gedeeld met velen @ pre-Zwanze tasting. Gekocht bij Willems. Wazig citrus gouden met een kort levende witte kraag. Geur is zoet, medicinaal, doet mij denken aan chirurgische ontsmettingsmiddelen, medicinaal fruit, boerderij, veel hooi, kruiden, sterke farmhouse / wilde componenten, kindervitamines. Smaak is zoete aspirine, hooi, floraal, kindervitamines, kruiden, limonade toetsen, farmhouse / wilde componenten, boerderij, blijvende nasmaak in de mond als bij kinderaspirine, is dit de hop? Vreemd en volgens mij niet echt wat dit moest worden, niet zeker wat ik hiervan moet maken – ik zal dit maar interpreteren als een old-school saison ding. Wazig mondgevoel, iets minder bruis. Eigenaardig spul maar zeker interessant genoeg om mij te boeien.

Hazy amber with a lasting off-white head. Malty and fruity aroma with dusty notes and some dates. Dry malty and fruity flavour with caramel, dates and over-ripe plums

Bottle at yespr. Pours a hazy yellow color with a small white head. Has a fruity malty spicy aroma. Sweetish malty spicy honey flavor. Has a sweetish malty spicy yeasty finish.