La Mère Noël - Brouwerij Huyghe

stcules

Italy

1.65/5  rDev -50.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5

It has a light amber color, with a lot of floating chunkies, not too small, too. Average white foam.
The smell is absurdely sweet, heavy, sickly and sugary.
The taste is maybe even worse.
Fruity, sweetness, candy sugar, melon, tropical fruit.
Boring.

Serving type: bottle

12-26-2010 14:54:46 | More by stcules

Brabander

Netherlands

3.83/5  rDev +14.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Had this beer at the Essen Christmas beer festival, last sunday. I enjoyed this festival because of the wide variety of Christmas beers.

This one came out of the bottle into a tasting glass.

This is a blond x-mas ale. Nice white head ans some carbonation. Hoppy smell. Soft smooth taste.

Serving type: bottle

12-23-2010 19:04:25 | More by Brabander

thierrynantes

France

3.13/5  rDev -6.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Beer bottle (33 cl.), tasted in 2003.
Draught version tasted dec. 2010 in Delirium café (Nantes).

Appearance : orange color, with white foamy head.
Smell : strong fruity notes and spices aromas.
Taste and mouthfeel : sweet with too alcohol presence.
Drinkability : an average beer in the style Belgian Strong Pale Ale.
Better on tap.

Serving type: on-tap

12-12-2010 20:04:20 | More by thierrynantes

jeranbrews

New York

3.83/5  rDev +14.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

A - Color is clear and lemony not too much yeast in this glass. There is a low, light, slightly yeasty head. Some crystalline pearly lacing.

S - Lots of apricot. Some peaches and figs. Very sweet almost sugary. But still some wine-like sour malty smells.

T - a bit sour. Green apples. Aftertaste is fruity and a bit buttery/ yeasty. Like a nice peach cobbler.

M - buttery and fizzy. Creamy and viscous. Pearly drops sliding down the throat.

D - very drinkable. Not overly hoppy or sour middle of the road but easy to drink.

Serving type: bottle

11-22-2010 09:12:40 | More by jeranbrews

Travlr

District of Columbia

3.7/5  rDev +10.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

A: Sexy bottle is quite noteworthy. The beer itself is straw-colored and lively.
S: Aroma of citrus and black pepper.
T: Flavor is an interesting balance of sour and bitter, malt and hop combo is enhanced by light spice, maybe coriander.
M: Medium body, nothing exceptional.
D: Interesting Christmas beer, but not as special as the bottle might imply.

Serving type: bottle

01-03-2010 15:09:04 | More by Travlr

janubio

Spain

3.4/5  rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Nice golden-orange colour, creamy head with lots of bubbles, but it doesn't last long. Aroma of oranges and peaches, vanilla, some clove and I think some licorice too, but not really a very strong one. The taste, I think it lacks of something, though it has a nice flavour, kind of a semi dry white wine with special accent on banana. Spicy finish. Not a bad beer, but it needs some more to be a very good one, even if you feel its warmness after a few sips.

Serving type: bottle

03-21-2007 22:17:50 | More by janubio

descartes

Oregon

3.1/5  rDev -7.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Poured from bottle into Delirium tulip glass.
Appearence: Copper brownish yellow, head settles to make a thin but lasting lace of an eighth of an inch.
Smell: Smell of honey, hints of malt. Could be stronger and lacks complexity.
Taste: Very bitter, almost overwhelms everything else. You can get some floral hints at the end, really a very bitter beer. I can't adequately describe the bitterness, it isn't hops but something one encounters in bigger maecrobeers. Disappointing, what happened to some of the sweetness in the nose?
Mouthfeel: Nice, neither too thick nor thin.
Drinkability: Decent beer but it is one-dimensional, wouldn't want to have it again. Maybe the label should have given it away. Not like anything else this brewery produces (thankfully for them).

Serving type: bottle

12-25-2006 10:38:25 | More by descartes

davidchollar

Washington

3.18/5  rDev -5.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

so this is one of the beers i chose to celebrate my 1 year anniversary, and i got it for free. why? because the japanese label - covering up all of the original label - says best before february '05, (a year and 7 months ago). one of the other beers i chose was an orvel, and the original label gives it 5 years between bottled-on and best-before. damn, that makes me wonder how old this beer is (damn near 7 years old!?)

1st pour into my duvel tulip shows a pretty normal looking pale ale, but with a really fizzy rocky active head, which quickly settles, with no lacing. i give it a stir and pour the rest, then we see a thick, nice head. final judgement, a little better appearnace than at first, pretty good but not great compared to others of its style.

smell is strong and distinct. i don't know, it's hard to say. i don't really like it. i really wanted to, but the smell doesn't appeal to me. i guess i get sour apple and yeast smells, but mostly funk. it seems off, and i really am not sure as i have don't have much experience in this area. so i ask my wife. she gives it a sniff and disapproves, likening the smell to fresh garbage. now here's the part where i debate whether or not to even enter the review. but this is a high abv belgian strong ale, and what's more i got it out of a white bottle from a great little local store. so, i think it should be ok to review.

compared to la fin du monde, duvel and the few other belgian strong pales i've tried, not to mention the trippels and saisons, this beer sucks. it could be a bad bottle, it was definitely past the freshness date. but it was pretty good after washing down dinner with kirin ichiban (father-in-law's beer of choice). but, i don't recommend, and i won't get it again.

Serving type: bottle

09-15-2006 13:57:19 | More by davidchollar

dogfooddog

Panama

3.43/5  rDev +2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Best before OCT 08. This 33cl bottle states it was brewed by brassiere duwac & co, despite being the typical huyghe presentation, etc. Not sure what the issue is with that, or who duwac is. The bottle came recently from belgium.

pours golden clear with short-lived 20% head.nose is quite malty and rather unimpressive. I would not recognize Huyghe from the smell of ths beer. After eventually swirling and dumping the rest of the bottle, the beer was slightly hazy (this was after tasting notes below), so some sediment present.

Taste is better, floral and mildy hopped, before malt takes over for the finish. I didn't expect a fantastic beer in this packaging but am rather puzzled at the lack of resemblence to other huyghe beers which I recall off-hand, even duinen tripel or guillotine. I do admit to being moderately cynical about the probable quality of beer with this type label.

This is a perfectly pleasant and drinkable belgian beer, either a tripel-style or 'strong pale ale' which is in no way offensive and probably makes a better gift than self-buy, given the packaging versus taste.

Serving type: bottle

05-01-2006 05:30:17 | More by dogfooddog

paterlodie

Belgium

3.05/5  rDev -9%
look: 2 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

BB oct 2006. Some white head and pale golden beer with more floaties then my worst Abbaye du Rocs experience. Nose is lots of koreander, candy and some maltyness; fresh but pushed far in the back. Further a wel known yeast phenolic touch to it. Taste is (over) sweet, koreander, malts and a good dose of alcohol. Low bitterness on the end makes brew a litle lemonade like but with strong note of alcohol.

Serving type: bottle

02-17-2006 20:12:48 | More by paterlodie

Naerhu

Japan

4.53/5  rDev +35.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

750 ml bottle with sexy Santa Chick on the front label.

Huge fluffy white head with hazzy golden body.
Peach and pineapple aroma with touch of spicyness.
Light bitterness, light sweetness, and light maltiness all balance amazingly to hide the alcohol. This has amazing fruitiness, like a dry sauvignon blanc.
Amazingly smooth, big bodied, yet polite. A rubenesque beer.
This is, through its moderation of flavor, an immodestly delicious beer.

Serving type: bottle

01-03-2005 06:12:32 | More by Naerhu