Brunehaut Abbaye de Saint Martin Cuvée de Noël

Top fermented and bottle conditioned beer. An exceptionally spicy aroma of rare malts and hops are blended in this Christmas Ale.

3.2

168 reviews

Rongy, Belgium

Community reviews

3.6 Bottle 0,33ltr: Dark brown/red coloured brew with an nice bitter taste with hints of spices, speculoos and anise. Very good Christmasbeer even to drink in April.

3.5 Bottle. Pours maroon with an airy head. Aroma is sweet, with roasted malts, caramel, toffee and kandi, as well as some spicy camphor. Medium body with soft to average carbonation. Flavour is sweet malts with quite an herby sting, as well as a rather sticky syrupy sweetness.

2.7 Bottle: Past BB: Served in a Chouffe glass: Medium sized vanilla ish colored foamy head on top of a clear ruby colored beer. Aromas of sweat socks, cloves, chalk, some pear, some wood, some sweetwood, some peach and lots of ginger. Flavours of ginger bread, ginger, malts, grains, bitters, toast, light spiced, cloves, light pepper, some nuts and some herbs. Aftertaste is a mix of ginger, bitter, cloves, malts and yeast. Low carbo, creamy mouthfeel, medium bodied and a creamy texture. Too much ginger, don’t like it.

3.6 donker rood amber met witte kraag aroma van stevige kardemom, zoethout, lichte ster anijs, licht gember De smaken zijn gelijk aan die van het aroma uitgebreid met een klein peperig tintje, matig bittertje, matig zoet, redelijke smaken, fruitigheid van dadels/vijg redelijk kruidig zoals een kerstbiertje hoort. medium body, mooie co2, al met al een kruidig kerstbier

2.3 33cl bottle, imported. A random pick-6 from my local bottle shop. Can’t really make out the bottle date, but it looks old and the "09" is marked, I assume a 2009 vintage. Initial pour has some carbonation & head, quickly dissipating into a flat ruby-brown mixture with yeast chunks. Really looks awful. Typical Noel beer aroma; lots of clove, cinnamon & nutmeg with burnt brown sugar. Flavor follows suit with cloying malt base and not enough hops bitterness to balance it all out. Slightly oily on the palate with light effervescence. Maybe past its prime.

1.6 Is this RateCherryDrPepper? Belgian esters, but overly sweet and one dimensional. Hardly drinkable.

4.0 750 ml. corked, caged bottled marked September 2011 It pours reddish to chestnut brown with a modest tan to cream-colored head and delicate carbonation bubbles streaming up the glass. Varying sensations on the nose include spices such as nutmeg, coriander, and allspice along with dark figgy fruits and raisin. Roasted malts more subtle. Medium to full body. Easy drinking for 8.5% ABV with no alcohol bite whatsoever but plenty of dark fruit, spices, and a mildly bitter finish. Caramel malts are more noticeable in the taste. I was rather surprised not to find this one in the Rate Beer database.

3.5 Bouteille de 33cl, couleur marron rougeâtre, mousse assez faible, peu de tenue. Assez singulière aromatiquement, avec des notes de cerises à l’eau de vie, de vin de noix, fruits secs et de pain d’épices. Carbonnation moyenne. Trouvée à Vanuxeem - Ploegstaert.

3.5 Siste del av julegave fra svigerbror. Denne er brun med medium skum. Aromaen er belgisk gjær, malt og noe krydder. Muligens tørket frukt. Smaken er fin, her er det i hvertfall tørket frukt. Malt også. Medium konsistens, fin munnfølelelse som er litt tørr på tunga. Mild bitterhet i ettersmaken.

3.5 Smells like glühwein. Tastes sweet and malty. Strong flavor of red fruits. Yeasty as well.

3.2 Bottle 33cl. Off white small head settling. Dark clear red brown color, great carbonation. Aroma is dark bread, baked apples, herbs. Hint of cabbage. Taste is malt and caramel with a dash of onion.

2.8 Botella 33 cl. Color marrón oscuro y espuma bastante generosa de color beige. Aromas a toffee, chocolate y a Malta tostada. Sabor a caramelo, frutos secos y especias como buena cerveza de Navidad. Equilibrio en general.

3.0 Pours a slightly hazy dark red with a minimal offwhite head that stays quite long and leaves a good lacing. Aromas are overall mild, with liqourice, boozy port wine, dried fruits and a faint aroma of spices. The taste is very sweet, and the aftertaste is semi-dry. The mouthfeel is slightly sticky, and in combination with the creamy head and the soft carbonation it feels almost creamy. Overall a pleasant, albeit bland, beer.

3.5 330ml bottle, pours deep red with a white head. Aroma is spicy with lots of clove, caramel malt and dried fruit. Finish is sweet with not much hop bitterness. Very Christmassy. Nice brew.

3.2 33cl bottle at home. Clear dark red with a medium slightly off-white head. Medium body with moderate carbonation. Sweet and spicy. Clove, speculaas, caramel, herbs and spices. A complex spicy brew.

3.6 Bottle at home. Two year old. Has a hazy amber colour with a medium, light beige head. Aroma of dried fruit, Madeira, berries, heather oak and leather. The flavour is also a bit fruity with more heather, spices and dried fruit. Slick mouth feel, and has a light bitterness. A fruity and complex Belgian ale.

3.6 33 cl. bottle sampled @ Kerstbierfestival Essen 2013. Reddish amber with a tanned head. Sweet liquorish nose, bit boozy, sweet herbs, fruity, light hint boozy wine. Taste is very sweet, candy sugar, fruity, fortified wine, thick caramel, slightly creamy, overripe fruits. Touch ticker body, not bad.

3.6 Pours very dark amber good white head Smell is spices ( speculaas ) Taste is bitter , spices , earthy , ok

3.0 Cloudy light brown pour with small head that quickly diminishes to nothing. I get licorice at the first smell. Hidden sweet malts and toffee and plums/dried fruit. Pretty spicy aroma too. Again the licorice pops up at first with taste. Caramel, malts and slight sweet linger on the tongue. Medium bodied with low carbo. I actually like this. Spicy palate is very nice.

3.1 Pours a dark brown colour with a tan head. Aroma of roasted malts, caramel, yeast, plenty of spices especially aniseed, some hops, brown sugar. The aroma is complex enough, but there isn’t really anything that stands out. This is a decent brew, but there are more potent spicy Christmas ales around.

4.3 Very spicy, very fruity and a powerful christmas beer overall. Kinda heavy on the tongue burn, bur the round and powerful spices evens it out, in my opinion.

3.0 Brown hazy beer with some head. Spicy and malty aromas. Pretty sweet and spicy taste with some licorice kind of flavors.

2.5 Bouteille: Hazy, reddish-amber coloured, stable off-white foamy layer, (x-mas-)spicy nose with a delicate chocolatey touch; barely medium bodied, moderate sweet flavour; delicate sweet malty finish with an even more delicate bitter aftertaste. Pretty awful…!

3.9 Very dark brown beer with a beige foamy head. Lemon, dry cake, christams cookies in the aroma. Medium body. Quite original tasting, dry cake with raisins, lemon, herbs and strong anise. This is actually very nice and original!

3.6 Aroma of Christmas... don´t know how else to say it! Caramel, pine, cloves, very sweet, wonderful smell really.Nice looking bottle, poured a dark deep almost maroon, lovely. Sweet, perhaps overly so, with a flavor that, again, reminds me of Christmas, aniseed! Good but not great. Medium body with fairly strong carbonation and a bitter finish that lingers quite a bit. Good beer all in all.

3.3 33 cL bottle from Beers of Europe into a bowl shaped glass. Dark red, gassy, with a nice head on it. Fruity aroma, apricots, sweetness and a little spice. Spiced, bitter and a sweet aftertaste. Tries a little too hard but its quite pleasant.

3.4 Bottle shared from Deanso. Pours cloudy brown with a small tan head. Aroma of Christmas spices, herbs, cloves, caramel. Flavour is over moderate sweet and light bitter. Medium bodied with soft carbonation.

3.2 33cl bottle shared with kermis. Thin off white head. Hazy amber pour. Some herbal notes. Nice enough beer

3.4 33 cl bottle @ home, BBE 09/2015 Quite spicy aroma with cumin, sweet malt and raisins. Foamy palate is a bit too high on CO2. Flavour has apricot, alcohol, some christmasy spices and ripe fruits. Finishes somewhat tart with citrus and hints of orange. Decent.

1.5 Que se passe-t-il à Brunehaut à la Noël ? Eh bien on récolte des cerises et de la grenade pour la bière de Noël … J’invente bien sûr, mais cela doit ressembler à cela... Façon assez bizarre de concevoir une bière de Noël pour cette brasserie, et sans doute une des cotes les plus basses sur ce genre de bière sur toute la planète. Donc on va dire que Brunehaut n’est pas en Belgique... et pourtant malheureusement oui !!! Couleur roux foncé dense. Clarté quasi opaque sauf en transparence. Bulles moyennes très vives au centre du verre. Mousse beige claire, qui nappe légèrement sans crème... Odeurs (aîîîîe) de cerises pour kriek (donc amères!!!), vin rouge très jeune (le gros rouge à bon papa...), pêche et groseilles rouges. Drôle de cirque.... Volume assez liquide. 1ère bouche très sèche avec épices, grenade, cuberdon …. et aspirine !!! Arrière-bouche très droite, et le gros rouge qui revient en force... (« la ferme, papi »). 2ème bouche très plate, un peu dans le style pomme de terre bintje... 3ème bouche avec une pointe de cannelle du vin chaud (ben oui, marché de Noël, populaire et gros gobelet à boire avec des moufles …). Longueur toujours avec la grenade, des épices de la famille de la girofle. La levure est jolie mais piquante et granuleuse. Alcool oui, sans plus. En finale, rien ne vient emballer cette bière... On croit rêver d’un pareil brassin pour Noël... A part la petite note de cannelle à la 3ème bouche, mais c’est cher payé !!