St Bernardus Christmas Ale

I've been waiting to write about this one for a while, sorry school has been squelching my desire to write for fun lately. This is hand's down one of the best belgian ales I've had in some time. I loved spiced brews, I love belgian brews, and I love dark brews, so simply put this is my jizzed in my pants moment of the beer world. This beer combines all those elements that I so love about so many different ales. St Bernardus makes a wide range of ales, but this one is by far may favorite. All of their other belgian ales are pretty good as well, so please don't let this dissuade any of you from going out and trying any of those ales either. The second you pop the cork on this puppy, the CO2 releases the smell of a darker molasses type sugar balanced out by hints of nutmeg and cinnamon. I'm sure it's probably some proportion of All Spice mixed in, but to the amount of which I'm not sure. Smell, and even flavor though, you'll notice it in a heartbeat. The aroma is just so enticing and festive, I would even go so far to say this is the ale that epitomizes the holidays with it's scents and flavors. The sweetness is noticable, but the heavy carbonation actually helps balance it out quite nicely. It doesn't have the knockout sweetness present in say a barleywine, nor does it have a super belgian yeasty flavor that comes with many of the countries Tripel style ales, but for obvious reasons. The typical belgian flavor is there no doubt, but something closer to a cross between a grand cru, and a barleywine style ale. There is also a slight fruitiness in the aftertaste, shooting from the hip I'd say it's most likely a orange peel, or something to that effect as it does not have the sharpness associated with lemon or a slightly more acidic fruit. In any event this thing is both a cornucopia, and a roller coaster, delivering a heavy volume of scents and flavors, but what else would you want from a dark belgian holiday ale. Now all the American breweries always have their wonderful selection of darker, maltier ales, which are all good, but I would definitely add this belgian to the list of any holiday celebration. And I've seen it at Tacoma Boys, QFC, and 99 bottles all recently as well, so even with Christmas over I'm sure it can still be had. Oh and it was also at the Beer Junction in West Seattle as well. I don't know if it will still be in the shops as we drive closer to spring, but while available I say definitely pick one up, and if not for now, let it age a year hell actually it'll taste a little better as you let the ale bottle condition a little more. Just another reason to pick up this St Bernardus Christmas Ale.