La Choulette de Noël (La Choulette)

This French holiday bière de garde is distributed by The Shelton Brothers. This is the last holiday beer that I have. The label and bottle made me think of traditional Belgian holiday ales.

General Thoughts

Look and Smell: White frothy head. Hung around for a bit, but not too long. It clings to the glass as it goes down. After that, it didn't have much lacing. This is definitely more brown than I was expecting. It smelled nice and malty.

Taste: It tasted surprisingly sweet. It tasted like juice. It was very light weight, not as thick as I like for my holiday beers. The flavor was not very complex. I kept swirling and warming and trying to get some flavor. I even held it in my mouth and sucked it down like a weirdo trying to get some taste. The aftertaste I did get was sweet. I just didn't taste fermented, it just had a tiny bit of tang.

From the La Choulette site:

"La Choulette bière de Noël (alcool 7 % vol.),

Habillée d’ambre brun aux chatoyants reflets cuivrés, coiffée d’une belle mousse blanche et dense, telle est la Choulette de Noël qui, pour cet hiver 2010, ravira palais et papilles.
L’artisan brasseur a assemblé malt biscuit, malt caramel et malt chocolat ; les orges parfumées et cultivées en région Nord se marient alors à l’amertume franche des houblons Target et à l’arôme légèrement épicé des Brewers gold.
Grâce à cette alchimie, la Choulette de Noël développe un nez subtil avec de jolies notes fruitées et aromatiques. La plénitude se confirme en bouche. Ronde, douce et charnue, la bière de saison offre un bel équilibre avec une dominante de caramel.
La Choulette de Noël 2010, une création signée du maître des lieux Alain Dhaussy.
- Température de dégustation entre 10 et 12°C.

- Conditionnement : en bouteille de 75 cl, 33 cl et 25 cl"

Babelfish Translation....probably terrible:

"Choulette de Printemps of blazing the reflections of amber and coppered gold.

A white and consistent foam, strewn with fine bubbles, also comes to crown it.
As for the nose of a spring freshness, it releases from the delicately caramelized malt flavours which subtle honey keys exaltent. Finely hopped in mouth, the beer of season develops a particularly pleasant balanced savour.
Such is Choulette de Printemps worked out in 2010 per Alain Dhaussy: one spring of amber and light announcing freshness and sparkling. Which beautiful season!.
- Temperature of tasting 8°C

- Conditioning: out of bottle of 75 Cl and 25 Cl."