The 10 Beers of Christmas (or, Why the Chuff Didn't I Buy 12?) - Day 2

So onward we trundle through the festive offerings from Belgium and here's something I wasn't expecting: a Blonde beer!

Day 2 - Bonne Secours Blonde de Noël

I don't know why but I was expecting a bunch of brown beers. This one shakes up the pack. But we like a bit of variety.

It's presented in a very nice bottle with a very long neck and (my favourite!) a swing-top lid. You can't beat the sight of the vapour creeping slowly out of the bottle top. Ok, you can but it's nice all the same!

Label wise we got santa walking across a snowy scene and... Wait there! It's a girl! Oh-ho, I see what you're doing, she's blonde... Hmm, right. Fair enough. Once poured there's a fast-fading head and the blonde appearance (of the beer, that is) is nothing to get excited about.

But enough of trivial matters, there's beer to be sniffed and supped. Sniffing is something you'd do well to do a lot of with this beer as it smells terrific. It's full of interesting aromas like sweet vanilla, buttery toffee and even apple sauce. What's a real treat is that it builds as you drink. I often find that the aroma is hard to locate after a few minutes but this one keeps growing. Well done Bonne Secours.

Where it excels in aroma it unfortunately falls controlling the alcohol presence. It's beers like this which could (wrongly) give people the impression that 10% is too strong for a beer. It's pretty much the only thing present in the mouth and also dominates the aftertaste. There are plenty of nice flavours in the background though so it's a really nice beer but the potency of the alcohol isn't contained. That was with a plate of spicy food, too.

On a final note, it's not reeeally that Christmassy either. It might taste quite like a toffee penny but that's clutching at straws really. All in all, worth a try but be warned; it's a little unruly.

Bonne Secours Blonde de Noël - 8
Christmas rating - 6

http://fr.brasseriecaulier.com/noel (French only)