St Feuillien Cuvée de Noël

“Smells like fresh pineapple”, says Bob.

“No way”, says I.

Belgian Christmas beers rarely disappoint, but they are a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes you find an exceptional one, like the Goulden Carolus Christmas, which we had a few weeks ago. Other times, you get a worthwhile beer but one that doesn’t distinguish itself much from the crowd. St Feuillien Cuvée de Noël is the latter: not great, but good.

It has reasonable maltiness and caramely notes, for sure, and a light accent of old lemon. After that, though, I didn’t get much from it. That’s unfortunate. I thought St Feuillien Bruin was passable, and St Feuillien Blond I rather liked. With the St Feuillien Cuvée de Noël, we have yet another example of a beer I really want to praise but just can’t bring myself to do more than give a passing grade to. Again, nothing bad here, but I expect more from a Christmas beer.

In any case, there’s nothing pineapple about it, Bob. So there.