Affligem Christmas

Shopping. I can't stand it. Buying stuff I can just about tolerate out of necessity. But the process of shopping, even with a book and in one of those comfy chairs strategically placed for bored husbands and fathers, drives me a bit mad.

But, I'd been a good boy and (mostly) behaved myself today, so my new wife -- that is, the straight-haired one that the salon gave me as replacement for my old curly-haired one this morning -- took me for an apero at Banco. It's a local pub that has a welcome happy hour on week days but a generally uninspiring selection of beers.

However, they were advertising Affligem Christmas on tap, and since we've been on a bit of a holiday season beer kick of late, with Tongerlo Christmas Amber and three other Christmas beers already under our belts this month, we decided to go for it.

I haven't had an Affligem in years. Very early on in this blog, I tried an Affligem Tripel and rather liked it. A few months later, an Affligem Dubbel didn't impress me as much. Still, I was hopeful.

Affligem Christmas looks lovely in the glass: a rich, dark brown with a healthy frothy head. The first taste that hits you is sweet. Too sweet really. It's got notes of baked apple and black cherry, but I repeatedly slurped in vain for the hint of spice -- cinnamon, nutmeg, clove -- that this beer desperately needs. I'm reaching. I want it to be something it simply is not. In the end, the sweetness just overpowers everything.