Today we head over to Belgium to visit a strong ale from Brouwerij Huyghe: Delirium Noël. That’s right, it’s the Christmas offering of their famous pink elephant Delirium Tremens.

Their description of this beer is entirely in French, but here’s a (rough) translation:

Born in 2000, this beer is brewed for the Christmas and New Year holidays and completes the "Delirium" trilogy. It pours a warm and inviting copper tinged with red, recalling "Nocturnum", though not in taste. At first, it hides its subtlety within layers of flavor. It starts with a typical Christmas nuance: a sauce exhibiting a touch of sweetness, then followed by a more bitter character and then a curious fresh feeling on the tongue. Finally, at the back of the palate there is the sensation of fresh ground pepper on a spring salad. It begs appreciation at the first swallow, and loyalty by the second.

At 10% alcohol by volume, this is also not a beer to be trifled with. They don’t have pink elephants on the label for nothing.

BeerAdvocate grade: B+. RateBeer score: 3.67/5, 92nd percentile.