My local Whole Foods still has bottles of Eel River Brewing‘s Belgian Christmas beer, Climax Noel, in the cooler (albeit on sale) so I picked one up to review this week. According to the label it’s a Belgian Imperial Red Ale, 9% alcohol by volume, and is certified organic.

Appearance: Nice clear amber-red color (“auburn” from my wife), bright with a lively thick head.

Smell: Sugary-sweet nose with a cherry-like fruit note. Juicy. Some sherry-like notes from the alcohol.

Taste: Sweet strong Belgian-style character, warming from the alcohol and candi sugar washes over the tongue. Long and dry, with a sweet fruity note of figs.

Mouthfeel: Lively and effervescent, a bit of a drawn-out dry finish. The effervescence lightens up the body considerably.

Overall: Nice nose, nice flavors, it’s Belgian-styled through and through, something like a Tripel but “red” and figgy.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B. On RateBeer, it scores 3.42 out of 5 and is in their 90th overall percentile.