Very smooth to open, with some clean chocolate notes. Finishes slightly bitter and with a noticeable chili kick, which builds up over time. Leaves the mouth feeling clean.
First thought: whoa! Too much cloves! Funny thing is I was making my family's tourtière which also has cloves in it. I had it with the one we ate for dinner... Prefect match! Every family's tourtiere recipe is different but this is indeed a festive beer with mine.
I guess this was here for the Northwest Beer Ladder? Tasty bourbon notes followed by toffee smoothness. Touch of hop spice on the finish, but very smooth and enjoyable.
Smells like a tripel, starts like a tripel, but transitions quickly into a strong-hop, spicy finish. Not especially Christmas-like at all. It was nice, but I'm having a hard time identifying the mood where I buy this instead of something else.