United Nations of Beer

Schoune Biere de Noel

by Ashley Cotter-Cairns
(UNOB HQ)

Schoune Biere de Noel
Brasseurs Schoune, QC, Canada
Visit the UNOB's Quebec beer guide
Check out our Christmas beer round-up!

Our 12 Beers of Christmas series began with an English beer and continues with one that's very British in quality. In fact, this bitter red could convincingly pass for a nice Yorkshire bitter, were there not two feet of freezing Canadian snow outside waiting for me to shovel it.



So what can I tell you about this Christmas-themed beer? Schoune, (in)famous for such amusing 'beers' as Reb'Ale, as well as some very tasty offerings like Maple ale and Quebec White beer, is a brewer best described as 'hit and miss'. One beer will be delicious, the next a travesty.

This is not an attack on Schoune, because many brewers around the world suffer from this kind of inconsistency. Biere de Noel definitely falls into the "hit" category.

While it's not going to radically alter the course of beer history or catapult Schoune to the forefront of Canadian brewing, it certainly deserves to be available all year round, though obviously a bit of an image change would be necessary.

Schoune Biere de Noel pours very deep reddish amber, with a lovely frothy "Santa's beard" of foam that lasts throughout, leaving a nice wintry lace behind on the glass.

It smells just as you'd expect a Christmas ale to: fruity, with spices present, almost like a Christmas scented candle (in an understated and definitely a good way!).

Take a pull and you will be quite surprised, especially if the idea of spiced beer has you reaching for the slop bucket. While there is a hint of cinnamon, cloves, black pepper and other spices, the overwhelming bitterness will take over and dominate your mouth.

In fact, this is quite like a British bitter. Why they would put this out as a Christmas ale and not go for a year-round market, I'm not sure, but it's worth checking out if you can find it before the holiday season comes to an end and this beer is consigned to the history books for another year.

I'll give it Six Geese a-Laying on the 12 Beers of Christmas index. Cheers and happy holidays!