Brasserie Dubuisson has been brewing continuously since 1769, when it was founded as the brewery of the estate of Domaine de Ghyssegnies, across the road from its present location. To put that into context, that was before Belgium was a country, and before the famed Trappist breweries of Belgium. It has been in the Dubuisson family since at least the 1890s. Today led by Hugues Dubuisson, the eighth-generation family member to direct the business, Brasserie Dubuisson is still located in the province of Hainaut, the richest agricultural region in Belgium. It comes as little surprise that the Scaldis beers tend to feature complex and fresh orchard-fruit notes, as well as crisp, nutty maltiness.

Scaldis Noël is one of our favorite Belgian winter beers and the Rare Beer Club has obtained most of the cases imported for 2023, making it very hard to come by. Scaldis Noël pours a deep, honey-golden amber in the glass, capped by firm tan foam. It showed touches of phenolic, pepper- and clove-like spices throughout— with all the spicing coming from Belgian yeast expression, rather than any sort of special additions. The first sip was nicely rounded, with subtle underpinning carbonation from the bottle conditioning. Vibrant red fruitiness as well as significant caramel and cola lead the first impact. The Belgian yeast character is beautifully developed and brings forth bananas, some red-apple fruitiness, and clove-like spice that contributes some significant welcome bitterness overall, balancing out this beer’s sweeter elements. We found generous sherry-like notes present, along with dense toffee and nutty core malt character. A vibrant amber-malt expression permeates every aspect of this, while the underpinning of spritzy carbonation from being refermented in the bottle keeps it feeling quite nimble, as does the subtle, vinous warmth courtesy this beer’s 12% ABV. The long-lasting finish continues the dense fruit expression, cherry especially, alongside lingering toastiness and peppery clove from the yeast. A classic Belgian holiday release, this beer just keeps on going.