Tröegs The Mad Elf Holiday Ale 2014

Brewed By: Tröegs Brewing Company in Hershey, Pennsylvania  

Purchased: Single 12oz bottle bought at And Beer in Athens, Ohio; 2014 

Style/ABV: American Strong Ale/Christmas/Winter Spiced Beer, .%

Reported IBUs: ?

Blarrgghhhh. Christmas is way over but I need to review this beer. This was an impulse buy when I was in Ohio and to be honest, I have no idea what to except. And then there is Tröegs, which is just a pain with that freaking o. Anyway, about Tröegs:

Tröegs Brewing Company is a brewery based out of Hershey, Pennsylvania. The brewery was founded by John and Chris Trogner in 1996. The brewery/company was established in 1997, and is known for its use of English brewing techniques fused with American styles of beer. For more info, check out the brewery's Facebook page or their website.

Tröegs The Mad Elf Holiday Ale 2014

The Mad Elf is a seasonal beer released between October and December. It is an American Strong Ale brewed with cherries, honey, and chocolate malts. The beer pours into a red body, kicking up a centimeter of amber-tinged head. It's a hazy beer, but it also has been sitting in my fridge on its side for a few months. There is good head retention, and glossy alcohol legs to boot. 

The aroma on this is Belgian inspired, and reminds me of a hearty Belgian Dubbel or even a spicier, yeast-forward Dark Strong. I'm getting a lot of candi sugar, cherries, cherry cola, Quad-like sweetness, Quad-like cherries, sweet white sugar, lightly caramelized sugars, and tons of yeast esters. Again, the yeast esters smack of Belgian beer, with lots of clove and banana. It smells really inviting, and if you like Belgian beer you will have high hopes that it tastes as good as it smells. 

This is a blissful package of Belgian-inspired strong beer. It's in the same realm as cherry-infused Quads and strong Dubbels, and would be right at home next to a lineup of strong Belgian Ales. You get tons of cherries, along with bold yeast esters that range from perfumes to clove to cherries to overripe fruits. The fruits include bananas, overripe stone fruits, and some shades of darker fruits like plums. There's a lot of spice in this beer, with cloves and sugary spices that you would find in a holiday cake, and I'm getting a lot of sugar in the mix. There's candi sugar, caramelized sugars, and big confectioner sweetness.

I'm basically calling this a Belgian Ale...it's good. At 11%, this is both boozy and seductive, but the high carbonation and intense sweetness helps cancel out the alcohol. The palate depth is good, and the beer is complex. It's medium to full-bodied with lots of cherries, bananas, and yeast esters up front; that rolls into big spice, clove, dark fruits, and pastry notes in the mids; the back end trails with lingering spice, some hops, complex malts, and lots of candi sugar sweetness. It's a big warming beer, and certainly lives up to its name and intention.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd) 

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. I would not only recommend this beer, but I would seek it out if it was distributed in the Chicagoland area. I guess I can make my peace since you can find similarly flavored beers in my distribution area, but having said that, I do think this is a fantastic beer. I don't know if I would pair it with any foods in particular...but I'd love to sip on this on a cold Winter night. Tonight happens to be a cold Winter night, but those are fleeting. 

Random Thought: I am glad that I am cracking this beer now. I would guess this ages well.

Goose Island Festivity Ale 2014

Brewed By: Goose Island Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack bought at Binny's in Chicago, IL; 2014 (bottled on 22SEP14 aka 9/22/2014)

Style/ABV: Brown Ale, 7.7% 

Reported IBUs: 50

It's another year, so that means another vintage of Goose Island's annual holiday/Christmas brown ale. This year, Goose Island swapped "Christmas" to "Festivity" for all the complainers that celebrate Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. This was totally unnecessary since craft beer is the next most white supremacist thing after the Klan and Nationalist party. If you can't pick up on those white privilege tones, you need to visit any micro-pub in the United States or Europe. About Goose Island:

Goose Island is a Chicago-based brewery that began as a brewpub on Clybourn, which opened on May 1988. The actual brewery opened on 1995, and is located on the Southwest side of Chicago. The second brewpub, located in Wrigleyville by the Chicago Cubs, was opened in 1999. On March 28, 2011, Goose Island sold 58% of the brewery to Anheuser-Busch. The remaining 42% of the brewery is supposed to be acquired by A-B InBev in the future, and there has been much discussion about the brewery's takeover. On November 16th, founder and CEO, John Hall, announced he would be leaving Goose Island. On January 1st, 2013, Anheuser-Busch "veteran" Andy Goeler will take over Goose Island. Additionally, around the same time as John Hall's departure, resident barrel-program leader John Laffler also announced his departure from Goose Island. There have been many changes regarding Goose Island...so we will see what the future has in store for Goose Island. 

The 2011 Christmas Ale was really good, but I wasn't as big of a fan of the 2012 vintage. I skipped the 2013 vintage, which was branded Sixth Day. What the hell, Goose Island? Just call it your fucking Christmas Ale. Anyway, the politically correct 2014 Festivity Ale is brewed with Special Pale, Bon Munich, Caramel-60, Caramel-120, Rice Hulls, and ECJ Sugar malts. The hops used for this beer include Pilgrim and English Golding. This one clocks in at 7.7%, and packs 50 IBUs.

This is a gorgeous beer, pouring into a hazy burgundy/maroon body, kicking up a finger of maroon-tinged head. The beer is well carbonated, and has good head retention. In bright light, the beer appears more ruby red, but I guess it doesn't matter anyway.

If you like malty smelling beer, you'll be in good company here. This takes the Brown Ale base, and adds some sweet toffee and faint fig and dark fruit notes. I'm getting a lot of toasted malts, some sweet candies, and sweet Twizzler notes. 

This is probably the best Christmas Ale that Goozie Inlets has rolled out since the 2011 vintage that I'm so partial to. This is a giant malt bomb through and through, with tons of toffee and toasted notes hanging in the back, along with some faint piney hops. The main flavor here are sweet malts, sweet sugars, and tons of sweet Twizzlers. The kiss of hop bitterness at the back end totally rounds out the experience, and elevates the beer. If you dig into the malts, you get some brulee and burnt brown sugar, which is just so nice.

At 7.7%, this is a big and sweet beer. I recommend letting this one warm up. This is a medium to full-bodied beer, but the carbonation keeps things moving along, and the hop bitterness on the back end is a welcomed contrast. This has good palate depth and complexity, with lots of sugars and toffee up front; toast and fruity notes in the mids; and more sugars and piney hops in the back. I'm actually really impressed with this 2014 Vintage, I'm happy I picked up the 6-pack and I would pick this up again this year. Between this and Brown Shugga', I think Chicago is covered.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. To reiterate, this is fantastic stuff...I would definitely pick some of this up if you see it on shelves. This is the perfect beer to pair with your holiday trimmings or a football game on a chilly night.

Random Thought: Seriously...I love being politically correct and sensitive to other people's needs but can we just call this the same thing we have been calling it for the past decade or whatever?