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? 

Blue Moon Winter Sample Pack 2014: Blue Moon Cinnamon Horchata Ale

Brewed By: Miller Brewing Company (MillerCoors) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin   

Purchased: 12oz bottle from the Blue Moon Winter Sampler 2014 bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 

Style/ABV: Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer, 5.5%

Reported IBUs: 10

DAE Macro sampler packs?

Over the past few years of penning horrible blog reviews, I have never actually reviewed one of America's classic beers: Blue Moon Belgian White. I did review their god-awful Grand Cru once upon a time, but how about some of their more seminal releases? I couldn't pass up on the Winter Sampler Pack for 2014. This thing cost about $15, and comes with five unique beers. Well, five really, because who hasn't had the Belgian White? About MillerCoors aka Blue Moon:

Blue Moon was first brewed in 1995 at one of MillerCoors' R&D arms; in a sandlot, in Denver, Colorado, by Keith Villa. Keith Villa is an OG player these days. He's off judging beer, and talking about his PhD in brewing from the University of Brussels. There's a PhD for everything these days. Seriously though, it's Blue Moon. Read the Wiki. 

After pretty much #reking the Farmhouse Red Ale, I'm genuinely surprised to say that the Cinnamon Horchata Ale actually smells really fucking good. If you haven't #educated yourself on Horchata, do so now. The Cinnamon Horchata Ale is brewed with 2-row pale malt, long grain rice, and Sterling hops. 

Blue Moon Cinnamon Horchata Ale

This actually pours into a really nice, hazy, golden-pineapple-yellow body, kicking up two fingers of thick white head. Head retention is actually solid on this, as is the lacing and the carbonation.

This is far and away the most aromatic and best smelling beer from this Blue Moon Winter Sampler. This has strong cinnamon on the aroma, along with apples. It smells like apples dipped in cinnamon, apple pie filling...with some peppery spice, apple cider, and some wheat malts backing the whole thing up. It's actually a really inviting nose. 

Somehow the taste isn't quite as good as the aroma, but it still delivers a solid punch of apples and cinnamon. I'm getting a lot of apple pie filling with this one, with some wheat and caramel sugars in the mix. The apple pie filling is enough to bring out the nostalgia in me and warm my heart. But this is still one-note and has too much underlying caramel sweetness. Why. 

As you drink this, the rice starts to show up more in the taste, which is a nice wrinkle of complexity depending on how generous you want to be. This is not bad, maybe the best variant in the 2014 Winter Sampler. This is light-bodied, but still on the sweeter side of things, and has okay palate depth. The complexity leaves a lot to be desired, but this is an effective apple pie filling delivery system. I'm sure some people dream about that shit, and Keith Villa made that happen. The progression of this beer is pretty much apples and cinnamon up front; some wheat and more apples and cinnamon in the mids; and big pie filling, caramel sweetness, and faint bread on the back end. This really plays up the pie thing, and begs to be paired with some apple pie with American cheese on top (because MillerCoors). 

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Average on this. This is basically liquid apple pie filling, and that's high praise for something brewed at some Canadian sandlot in the armpit of MillerCoors' super corporation. Again, I'm gonna second the apple pie pairing. With American cheese. 

Random Thought: For $15 you can buy a 750ml bottle of really good beer...or a 6-pack of really good beer...or a 12-pack of mostly average to mediocre beer. I guess this Blue Moon Winter Sample Pack would be serviceable for a party or something, but I wouldn't pick this up if you are looking to drink good winter beer. Just buy a couple of bottles of Trader Joe's Vintage Ale, or some Abt 12. 

Blue Moon Winter Sample Pack 2014: Blue Moon Gingerbread Spiced Ale

Brewed By: Miller Brewing Company (MillerCoors) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin   

Purchased: 12oz bottle from the Blue Moon Winter Sampler 2014 bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 

Style/ABV: Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer, 5.9%

Reported IBUs: 16

DAE Macro sampler packs?

Over the past few years of penning horrible blog reviews, I have never actually reviewed one of America's classic beers: Blue Moon Belgian White. I did review their god-awful Grand Cru once upon a time, but how about some of their more seminal releases? I couldn't pass up on the Winter Sampler Pack for 2014. This thing cost about $15, and comes with five unique beers. Well, five really, because who hasn't had the Belgian White? About MillerCoors aka Blue Moon:

Blue Moon was first brewed in 1995 at one of MillerCoors' R&D arms; in a sandlot, in Denver, Colorado, by Keith Villa. Keith Villa is an OG player these days. He's off judging beer, and talking about his PhD in brewing from the University of Brussels. There's a PhD for everything these days. Seriously though, it's Blue Moon. Read the Wiki. 

The Gingerbread Spiced Ale is a Winter seasonal brewed with Pale, Munich, Caramel, and Wheat malts; Hallertau hops; and some ginger, molasses, cinnamon, allspice,and nutmeg.  

The beer pours into a filtered, dark red body, that is nicely carbonated, and kicks up a finger of caramel-tinged head. This is a fine looking beer. Wooo.

Blue Moon Gingerbread Spiced Ale

It's hard to believe we just wrapped up with the onslaught of Halloween/Pumpkin beers, because this beer would fit right at home with all of those. This smells like any generic spiced beer: I'm getting big nutmeg, allspice, clove, and cinnamon. The cinnamon in this beer veers into the land of Big Red, which is either good or bad...I can't decide. Beneath all the spice is a layer of suggestive caramel malt base.

Wow...this basically tastes exactly like the aroma. This is super sweet, and basically unloads a bunch of nutmeg, allspice, and cinnamon (with some faint Big Red) on this caramel-sweet malt backdrop. This is lacking in complexity, and pretty much just goes cookie sweet with the malts. But the cookie sweet malts work with this style of beer, and they do deliver a pretty effective gingerbread cookie into your mouth. 

I can sort of see the appeal to this beer. The cookie/caramel sweetness on the backdrop is pretty superficial, and despite being relatively moderately-full with good depth, this lacks complexity and nuance. But this is a "gingerbread spiced ale," and to that end it pretty much delivers what it promises. Up front: caramel, gingerbread, cookie-like malts, ginger spice and nutmeg; the mids roll into cinnamon, more nutmeg, clove, ginger, spice; the back end drops more cookie sweetness and spice, and finishes cloying and spicy. 

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Average on this. I'm trying really hard to hate this beer, but it pretty much nails the gingerbread cookie thing. It's not very complex, and it's not very big, but this would work for me as a beer to pair with a Holiday meal (Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner), or with some pie. Honestly...not a bad effort from Blue Moon.

Random Thought: Serious question: what's the difference between Winter and Pumpkin spiced beers? 

New Belgium Frambozen

Brewed By: New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack bought at Binny's in IL; 2013

Style/ABV: Fruit Beer, 6.5%

Reported IBUs: 16

With Winter knocking on the door and Thanksgiving this week, a raspberry brown ale seems strangely appropriate. About New Belgium:

New Belgium is based out of Fort Collins, and opened in 1991 when founder Jeff Lebesch took his home-brewing into the commercial world. At this point in time, New Belgium has mainstream fame from their Fat Tire, and craft beer credit for their sour beers. New Belgium is the thrid-largest craft brewery in the United States. You can read more about New Belgium if you check out their company page, and definitely cruise their website.

The Frambozen is a winter seasonal. The side of the bottle states: "Flemish for "raspberry", is our big, luscious celebration of the ruby red fruit found in Belgium's Framboise ales. Our version is brewed with real northwestern raspberries. Gaze upon Frambozen's deep warming color and infuse your senses with berry goodness. This Colorado holiday tradition should be served cool in a worthy glass for the best sensory experience." Brewed to 6.5% ABV and clocking in at 16 IBUs, this fruity brown ale is brewed with berry juice which gets added in fermentation. Brewed with Target hops, Pale, Munich, C-80, Carapils, and Chocolate malts, this is described as a caramel-raspberry explosion.

New Belgium Frambozen

The Frambozen pours a dark, reddish-brown color, and kicks up two fingers of pink/dark red/brown-tinted head. The head dissolves into some haze with a ring of carbonation hanging on the edge of the glass with residual lacing. Bright light confirms the filtered, dark red body. There's not much carbonation in this.

The aroma here is all about the raspberry currants, raspberry tea, sour raspberry candy (as per NB's website), some raspberry puree/jam, and lots of caramel sugars and raspberry sugar.

And the taste...surprisingly straightforward, there's a fair amount of malt and malt density, with some caramel, light brown sugar, a little toast and nuttiness, raspberry candies, and some bready density and legit pie crust notes. I'm getting lots of hints of pie. It reminds me of Dogfish Head's Fort, minus the booze and all that. The pie thing reminds me of Founders' Cerise. 

This is pretty aight. At 6.5%, this beer has a really dense body, punching in with a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel. Palate depth is good, and complexity is moderate. This combines bready, pie-crust like malts with blunted raspberry. Actually, credit to this beer for not making the raspberry overly sweet. Drinkability is high. You get some sweet brown sugar and malt up front; that gives way to raspberry, raspberry currant, pie crust, raspberry tea, raspberry candy, lightly tart raspberry, jam; the back end drops in some toast and nutty raspberry, very festive.

Rating: Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this beer. Very solid. I don't know how else to describe it. It removed my pants, but didn't spell the alphabet with tongue. Actually, I'm not dogging this beer at all...this is a Winter classic, and that raspberry candy juxtaposed with dense malt goodness makes for a solid brew. I would give this a recommendation for the Winter at around 10 dollars a 6-pack, but there are better fruit beers out there. Food pairings: duck, purple potatoes, turkey with gravy, grilled meats, beef roast, red meats with fruity sauces/glazes, rustic vegetables. This is almost vinous like a red wine, and seems like it would be right at home at the Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner table. What a fantastic food beer we have right here.

Random Thought: Ughh. My liver. Tonight be a twofer.

Samuel Adams Juniper IPA

Brewed By: Boston Beer Company in Boston, Massachusetts 
Purchased: 12oz bottle from the 2013 Sam Adams Winter Classics variety pack bought at Binny's in IL; 2013
Style/ABV: India Pale Ale, 5.8%

Reported IBUs: 50

I'm not going to lie, I snagged this year's Winter Classics variety pack just to try the Cherry Chocolate Bock. I'll review that tomorrow. About Sam Adams:

The Boston Brewing Company/Sam Adams is, of course, the brain child of Jim Koch (and Harry M. Rubin and Lorenzo Lamadrid). Founded in 1984, Jim Koch got the ball rolling after college when he decided to resurrect and brew his favorite family recipe. That recipe belonged to his great-great grandfather, Louis Koch, and dates back to the 1870s (where it was brewed in a St. Louis brewery). That infamous family brew is the Sam Adams Boston Lager, of course. You can read more about the history of the Boston Brewing Company HERE, or check out their website HERE.  

The Sam Adams Juniper IPA is a Winter Seasonal release, and part of the 2013 Winter Classics variety pack. This IPA is brewed with American hops (Columbus and Ahtanum), and finished with juniper berries. With a base malt of two-row pale malt and honey malt, this IPA punches in at 5.8% ABV and 50 IBUs. 

Samuel Adams Juniper IPA

The beer pours a transparent, amber/orange color, and kicks up one to two fingers of foamy, soapy, off-white head. The head is sustaining very well, and leaving a lot of residiual lacing as it drops off. Bright light confirms much of the same. This is a radiant, amber/orange beer, with a amber-tinted head. There's some nice carbonation in this, with mid-sized bubbles rising upwards.

As you might expect with the juniper, there's a lot of wood, pine, evergreen, and floral spice on the aroma. I'm also getting some pine, iced tea/tea, Christmas tree, wet leaves, and a little grapefruit rind. There's some biscuit and sweet malt backing the hop/juniper aroma as well.

This is pretty solid. Sam Adams isn't an iconic IPA producer, but this strikes a nice balance between citrus/pine and grains of paradise, with some herbal and woody pine, evergreen, and juniper-Christmas-spice. There's also a nice malty wash of bread, honey, and biscuit. The finish is bitter and woody, with some fruity hops that trail, and then a kiss of malt. It's actually really well crafted.

I'm finding this incredibly easy-going at 5.8%. Drinkability is high. The palate depth is good, but as I drink this I'm finding the assertive malt to be a bit muddling. The bed of bread, honey, and grain that backs this beer overtakes the hops and juniper, which results in a slightly off-balance beer if you preference hops. For reference: up front is a lot of pine, fruity hops, and bread/honey; that rolls into some pine, iced tea, herbal hops, and more grain/bread; the back end is trailing bread grain, with a woody, dry finish. 

Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Light Light Above-Average on this beer. I do think this is a good IPA, and the addition of the juniper adds a little fruity twist and some woody notes on the finish. The balance on this beer seems a bit malt-forward, but I could be biased by all the overkill American IPAs I've come to associate with the style. Given how light and refreshing this is, you can pair this with pretty much anything that isn't too spicy or aggressive. A leafy burger and this beer sounds pretty nice right about now. Most importantly, this beer does remind me of the Christmas/Winter season. And to that, cheers.

Random Thought: It snowed this week, and I couldn't be happier. 

Samuel Adams Merry Mischief Gingerbread Stout

Brewed By: Boston Beer Company in Boston, Massachusetts 
Purchased: 22oz bottle from Sam Adam's Small Batch Collection "gift set" [Batch No. 1]; 2012
Style/ABV: Spice/Herb/Vegetable (Stout), 9.0%

Reported IBUs: 25

Continuing with the Sam Adam's Small Batch Collection series, I felt compelled to crack open a wintry beer to wrap up the night. There's no particular reason. In fact, it was sleeting and icing yesterday, and today is unseasonably warm with rain. It's supposed to be in the 60s tomorrow, with thunderstorms. I guess I should be drinking a warm-weather beer, but I'm feeling that Christmas spirit. Maybe it's because I just watched Die Hard 2. Who knows. About Sam Adams:

Samuel Adams was founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, and currently the Boston Beer Company is the largest American-owned beer company in the United States. Sam Adams is also the largest craft brewer in America, with over a million barrels of beer being produced annually. You can check out the Sam Adam's website for more info.

Today's beer, The Merry Mischief, is a big, spiced-up, Stout. This beer is described as a "rich dark gingerbread stout," with aromas of the holidays, including cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, & ginger. This beer has a strong Stout base, and is then layered with spices. Clocking in at 9.0% ABV, and packing 25 IBUs, this beer is brewed with pale, wheat, Special B, roasted barley, and flaked oat malts. This beer uses East Kent Goldings and Fuggles hops, and is fermented with ale yeast. In addition to the malts and hops, this beer features cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Let's glass this up, and see how it stacks up.

Samuel Adams Merry Mischief

I'm a little surprised, this one pours pretty legit. In low light, this beer has an impressively dark black body, with just hints of brown on the edges (it's very cola-esque). This one poured with 3-finger's worth of dense, coffee/tan-colored head. The head is creamy and thick. In bright light, the beer is still pretty dark, but you catch hints of ruby red/brown on the edges. Again, it's very cola-esque. You can see nice carbonation in a stream of tiny bubbles, and the head is a really nice coffee color. The head is maintaining nicely, and leaving some clingy lacing. Given how much jerking I'm doing about this beer's appearance, it's safe to say I like it.

The aroma instantly reminds me of Southern Tier's 2XMAS. I'm getting a ton of ginger, gingerbread, mulled wine, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, and gingery orange. I'm getting a hint of roast, and maybe a dash of meat; there's also some underlying booze on this beer's aroma (elusive raisins, port wine, cognac). There's also hints of graham cracker and gingerbread cookies. Very nice and complex on the nose...hopefully it follows through in the taste...

This is really rich and sweet, and quite smooth. The flaked oats did good things to this beer. You get big ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg up front, all accompanied with big graham cracker notes. It's like biting into a gingerbread pie. The malts just coat your tongue, followed by ginger tannins and assertive ginger, hints of mild hops, and mulled wine. The carbonation is lazy and laid back, and you get big malts in the back, with hints of chocolate, cream, molasses/caramel, and just super fucking smooth Oatmeal Stout-esque softness. There are some hints of roast, and lots of lingering booze complexity on the back end. The back end is creamy and smooth, and warming. You get lingering cinnamon and ginger in the back, and with the heat, it creates a really pleasant and warming feeling in your chest/tummy.

This is sooooo smooth. So smooth. This is in Sweet Stout or Oatmeal Stout territory, with lazy, unassertive carbonation. At 9.0% ABV, this is drinkable, but it fills the gap nicely; you want to sip this. This is medium-full to full bodied, and rounds out with a malty, spicy, and boozy finish. The finish is also slightly sticky and sweet. Palate depth is surprisingly good, and complexity is very high. Technically, this isn't really a straight up Stout. This is a Spice/Herb/Vegetable beer, or a Christmas/Winter Spiced beer. Having said that....nutmeg, ginger, graham cracker, molasses, and malt sweetness hit you up front; mid palate rolls into some fruity flavors, hop bitterness, ginger; the back end is malt sweetness, hints of oats, chocolate, molasses, cream; the finish is spicy and boozy. 

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on...possibly approaching that Divine Brew. This beer is basically a Spiced/Herb/Vegetable beer taken to the max, using a Stout base. Why not that Divine Brew rating? Mostly because I'm a pussy, and the mulled spices weigh heavy on me over time. This one might be a bit much in the 22oz format, so grab a friend. I also wonder how this beer would taste if the spices were dialed down from 11 to 10, and the Stout base was amped up from 7 or 8 to 10. Nevertheless, this beer is a huge surprise. It's REALLY good. It accomplishes what it (probably) sets out to accomplish very well. I would happily reach for this beer come Christmas time, and this beer is basically Christmas in a bottle (/sigh, it's almost February). Food pairings: pot roast, beef roast, spiced turkey, spiced/glazed ham, Christmas desserts, sweat potato soup, any holiday pie, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, stuffing, etc.. You can grab a bottle of this for around 7-9 dollars. It's a steal. Grab one.

Random Thought: It's thundering outside, and it's supposed to reach 60...and then in two days we are supposed to be back into the teens. That's Chicago for you. 

Anchor Brewing Our Special Ale 2012 (Anchor Christmas Ale)

Brewed By: Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, California  

Purchased: Single 12oz bottle bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 2012

Style/ABV: Christmas/Winter Spiced Beer, 5.5%

Reported IBUs: ?

Anchor Brewing Company is "America's first craft brewery." The brewery can be traced back to the 1849 California gold rush, where German brewer Gottlieb Brekle arrived in San Francisco with his family. In 1871 Gottlieb purchased a beer-and-billiards saloon, and turned it into a brewery. In 1896, Ernst F. Baruth and his son-in-law, Otto Schinkel Jr. bought the brewery and named it Anchor. In 1906, Baruth passed away, and a fire and earthquake destroyed the brewery. In 1907, Otto Schinkel Jr. was run over by a car. The brewery was maintained by Joseph Kraus, August Meyer, and Henry Tietjen. During the 1950s and 1960s, the brewery went through hard economic times, and Anchor was shut down twice. In 1965, Fritz Maytag purchased Anchor saving it from bankruptcy. In 1971, Fritz began bottling Anchor Steam beer; and by 1975, Anchor had four beers, their Porter, Liberty Ale, Old Foghorn, and Barleywine Ale, and their annual Christmas Ale. In 1979, Anchor moved to its current location, on Mariposa Street, where the brewery currently resides today. Since then, Anchor continues to brew beer (and distill spirits), and remains one of America's most traditional breweries. Definitely check out the company's history page, HERE.

Like Anchor Brewing, tonight's beer is quite the historic brew. Every year since 1975, Anchor Brewing releases a unique Christmas Ale (available from November to January), that features a different recipe with each year. Along with the unique recipe, each year's bottle is branded with unique bottle art. This year's bottle features the Norfolk Island Pine (a tropical-looking tree that thrives in sandy soil and coastal climates). This year's beer clocks in at 5.5% ABV, and features "top secret" malts and hops. One last thing to note is that Anchor's Christmas Ales can be aged, and should age nicely (if stored properly). With that said, let's glass this up.

Anchor Christmas Ale

The pour yields a dark brown/purple/cola black colored beer, with 3-fingers of coffee/tan/cola head. In low light, this beer is surprisingly dark. When held to a bright light, you can see through the beer, and the beer is clearly a red/ruby red color. There is a lot of carbonation in the form of mid-sized bubbles in this. As the head pulls away, there is nice lacing, and a creamy covering of head remains. 

The aroma on this is huge nutmeg and clove. I'm also getting some ginger cookies, like the Toruń gingerbread cookies I always ate as a kid (yes, I'm Polish). There's a HINT of pine in the back.

Up front is a fruity kick (plums, raisins), along with big clove and nutmeg; I'm getting a lot of nutmeg and clove in the middle; and on the back end I'm getting hints of smoke, light campfire, light charcoal, light roast, and strong anise/licorice. The sweetness up front seems to be accentuated by some smoke/roast/barley, and big anise on the back end. There's some artificial candy sweetness throughout. 

This is an interesting beer...as a seasoned beer drinker, I'm not finding this terribly difficult to drink. However, the strong anise/licorice presence, coupled with the smoke and the big nutmeg flavors, give this beer a pretty unique profile. That said, this is medium-full, especially for 5.5%, with slight stickiness. This has nice density, with subtle carbonation; good palate depth, good complexity, and a smokey/licorice finish. Again: up front is fruit and nutmeg; middle is lingering fruit, maybe a flash of hops, and big spices; the back end morphs into barley roast-smoke-anise-licorice, in that order.

Rating: Average

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. I feel about the same way I felt about Southern Tier's 2XMAS. This is a good, Christmas-y beer, but the anise/licorice and nutmeg are a touch overwhelming down the stretch. I would stop at two of these, and I'm glad I opted for the single bottle rather than the six pack. Also, this has a pretty prominent licorice/anise/smoke flavor on the finish, which may not work for everyone. I think it compliments the nutmeg, and tastes pretty dang Christmas-y. But I'm weird. I would pair this beer with a gingerbread cookie, or some roasted duck, roasted turkey, or smoked ham. I kind of regret not grabbing a second bottle to throw into the cellar for a few years...but whateva. At 5.5% ABV, this just heavy enough, but you might want to dial the ABV up when it really gets cold. 

Random Thought: So far, the Christmas beers aren't doing as well as the Pumpkin beers. Well...that's not true. When I think Christmas, I think about big Belgian Ales and beers that are going to warm me up. In Anchor's defense, they've brewed this Christmas beer 38 times. That's a lot of different recipes. 

Southern Tier 2XMAS

Brewed By: Southern Tier Brewing Company in Lakewood, New York
Purchased: Single 12oz bottle bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 2012

Style/ABV: Christmas/Winter Spiced Beer, 8.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

From the fine folks who brought us Pumking...here comes another seasonal beer from Southern Tier.

Southern Tier Brewing Company is based out of Lakewood, New York. The brewery was founded in 2002 by Phineas DeMink and Allen "Skip" Yahn. Using equipment purchased from the old Saddleback Brewing Co., the company began production with the vision of reviving traditional small batch brewing to the region. By 2003, the brewery was distributing their small batch ales, and by 2005 their sales covered New York and Pennsylvania. Before the brewery had any seasonal beers, it produced a Pilsner, Mild Ale, and IPA. Due to popularity, in 2009 a 20,000 square foot facility was built to allow for the brewing of large-scale beers. Since then, Southern Tier has continued to expand, and continued to invest in better equipment to keep up with the increasing demand for their beer. You can read more about Southern Tier's history on their history page.

Tonight's beer is a winter seasonal, and if you roll over to the 2XMAS page you can get the scoop on this beer. The website says that this is a ”double spiced ale brewed in the tradition of Swedish Glögg.” Swedish Glögg (or Mulled wine) is a beverage made with red wine, along with a bunch of spices and raisins. The beverage is served warm, and is typically consumed during winter. The 2XMAS ale is brewed with figs, orange peels, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and ginger root. This beer also utilizes two varieties of hops, and four varieties of malts. The nose is supposed to feature aromas of spice cake, dried fruit, and mulled wine; the flavor is supposed to be spicy, malty-sweet, with slight hop bitterness. Suggested food pairings are: sausages, korv, fish, pickled herring (yum), rich cheeses, and holiday cookies & cake. Let's glass this up, and see how it stacks up.

This is a fairly dark beer...pouring a dark, crimson red color in low light, with one finger of bready, red/amber-colored head. When held to bright light, the beer is a reddish/orange color, appears to be filtered/transparent, and has a ton of carbonation in the form of mid-sized bubbles. Head retention is nice, and I get some lacing and legs when I swirl the beer around. Considering how spiced up this beer is, I'm impressed with the head retention.

Speaking of spices, this shit is SPICED UP. I'm getting giant blasts of cinnamon, allspice, gingerbread, and ginger. I'm getting some earthy mint (the cardamom?), and some earthy tannins. There's a tannic thing going on in here. There's some fruitcake-raisin malt sweetness as well.

This is thicker in the body/mouth than the aroma leads on, with a pretty hefty raisin-fruitcake-gingerbread thickness. The spices -- or something -- give this beer a tannic edge. It does taste a bit like a red wine that has had cinnamon sticks and orange peel sitting in it. I'm getting a lot of orange peel and cinnamon in the taste, along with hints of ginger, and brief mint/herbal spice. It's quite lively on the tongue, and there's a boozy thing throughout. Overall though; spice tannins, orange peel, cinnamon/nutmeg, and a sticky fruitcake/gingerbread base. 

This is fairly drinkable at 8.0% ABV; but works as a sipping beer. This is slightly sticky, and has a medium-full mouthfeel that goes down fairly smooth thanks to the lively spices and zesty carbonation. Palate depth is okay, and complexity is moderate to high. Like Glögg, I almost think the spices in this are a touch overpowering in the long haul, and you will probably only want one or two of these. Up front is some sweet malts and big spice; this rolls into spices, oranges, tannins; the back end is lingering tannins, malts, and sticky. The finish is sticky and not very dry. Booze is well-masked, but still shows itself.

Rating: Average

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. This works well for what it is, which is a beer interpretation of Glögg. The spices are nice, but I don't know if I would want more than one or two of these. Having said that...this is SUPER Christmas-y. If you want to find Christmas in a bottle, look no further. I could see myself splitting a 6-pack of this among family and friends. I could also see myself just making some actual Glögg...nevertheless, this is a respectable Christmas beer. I would pair this with pickled herring, Christmas lunch (typically bagels and lox in my family), lobster and steak (traditional New Year's meal in my family), any Christmas dinner dish (ham, stuffing, duck), or Christmas cookies and dessert. This is definitely a festive beer with that big orange peel and cinnamon/ginger profile. And the 8.0% doesn't hurt...

Random Thought: ...unless you are driving. I find that I enjoy having a designated driver when I go to family events. This way I can drown out awkwardness and boring stories with alcohol. Oh, cynic that I am. Unfortunately, no one drinks craft beer in my family, so I'm stuck drinking boring shit like Sam Adams, or if I'm lucky, Goose Island. Oh well...

Great Lakes Christmas Ale

Brewed By: Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland, Ohio 
Purchased: Single 12oz bottle bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 2012

Style/ABV: Christmas/Winter Spiced Beer, 7.5%

Reported IBUs: 30

I love great Great Lakes Brewing, and I probably should drink more of their beer. I have yet to be let down by a Great Lakes beer, and I'm pretty excited to sit here and dissect their coveted Christmas Ale. About Great Lakes Brewing:

Great Lakes Brewing Company was founded on September 6th, 1988, brothers Patrick Daniel and Conway Daniel. It became the first microbrewery in the state of Ohio. The brewery expanded both in 1992 and 1998, and in 2010 and 2011 the brewery spent over 7 million dollars to improve their brewery and brewery equipment. The brewery produces over 100,000 barrels annuals, and serves 13 states and Washington D.C.. According to the Brewers Association "top 50 breweries list" from 2010, Great Lakes Brewing Company is ranked #22 for beer sales as a craft brewer, and #31 for beer sales in general (in America). You can take a stroll to the Great Lakes Brewing history page to get the full story about the brewery.

While enjoying a lovely Friday out, I had the opportunity to try the Great Lakes Christmas Ale on tap. It was served a bit too cold, and I was really hungry; so I wasn't as on my game as I should have been. But the beer was still delicious. If you check out the Christmas Ale page on Great Lakes' website, you can get all the information you need about this beer. This is a winter seasonal (November through December) that is brewed with honey, and then spiced with fresh ginger and cinnamon. Great Lakes always gives a .PDF worth of info for their beer, and you should definitely check it out. I love their little history blurbs! They state that holiday brews have origins in the Middle Ages, when spices were used instead of hops to flavor the beer. Spiced beers re-emerged in the early 1900s in Western Europe when brewers began making holiday beer for their patrons. Today's beer is brewed with Harrington 2-Row, Crystal, Wheat, Special Roast, and Roasted Barley malts; it uses Hallertau and Cascade hops. Clocking in at 7.5% ABV, and packing 30 IBUs, this is a big beer...but not quite the "tour de alcohol" as something like a heavy Stout or Belgian Ale. Let's glass this up and see what's up.

Great Lakes Christmas Ale

I remember toy trains, and I have great memories of putting up ornaments with my family. This beer's artwork really gets me in my feels. The nostalgia...it's so hard. The beer pours a clear, clean, orange/amber color that is on the darker side of orange and the brighter side of amber in low light. The pour yielded one to two fingers of amber-tinted head. When held to a bright light, this beer is still amber/orange, transparent, and very filtered. I wonder how aging this would go. There's a lot of visible carbonation in this, with medium bubbles rising up. As a result, there's nice head retention; there's some lacing; and the head is whiter in bright light. YOOOO.

As far as the aroma goes, lots of honey, sweet malts, a hint of pleasant/mild hops, maybe a dash of lemon, and just a hint of ginger spice (but more fresh ginger, not the spice).

This is quite carbonated, and lively on your tongue. I'm getting a lot of honey, ginger, gingerbread (lots of gingerbread), hints of orange, pleasant/mild orange peel, mild "Noble" hop characters, and bread. Maybe some fruitcake? NO! No maybe...there's definitely a fruitcake thing going on with this beer. There's also a pleasant "kick" to this...it has a nice bitter balance, and it's quite complex and full, with elusive booze that never manifests as alcohol. 

This is surprisingly complex, and like most of Great Lakes' beers: very balanced. You can tell that they didn't just brew this beer, they obviously put a lot of thought into it. This is also a beer that completely masks its alcohol. This beer has "DANGER! HANGOVER!" written all over it. At 7.5%, two or three of these will get you tipsy. But this is incredibly drinkable, and goes down with ease (that's what she said). Palate depth is great, complexity is high, and this has a full-bodied mouthfeel. This beer has everything! It's creamy, smooth, carbonated, spicy, malty, hoppy, and it finishes pleasant but dry. Up front you get honey, ginger, gingerbread, cinnamon; this rolls into ginger, mild hops, some bitterness; the finish dries out, and then you get lingering malt. There's some bready, fruitcake throughout...very nice.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this beer. It's complex, balanced, and bold. The spices (ginger, gingerbread, maybe some cinnamon) might get taxing on your palate after a while, but one or two glasses of this would be great. There's depth to this beer, and the boozy backdrop makes this a great candidate to warm you up on a cold night. Food pairings: fruit cake! You could also eat this with ham, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, duck -- any holiday fixings, really. This beer has great honey and gingerbread characters, so get creative with those meals! I do recommend this.

Random Thought: One of my best memories was getting the Christmas decorations out, and helping put up the tree and the lights. This meant that winter break was coming, and Christmas. I remember pulling the boxes out of storage, getting the lights out, unpacking all the decorations...that's why we have traditions.

Goose Island Christmas Ale 2012

Brewed By: Goose Island Beer Company (owned by AB InBev) in Chicago, Illinois

Purchased: 12oz bottle bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 2012

Style/ABV: American Brown Ale, 7.3%

Reported IBUs: ?

Last year I reviewed the 2011 Goose Island Christmas Ale, and it was lovely. So I figure I'll give my thoughts on this year's Christmas Ale...plus, I need to clean my palate from that nasty Blue Lady. 

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, 2012, Anheuser-Busch "veteran" Andy Goeler will take over Goose Island. At this point, it's hard to even call Goose Island "craft beer," let alone Chicago's local beer treasure. It's a damn shame, but what can you do? Oh yeah, you can drink Half Acre, Pipeworks, Revolution, and Two Brothers.

This year's Christmas Ale is slightly different than last year's. For starters, the alcohol has increased from 6.2% to 7.3%. This beer is brewed with Pale, Munich, and Caramel malts, and the hops "change from year to year," and are not listed. As the hops are not listed, the IBUs are missing as well. The website says you can cellar this beer for 180 days (shenanigans?), and this is a winter seasonal available between November and December. With that said, let's glass this up and see how it holds up.

AB-InBev Christmas Ale 2012

This beer pours a dark brown/purple color, with a finger of brown, bready head. When held to bright light, the beer has a reddish/brown color, is murky, possibly unfiltered, and you cannot see through it. There is some lacing from where the head pulled away, and there is some head hanging around. Not bad.

The aroma on this is really nice, with big raisins, bready malts, some rum, some figs....this is more malty than I remember it being. Last year's beer had more pine and pine nut, this year's beer is really big on the malts. I'm getting a Doppelbock-esque Twizzler/plum note, and maybe a hint of smoke/meat. 

You do get some really nice pine, pine nut, and hop kick in the taste. I'm not sure why I wasn't pulling out the hops on the nose. There's also some thickness about this beer, and it's quite malty with big bready malts, figs/raisins, cake, and rum-soaked bread, and a toasty thing going on. Big pine nuts and walnuts in the taste here; maybe a hint of maple syrup; elusive spices. The taste is a bit different than the nose.

This beer feels thicker than last year's, but it still rocks that big nutty taste profile, balanced by some nice piney hops. This is complex but balanced for the style, has good palate depth, and good drinkability for 7.3% ABV. This is approaching "winter warmer," or "sipping" beer. Mouthfeel is medium-full to full. Up front are some big sweet malts, nuttiness, sugars; this rolls into pine, pine nuts, hops; the back end is lingering pine nuts and pine, and a slightly dry finish. There's some maple, bread, rum, and toast that come and go. There's also some elusive spices; maybe brown sugar? 

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this beer. I called the 2011 a light Divine Brew; I think I really liked the prominent pine nut thing going on in the 2011 version. This year's beer is a little maltier, heavier, and it sort of reminds me of a Barleywine lite. There's a nice maple syrup thing in here, along with a sutble rum/brown sugar spice. And like last year's, there are some nice pine nuts and walnut flavors in this. I would pair this with honey ham, turkey, pecan pie, or even candied yams. As usual...this is solid stuff, and the 2012 version is just a bit warmer, so you can drink this on a cold night.

Lagunitas Brown Shugga'

Brewed By: Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma, California

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 20122

Style/ABV: Strong Ale/Barleywine/Christmas Ale, 9.9%
Reported IBUs: 51.1

Do you know what brightens up the holidays and makes Santa happy? Some Brown Shugga' awwww yeeahhhh. The masters of subtlety are at it again. In case you don't know who Lagunitas are (Pronounced: "LAH-goo-KNEE-tuss"):

Lagunitas is a brewery I dabbled with when I hit up their controversially named "Kronik" (Lagunitas Censored) back in November 2010. The Lagunitas website has some cool info on the brewery and the beer, and can be found here. The brewery was founded in 1993 out in Lagunitas, California, and has since moved to Petaluma in California. It seems like Lagunitas is run by a bunch of deviant madmen geniuses, and the brewery appears to be a true grassroots movement, if you catch my drift.

I love Christmas beers, and I love Lagunitas...and I concede it's weird to drink a Christmas beer in early November, especially when I still have pumpkin beers laying around. But you know what? Fuck you. Plus, I want a taste of dat Brown Shugga'. I'm going to stop, because this is a family-friendly blog, not a hate crime.

If you check out the Brown Shugga' page, you can get the breakdown on this beer. This beer is brewed with "boatloads of pure brown sugar in each batch." This beer was originally brewed back in 1997, when Lagunitas was trying to make their Olde GnarlyWine Ale. They added a bunch of Brown Sugar to the boil in an attempt to "rescue the batch." The result was this lovely beer, which is described as "Irresponsible." Santa likes. Let's get this into a glass...and see if this is the best Christmas beer south of December.

Lagunitas Brown Shugga'

The beer pours an orange/brown/amber color, with 3-fingers worth of sticky, thick, foamy, copper-tinted head. The head has nice duration, and is leaving a ton of sticky, IPA-like lacing on the side of the glass as it falls down. In bright light, the beer is orange-amber, and the head takes on some of that orange color. This beer is transparent, and -- MIGHT -- be filtered, and has some nice carbonation in the form of tiny bubbles. At 9.9%, there are some legs.

This is, as you might imagine for a Barleywine-style beer, quite floral and hoppy on the aroma. I've heard that this beer is suposed to be malty...and maybe it gets to be that way with some time; but, this beer is pushing 50 IBUs. On the nose I get citrus, pine, hops, resin, grass, caramel and sugar, candied fruits, and some slight spice that could certainly be brown sugar. You get that "sticky" smell on the nose, with big hop presence.

Holy shit....this is nice. I've heard a lot of people complaining that this beer is too hoppy. This is a hopped up beer. But it's not too hoppy, no sir. This beer hits your palate with malt sweetness, BIG malt sweetness. Then the hops kick in to clean things up, and drop some pine, grass, citrus, and all that goodness. And then you get blasted with a huge, dense, sticky blast of malt and brown sugar. You get spice on the back end, brown sugar, gingerbread...fucking Noel in a glass. I'm getting big sweet citrus; it's a character Lagunitas works into a lot of their hoppy beers. You get caramel-candy-oranges and citrus, pine, grass. It's nice.

This drinks ridiculously smooth and easy for 9.9% ABV. 9.9% ABV...really? REALLY? This shit screams "HANGOVER." This drinks like a smooth IPA, but has a big full-bodied mouthfeel. This is quite sticky, sugary, and hoppy, but the carbonation, hop bitterness, and spice help aide drinkability. Really, I could put down a 6-pack of this in a night, but I wouldn't, unless I did. Maybe for Christmas. Anyway, this is moderately complex, but palate depth is great. Up front is a blast of sweetness, and then hops; the middle rolls into HUGE sweetness, hops, and brown sugar; the back end is big caramel, brown sugar, and hop dryness into a drying finish.

Rating: Divine Brew

I'm feeling a Light Divine Brew rating on this beer. This is not only a great Christmas Ale, it's a great Barleywine-style, IPA-thing. You know, a Lagunitas beer. I confess, I'm biased as shit when it comes to Lagunitas. I love their beer. But this is just delicious, and makes me want to hang out around the Christmas tree, eat some gingerbread cookies, and watch football by the fireplace. Win, win, win. Food pairings for this include anything from spicy chicken or turkey, duck, ham, sweet potatoes and candied yams, and assorted Christmas desserts. 

Random Thought: I buy a Santa's Private Reserve glass, and drink Lagunita's Christmas Ale, and all of a sudden I'm in the Christmas mood. FUCK! I still have pumpkin beer to drink.