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 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.

Revolution Straight Jacket (Barrel Aged Institutionalized Barley Wine)

Brewed By: Revolution Brewing Company (Revolution Beer LLC) in Chicago, IL

Purchased: 22oz bottle bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013 (2012 Vintage)

Style/ABV: American Barleywine/Winter Warmer, 13.0%

Reported IBUs: 55

Just a review? We do those too. About Revolution:

Revolution Brewing is a brewery and brewpub based in Chicago. Revolution's roots are tied to founder Josh Deth, a homebrewer who began working at Golden Prairie Brewing. A few years later, while working at Goose Island, Josh dreamt up the idea for Revolution Brewing. In 2003, Josh and his wife opened Handlebar, while Josh worked as an Executive Director of Logan Square Chamber of Commerce. While working for the Chamber of Commerce, Josh found an old building on Milwaukee Avenue, and the wheels began to spin to open up a brewery. After three years of raising funds, Revolution Brewing opened its doors on February 2010. In July of 2011, Revolution added a 2nd floor Brewers' Lounge. And in 2012, the company opened a new production brewery and tap room. The brewpub is located in Logan Squre on 2323 N. Milwaukee Ave; the brewery is located on Kedzie Avenue at 3340 N. Kedzie Ave. For more information on Revolution, check out their history page here! 

The Straight Jacket comes in a nice, fancy box, ala Firestone. The back of the box says: "We brewed our Institutionalized barley wine in the spring and socked it away in whiskey barrels to age throughout the summer and fall. Now that winter is upon us, we bring forth Straight Jacket, a humongous malt-forward ale that even an accomplished escape artist cannot resist. Aromas of dark stone fruits, bourbon, molasses, toasted coconut and vanilla come in waves as you swirl this beer in the snifter." Punching in at 55 IBUs and 13%, this should be a malt-forward beer. I'm excited. 

Revolution Straight Jacket 2012

In lower light, the beer pours a dark brown/purple color, with some hints of orange. The beer is kind of murky and hazy, and there was a pinky's worth of drowning caramel head that didn't last for long. In bright light, the beer is a murky/swampy orange, with some peppery carbonation. There's a ring of carbonation on the edges of the glass, and big glossy legs and sticky lacing. 

There's big bourbon/whiskey, and tons of barrel character on the nose. I'm also getting molasses, complex dark sugars, burnt sugars, raisins, some resinous hop stuff (pine; sap; marmalade), and some Quad-like fruits. The fruits range from berries to boozy, overripe, whiskey/rum-soaked stone fruits. The Bourbon does impart some vanilla to the nose, but I'm not getting a ton of coconut at this moment.

Oh man...I don't know if I'm just in the mood for a bourbon-barrel aged Barleywine...but this is delicious. At the moment, this is drinking like the best barrel-aged beer from Revolution. This is better than the Very Mad Cow, and better than the 3rd Year Beer. 

I mean, just wow. There's a ton of complex barrel character here, with assertive whiskey/bourbon, acidic wood tannin, and lots of vanilla/bourbon/coconut. There's plenty of toffee, caramel, molasses, burnt sugars, and even some hints at chocolate. I'm also getting lots of berries, hints of pine/maple sap, rum-soaked raisins, boozy stone fruits, and some nice hop kick on the back. The finish is boozy, with a vanilla/coconut/bourbon splash, and then some drying and lingering wood tannin. I should say drying for a malty, 13% beer, as the finish is inherently sticky and full-bodied.

Good lord...this is some special stuff. I lucked into this one, as this is the last of the barrel-aged Revolution beers from my cellar that I'm drinking. I wouldn't hesitate to pick this up again...but I'm getting ahead of myself. Obviously "Winter Warmer" is the name of this game. At 13%, this beer is designed for long, dark, cold Winter nights. Drinkability is actually really good for the style and ABV, but you still want to sip on this. Palate depth and complexity are both outstanding, with layers of barrel character, malts, hops, fruits, and more barrel...each sip lasts for 20+ seconds on your palate. At 55 IBUs, this almost seems like a toned down American Barleywine, and it's all the more better for it. There are rich and decadent flavors in this beer. Up front is big wood, bourbon, and whiskey with some sweet dark/stone fruits, and a blast of chocolate malt; that rolls into more acidic wood tannin, berries, rum/whiskey-soaked raisins, complex sugars, hop bitterness; the back end is lingering booze, coconut/vanilla/bourbon, some resin/sap/hops...the finish is boozy and sticky...and this beer changes as it warms and has a lot of variability with each sip.

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

I gotta go with a Decent Divine Brew on this. This is, by a wide margin, the best barrel-aged beer I've had from Revolution. This is sooo good...it really does put the Very Mad Cow and 3rd Year Beer to shame, and those aren't bad beers by any means. At 13%, this is what you want in a Winter Warmer. If you're in the mood for bourbon and a Barleywine, you can't go wrong here. Me personally, I'm not a huge fan of American Barleywines...I find them to often be quite cloying and intense, and I have to be in the mood. But this beer right here has some really nice balance as the hops take a back seat. Honestly, I wouldn't pair this beer with anything. This is the type of beer I want to put in my snifter and enjoy over an hour or two. You know, over a football game or movie. If I HAD to recommend food pairings, I would pair this with some pecan pie or a really rich turkey sandwich with gravy. I don't remember how much this cost, but if they brew this again I will try to pick up the 2013 bottle. Damn.

Random Thought: I love it when I open a beer and I'm just surprised at how great it is. Maybe that's a sign of a good week to come.