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.