Special Holiday Ale

Okay, I know the holidays are over, but it doesn't mean I have finished drinking all of my Christmas presents. When you have great friends, you tend to get great beers in your stockings and under the tree. I got this winter warmer, and based on what I had read, I was excited to pop it open.

This is a yearly collaboration done by Nogne O, Stone, and Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales. This year it was done at Nogne O. It poured out a beautiful dark brown with red around the edges where the light came through better. It had almost no head, less than one finger, but it was off white to light tan. The beer is 8.5% abv. It had a syrupy mouth feel, that was perfect for a cold winter day.

The beer had a heavy bread and cinnamon aroma. The first sip did not disappoint. It was a very malty beer, with great holiday spices. There was a good amount of cinnamon and nutmeg. Hints of dried fruit and berries came through at the finish. It was almost like a tangy cinnamon raisin bagel. There is a piney alcohol flavor that hits the tongue after each sip and lingers just long enough to remind you how good it was.

The beer was lighter on the hops than I expected from Stone, but with all the other spices and flavors I didn't feel like it was missing much.

The only draw back to this brew was a sticky feel that was left in my mouth after a large drink.

I give it a solid 4.

Our Special Ale 2012 (Anchor Christmas Ale) and the Vertical

Tis the season to be jolly! Nothing gets me jollier than a good dark Christmas beer.

Anchor makes a new Christmas Ale every year. It is a treat to see what new flavors they have brewed together, every holiday.

This year the beer poured dark brown almost black, with some light head. Once it was poured into the glass it smelled like winter. Ok... so that is not as descriptive as you might want, but it was a mix of piney hops, ginger, nutmeg and cloves and it just smelled like the holidays. The abv is 5.5%.

The beer flavor is a mix of molasses and chocolate tones with a nice sour hint of cherries or other winter berries. These flavors are accented by all the spices that were in the nose especially the ginger. I really enjoyed the sour characters of the berries. The hop profile comes in hard and overpowers the sweetness pretty quickly helping to balance it all out. Sometimes holiday beers are basically just deserts, so this was a nice more complex option. The mouth feel was surprisingly light. It has a pretty dry finish, but it fit the general pallet of the beer.

I give it a 3

Now the best thing about having awesome friends is they will invite you over to try awesome beers. In the spirit of Christmas, the Little Lady and I got together with another couple and they had prepared a vertical of Our Special Ale 09, 10, 11, and 12.

 

We lined them up and started tasting! Similar characteristics were displayed in every beer, but there were some differences. All of the beers got better as they warmed up a little bit. It helped take the piney edge off just enough and let the big malty character of these awesome brews to really shine through.

I rank them in this order: 2009, 2012, 2010, 2011. 

Since it is the season of giving, I will not dwell on the beers that I did not like as much, none of the beers ranked below a 3 and most of them were 3.5. 

The 2009 was my favorite! It was sweet with heavy flavors of molasses upfront, that lead you into the fruitiness of the dried cherries. It had a  rich smokiness throughout that made it more unique than the rest of them. It did not have the extreme pineyness that I found the 12, 10 and 11 to have. This one had an almost creamy quality that helped cancel out some of those harsh hop flavors. The 2009 was a fantastically balanced beer. If I could this would become my yearly Christmas beer of choice. Thanks to Justin for setting it all up.

I give the 2009 a 4

Alpha Klaus

I admit that I am totally biased towards beers brewed here in the great state of Indiana. I am also super biased to Three Floyd's, since it was the first brewery that I made an effort to visit. I consider their Christmas beer, Alpha Klaus, to be a gift given directly to me from them.

Alpha Klaus pours out a dark red almost black oily color with a light tan head. The head sits atop the beer like dirty snow covering a dark mud puddle... sorry not my best analogy. It left lacing up to the top of the glass like frost on the window... better. It had a abv of 6% and 38 IBUs.

The beer smells like chocolate and grapefruit hops with a bit of piney-ness. It smelled hoppier than most of the Christmas beers I've had this season. It was also a bit thinner and more effervescent than I expect from a Christmas porter.

The flavor has a citrus hop flavor up front, which when mixed with the aroma this can be pretty intense. It moves into a chocolatey malt flavor with some nice winter spices. In a lot of holiday beers the brewers go a bit overboard with the spice. I get it, spice is what makes it a holiday beer, but make sure it tastes like a beer first. This one did a good job with that. From that spicy note it moved back to the citrus and pine hop flavor. It closes with a subtle dryness that reminds me of bitter sweet chocolate. It leaves a bit of a bitter flavor on your tongue that just seems to make me thirsty for another sip.

This is a fun and unique holiday beer. I don't know that I would be excited to drink it all the time, but it will always make me smile during the holiday season.







Hoppier than I like but I give it a 3.5

Santa's Wishlist: Christmas Beers

Just in case you are tired of bringing boring wine to Christmas parties, we put together a list of some (mostly regional, but all available at your Indiana liquor store) beer options that will knock their socks off. These are not in any particular order. Most of them have reviews that will popping up in the next few weeks.

Three Floyd's Brewery brewed up Alpha Klaus. It is a dark Christmas porter with tons of chocolaty flavor and some pretty intense hops at the end. This is a great beer that is sure to impress any causal beer drinker who can stomach the dark stuff, and if you are in Indiana it is pretty easy to get your hands on. (full review to come later)

Hoppin Frog brewed up Frosted Frog Christmas Ale. This is a pretty intense dark brown ale. It has been beefed up with cinnamon  brown sugar and some great gingerbread flavor. It is very very sweet, and my wife fell in love with it. The sweetness makes it easy for anyone who is not into the craft beer scene to have a glass of holiday cheer. (full review to come later)

Anchor Brewing brewed up Our Special Ale (Anchor Christmas Ale 2012). This one is going to be different from all the rest. It pours out dark, but the taste is surprisingly light. It has nice malty flavors but a pretty strong dried cherry flavor helps cancel them out. This is a very well balanced brew. If your guests don't like the heavy stuff this is the one to go with.

Bells Brewery brewed up Bell's Christmas Ale. This Christmas ale is a pretty easy going brew for another dark beer. It has nice sweetness up front followed by a tasty round of holiday fruit flavors. The beer is heavy, but the sweetness mixed with the fruit flavors does a good job to round it all out.

New Belgium brewed 2 Degrees Below. This has always been one of my favorite winter beers even though it is a hoppier winter beer. There is going to be some serious bitterness mixed in with flavors of liquorice and other holiday spices. The beer is dry but well balanced, a seasonal favorite for the holidays.

Santa and our friends in the craft brewing industry have not forgotten our friends celebrating Hunakkah.

He'Brew brewed up Sweet 16 Anniversary Ale. I liked Origin, but this one is even better. This is a malty beer that has some nice seasonal fruit flavors. It also has a nice oak flavor that some of the other beers are missing. This helps balance the whole beer out. All this is to try and cover up the huge abv. Beware a few of these will get you celebrating.

Whatever you decide to share, or just to have on your own, enjoy the holiday season! What are you drinking this time of year that isn't on our list? You know we're always willing to try something new.