Category: Holiday Beer

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Anchor Merry Christmas – Happy New Year Vertical Tasting

For the past couple of years, I have raided the cellar for Anchor Brewing’s Merry Christmas – Happy New Year to taste test the changes in each year’s beers.
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Here is how this year’s vertical stacks up:
2012 – Cider aroma. Cider taste as well. Back end is not good. Some weird flavor notes. It is well past its prime.

2013 – Sawdust hoppy aroma. Prevalent hops here which is surprising. Still good fizz to it. Like an India red ale almost. A little spice as well. Some cola notes as well.

2014 – This year was the outlier with a sweet aroma. Almost milk chocolate. Cinnamon too as it warms up. The most Christmas-y of the bunch.

2015 – Malt and fruity. Closer to the 12 & 13. It is the lightest of the group. Some pine notes.

2013 is the clear winner with 2014 coming in second. 2015 is a distant third and 2012 is a DQ for being too old.

For a refresher, here are my posts from last year covering these same vintages. Check HERE For the older years and HERE for 2014.
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Holiday Ale # 25 – Single Chair

Magic Hat Single Chair

Time to head for the slopes for the next wintry beer installment. Sit down on your chair of choice for Single Chair from Magic Hat.

“Single Chair is a light, medium-bodied golden ale with a greasy aroma and a malt forward flavor.  Smooth and drinkable, perfectly balanced like nature itself…”

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Holiday Ale # 24 – Burton Ale

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A bit of history with today’s Seasons Greeting from the Ballantine’s Brewery.

“Brewed especially for: with that person’s name appearing on the label festooned with Christmas holly and wreaths and the words: Seasons Greetings from all of us at Ballantine. Ballantine Burton Ale was brewed in limited batches from the 1920’s-1950’s once a year on May 12th, and was then aged in huge oak tanks at the brewery. Vintages of Burton Ale could spend anywhere from 7 to 20 years in oak, before being bottled, and then given away by the brewery as gifts. Ballantine Burton Ale was brewed to be a high gravity, high alcohol beer, coming in at about 10-11% abv. Ballantine, who produced its own hop oils, used lavish amounts in this beer as well, to preserve it, and the high hopping, put Burton Ale at 60+ IBU (bitterness units). It was sedimented with yeast, making it a bottle conditioned beer, so further fermentation, and development could take place in the bottle.”

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Featured Review – Christmas Ale from Bell’s

Well, if you brew a beer called Christmas Ale, it might as well be vivid red in color. That is what Bell’s has accomplished as you can see….
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Their Midwestern take on the holiday seasonal almost smells like fruitcake as well. Their is a definitive fruit note here that evokes the better aspect of the oft neglected cake. The jelly note and sweetness is here as is a tang of metallic swirling with the soft malts. There is a tiny touch of bitterness as well but it doesn’t linger for long. A lighter take that I would like to see bulked a little bit with some roastier malt but is an interesting viewpoint on what Santa might drink.

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Holiday Ale # 22 – Chocolate Night

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Time to get a little chocolately today as the winter warmer heads to not so cold San Diego and Helms Brewing for Chocolate Night.

“This Imperial Stout is brewed with an immense amount of barley to attain its “warming” qualities at 9.7% ABV. In addition to the malts, a large amount of oatmeal is added to provide a creamy mouth feel and billowy head. Ghiradeli Milk Chocolate is added to the boil, while premium vanilla extract is added post fermentation to round everything out.”

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Holiday Ale # 21 – Naughty

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We have had a Nice lager and now a Naughty Belgian Dark from Flying Dog. The tagline for the beer seems bent on earning that moniker.

“Brewed with habanero peppers and orange peel, Naughty packs heat and subtle citrus sweetness. Aunt Judy’s fruitcake will never taste the same.”

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Holiday Ale # 19 – Nice Lager

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Our next holiday treat is for even the naughty people on Santa’s list. From the state capital of California comes Nice Lager from Rubicon Brewing.

“With the holidays upon us, we welcome you to a NICE holiday lager. Floral on the nose, spicy on the palette, and with caramel through to the finish, this hop forward lager is just what you’ve been asking for. Some good deeds do go unpunished.”

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Holiday Ale # 18 – Northstar Imperial Porter

Next stop is for an Imperial Porter from Twisted Pine in Colorado.
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“Northstar, which carries a 98 on ratebeer.com, is black as a moonless night and gives off an aroma of toffee and dark fruit laced with licorice. Once the porter hits the palate, the tongue dances to notes of chocolate-covered raisins which harmonize well with subtle traces of roasted nuts and molasses. The beer is dry enough to punctuate the flavors with a crisp finish, while just silky enough to leave a stamp of the epic experience behind for a while. An ABV of 9.1% provides a slight warming glow that grows up the chest as the ale drops in the glass.”