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This year I have roamed a little farther and found some new holiday beers to regale the season. One each day until Christmas. We will start, however, with a true evergreen. JubelAle from Deschutes Brewery.
“Embodying the spirit of celebration since 1988, Jubelale features notes of spice, a robust malt character, hints of toffee and dusted cocoa.”
One of the great little surprises of the holiday season is the unveiling of the label art for Deschutes Brewery’s Jubelale. Granted, it comes way too early for my taste but that hardly dents the long running tradition.
“Cozy up fireside with this festive winter ale full of spice notes and a robust malt character of toffee and dusted cocoa.”
It is tough to pick the beer to start the season with but sentimentality for my home state of Oregon and the fact that I love the rotating artwork each year means that Jubelale from Deschutes Brewing gets the nod.
“Cozy up fireside with this festive winter ale full of spice notes and a robust malt character of toffee and dusted cocoa.”
I have had a few Jubelales this year but let’s focus on the alternate Deschutes Jubel, Cherries Jubelale.
“This new take on the beloved Super Jubel receives a dessert-inspired twist with the addition of cherry and vanilla to its rich barrel-aged malty decadence. Barrel-aged in wine, the beer brings in the flavors of Jubelale, but with added strength and complexity from barrel aging.”
So this has been waiting in my cellar for a decade to pass. Couldn’t quite open it in 2014 or 2018. Seemed to need a bigger date for this “Super Jubel” from Deschutes.
Jubel 2010, subtitled Once a Decade Ale. Seemed appropriate that I should crack the wax off of this beer on 1/1/20. Pours a dark amber, close to brown. The aroma filled the room momentarily. Fruitcake comes to mind. Sweet brandy. This beer still holds some ABV kick. This is a quite dry beer. You get that spirit and wine mix but then it flattens into the alcohol. More subtle notes may have been lost in the ten years of aging. Quite good for a beer of this age.
Let’s start the holiday season with a classic of winter ales…
I love that each year a new artist is selected by Deschutes to design their seasonal and I love that they call it a “festive” winter ale. This is a must have for me every year.
Another yearly stalwart is Jubelale from Deschutes and its ever changing label art. This year the art comes from in-house.
Each year, I “Advent” calendar selected beers starting the day after Thanksgiving and going until Christmas Eve. This year, I start with the reliable and re-labeled (with new artwork) Jubelale from Deschutes Brewing.
There are three Christmas beers that I always have at least one bottle of: Anchor, Sierra Nevada and Deschutes with their rotating label of art, Jubelale.
The Jubelale page of the Deschutes website declares that the beer has “Cocoa, dried fruit, and toffee notes. A robust ale with a warming spice.”
And here are my thoughts….
Such a cool label this year. Bright and colorful while remaining wintry. The beer pours a brown with orange tints. My first reaction is smoke. Leather and tobacco combined. Bright with minor cherry notes too. Almost has a barrel-aged quality to it.
