Bethlehem Brew Works Rude Elfs Reserve

Brewed by Bethlehem Brew Works
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania USA

Pours a clear and bright orange-amber with a creamy head of light beige. Laces in a thin coating that eventually glides back down into the liquid. Lazy carbonation. HUGE aroma of cinnamon. Cinnamon, clove, and a fair amount of a "pumpkin pie" spicing. Heavily spiced flavors with bushels of cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice. Oils and crushed spices. Coating and resinous. Spicing is aggressive. Burps remind me of all those spices thrown in here. Higher alcohol percentage, but it isn’t detected except for some cheek warming. The "Belgian style" is lost on me as I came away with this as just a heavily spiced winter warmer.

12 oz. bottle received in a trade with grandet. Pours a cloudy copper color with a moderate off-white head that lasted until about mid-glass. Strong aroma of spices incluing cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Not much else noted beyond the spices. There is a bit of sweet malt initially in the flavor, but this is quickly overrun by the spices. This beer is overspiced and is like drinking a spice rack. If there are any belgian qualities to this beer, I certainly didn’t detect any. Dry aftertaste and sticky on the palate, not a good combination. I enjoy spiced beers, but this one needs some work.

22o z bottle from Kramer17801, 7/27/07: Deep orangey amber w/ a lasting but thin dark cream colored head. Spruce & ginger spice up front w/ some alcohol, toasty malt w/a hint of carmel comes next. The bottle says Belgian style, but the yeast character seems very light.. Very light, but peppery. Low banana ester as it’s put to the nose, but disappears quickly. Looking @ the commercial description above, I didn’t get any of the aformentioned spices. Sweet flavor up front but dries out in the finish. Almost a piney(spruce) flavor w/ a mild banana into the mid palate. Bready malt flavor moderately strong as it warrms and has a piney flavor in the finish & lingering into the aftertaste. Seems like it would be a juniper berry flavor that comes in and out. Maybe just a combination of all the spices making it taste like that. Also some hints of anise/licorice. Lingering aftertast is allspice, but light. Medium carbonation, smooth m/f, and well hidden alcohol, w/ a lighter medium body. A decent beer in it’s own right, but for my liking, it needs more "Belgian" character from the yeast.

Name: Rude Elf Reserve
Date: 01/27/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Cask Eve, 2006

cloudy dark amber, sweet spiced malt aroma with lots of cinamon and clove, huge spice flavor with tons of nutmug hiding to overwhelming clove and cinamon, great for a spice cake, interesting for a unique perspective,

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.9/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4

Pretty good seasonal brew. spicy with alot of cinammon and clove. Covers the alcohol nicely

Pours a translucent auburn red with a frothy and lasting off white head. Aroma is of cinammon allspice, and cloves. Reminds me of Thanksgiving or Christmas. The spices overwhelm the nose, with little else coming through. Alcohol becomes more present, as it approaches room temperature. First sip is reasonable, with a spicy burn and a peculiar hot and bitter finish. Flavor is of bready malts, raisins, and coriander. The body is a bit on the syrupy side. Not a bad brew, and would be much better being drank during the winter months in front of a fireplace with snow falling outside.

Bottle courtesy of hopdog. Pours copper with a thin hite head. Smells of wintery spices, sweet malt and caramel. Tastes of cloves, lots of spices associated with Chtistmas. Mouthfeel is syruppy with a sweet and spicy finish.

I liked this brew. Had a strong cinnamon aroma, reminded me of big red gum. Nice warm body, strong cinnamon flavor with a bit of nutmeg.