Craftsman Holiday Brew

Tap at Fathers Office Culver City. A really interesting brew. Aroma of coriander, orange, cloves, very light vinous character. Flavor is very clean for a Holiday beer. Refreshing too, surprisingly.

Draft. Rich amber beer with an off-white head. Spruce, malt, and light spice aroma. Spruce flavor with malt and yeast. Medium body. Spruce, bready malts, and light pine linger. Too much spruce.

On tap at Pizza Port San Clemente Reddish brown in color this a thin head, this brew has a nice slightly sweet flavor, with hints of spices, along with a nice full moth feel.

Rerate at Lucky Baldwins. I noticed that the flavor had alot of fruit, bread and spicing with a good amount of earthy hopping. Better tasting than I previously gave it credit for. 3.2 to 3.3. On tap at PP San Clemente. Color was reddish, auburn in color with some orange hints. Aroma of spice, bread and caramel with some light sweet tones. Palate was soft and nice, albeit their was a tad hint of wateriness. Flavor of yeast, banana, caramel, spice, bread and earth. Decent brew, but nothing too exceptional.

On tap. Listed as Craftsman Holiday Spruce at Fathers Office Santa Monica. Pours what, in the dim light I can see as a hazy amber with an off-white head that clears to a ring and leaves okay lacing. Aroma is pine, spruce and light spices with cedar... a bit understated and mild. Taste is pine and spruce, what I assume are tree like hops, and a very green, nearly ever green, bitterness. A touch of spice and sticky molasses malt as well. The beer is a bit too fizzy on the tongue for me. Lightly creamy when you can get past the bubbly-ness. Overall this beer has an interesting spice or hop profile and is a good take on the winter brew and more unique than OSA in my opinion, but this is nothing amazing. Wish that Fathers Office had not run out of Cabernale!

On-tap at Stone. Pours clearish, burnt orange with a thin, fizzy white head, good lace. Smells sweet and slightly spicy and a hint piney. Tastes like popcorn and beef jerky to me. Malty and sugary sweet with building and lingering pine flavors. Medium body, good carbonation.

On tap at Pizza Port Carlsbad; listed as Holiday Ale / Winter Warmer, I’m not sure if this is the same one. Deep gold color that was quite still on the tap pour, just some medium carbonation and no head. Faint dry aromas of caramel and gingerbread. Weakened flavor of butterscotch, ginger and clove. Some grapefruit and peppery hops in the finish. Nothing special.

On tap from Lucky B’s in Sierre Madre. Interesting beer and I enjoyed it, but probably could not drink more than one. It’s an orangeish color. Flavors are definitely in the spicey/pumpkin/clove genre.