Gales Christmas Ale

Formerly brewed at Gales
Style: English Strong Ale
Horndean, England

Bottled - 2003 vintage: Deep orange coloured. Light unclear. Beige dense head. Alcohol, prunes, light sherrish aroma. Flaovur is sweet, alcoholdense, spiced and fruity. Ends on a sharp alcoholdsen note. Really not doing much to me this beer.

2003 bottle. Popped the cork, poured absolutely flat in a deep orange colour with no head at all. Aroma of citrus grapefruit. Taste was strong - an unbalanced mix of more grapefruit and a weird lingering bitterness that was unpleasant. I didn’t enjoy this at all - it did not appear to age well.

(Bottle 33 cl) The intention was to let this bottle age and condition, but things don’t always go as expected. After about nine months in my beer closet it shot the cork through the plastic coating and released most of the liquid - what a sticky mess!! I did manage to save a bit though. Rodenbach used to have a commercial saying: "This is not beer - this is wine". With Gales X-mas you could rephrase that to "This is not beer - this is sherry". Reddish amber colour - almost like sherry. No head and completely flat. Sweetish, spicy, caramel-like nose. Again lots of spices and alcohol in the flavours. Must try this again sometime - in a fresh version. 170705

Hazy brown color with an off-white head. Cinnamon apple cider aroma and flavors, with a dry, spicy nutmeg and cinnamon finish. Highly carbonated.

Perfect light ruby color. Intense malty bubble-bath-soap aroma with a nice alcohol presence; there’s a trace of artisan barnyard in there as well. A profoundness on the palate is brought on by the intense alcohol presence. Palate is also somewhat thin. This beer tastes sweet and slightly cloying but it’s great for a holiday occasion, with malt perfectly balanced by cidery fruitiness and an exceptional level of hops; the alcohol is perhaps a bit overpowering. Hops are even more evident later in the honeylike finish. Gale Christmas might be rated a bit higher if some of the older bottles weren’t so stale. I got an undated bottle that was probably 2004 -- there was some leakage through the cork but this didn’t seem to affect the beer’s quality.

2003 Bottle. Purchased at Discount Licquor, Milwaukee WI. Bottle into tulip glass. Skunk, yeast, moldy bread, moldy cheese, ginger and acid in the aroma. Over-ripe fruit applies only if it’s rotting and starting to ferment. Horrible smell. Too bad, because it looks good: opaque orange amber in the glass with a medium taupe head of foam, diminishes to a thin layer that covers the surface: ok retention. Sticky yet somewhat oily lace with variable bubble size and quickly rising sub-surface "racing" on the side. Ciderish flavor and lots of golden raisin; smooth, silky and full mouthfeel. Other fruits include orange rind and warm cantaloupe. Salty finish. Warming alcohol. No noticable hop bitterness; very light malts that probably include wheat. Finish is acidic with delayed carbonation and somewhat dry with subdued hops. Difficult to place a style; reminiscent of some barley wines (Thomas Hardy’s) but without the darker fruit flavors. Difficult for me to decide whether I lke it or not. If it didn’t seem so rancid, I think I would like this a lot; but I can’t get over the spoilt elements, especially the smell.

beer pours a hazy amber with a nice white head that leaves sheets of lace. aroma is quite rich and spicy, with the cinnamon and nutmeg mixing well with the sweet, toasty malts. flavor is both malty and spicy, with a slightly sour aftertaste. hops only come in at the finish, and strictly as bitterness. mouthfeel is a bit prickly and astringent. good drinker, but balance a little to close to the spice, at the expense of the malt.

first off i paid 99 cents for this @ bevmo so if its even slightly better than king cobra ill be happy.i pulled the cork out and poured a clear copper body with ne head to speak of.i got scents of spice,ginger,alcohol,and grapefruit.the flavor was alot like anchor’s christmas ale,only with a bit of sourness that i honestly could have done without.overall not bad but the sourness turned me off.