Gales Christmas Ale

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

Tatsed of stale prunes, and other fruit, saw dust, pine, and salt. I think it may have been the corks fault, but I was unable to get past the flat, cardboard flavor.

Murky brown, no head, slight CO2. Vinous, nutty nose. Flavor of red wine with bitter almonds. Some cherry, woody notes, and a touch of salt at the beginning. Overall quite sweet, leaving acidic and oxidized notes on the side of the tongue. Somebody please get these guys some better corks.

Grape, brandy, caramel nose. Beautiful ruby orange hue. Small diminishing head. Sweet, brandy, caramel notes, medium bodied, finishing with butterscotch, and pleasant earthy, woody, and hop notes. I love Gale's dude.

Reddish brown in color, this brew does not have a head. Aroma is somewhat solvent like, with faint hints of rotting fruit. Light to medium in body, a cough-drop medicinal quality is initially apparent. This is an old ale style, a bit of spices of some sort are also hidden carefully within. Vinous in its depth, the fruity nature is a part of an overall prune, berry character. Not a great brew. Itititally promising, but it never quite comes through for me. Alcohol warmth is nice Christmas feeling however.

The first time I tried this beer, I thought I got a bad bottle. So, I tried another and I still don't like it. It's a deep amber beer with virtually no head. The nose is slightly promising with some rich maltiness and spoicey complexity. But it tastes like someone spilled some vineager, lemon juice and cigarette ash in the bottle. I just don't care for it.

Not sure what to make of this one. Purs carmel with slight carbonation and almost no head. Aroma of cinimon and fresh Christmas tree (kindof appropriate). Flavor is of cinimon and wintergreen, dominated by a sourness. There was a ring in the bottle...is this infected? Not that this is bad, but I am not sure if this is what was intended. Tastes almost like one of my infected hombrews, with spices added. Not totally to my dislike, but not undrinkable.

Bottle. A cloudy brown color with a creamy tan head. The aroma is spicey with ginger, cinnamon, and maybe pepper. Malty and slighly sour with more fruits coming through in the flavor than in the aroma.

Nice dark amber color,small head that faded quickly leaving nothing behind.The aroma was malty and spicy with a decent hint of hops.The flavor comes off as much the same as the aroma with a little caramel hint and a decent amount of fruit coming on as it warms.The hops manage to make a nice appearance through out the tasting with the spice being fairly well done.The finish is hoppy with maybe a slight hint of spice.This is much better then i was thinking it might be and makes me glad to say i bought more then one for later.Well worth trying if you can find it.