Gales Christmas Ale

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

2003. corked bottle very flat beer very few bubbles in the whole beer. almost tastes like a fruity sour wine. very strange beer I am glad I am drinking it very interesting wow everyone else is all red wined out too well its the truth! almost a hard cider taste very easily drinking no hops in this bottle are presant not much alcohol either. I would like to have drank this fresher to see if it was any better but I cant say I dont enjoy it now as per me buying another for 4 bucks I doubt it but like I said I am nt mad drinking it. totally not what I expected tho. I can see drinking this around xmas tho with christamas snacks and what not nice old gingerman and shit, maybe some sugar cookies too its always ok to be a fat kid around christmas

Picked up this 2001 vintage at Ledger’s in Berkeley. The cork opened with a whisper and a rush of red wine aromas. It pours a murky brackish brown and no head. The aroma is big with red wine, sweet caramel candy, light dark fruitiness and more red wine notes. The beer seems thin and watery and brings in the flavors noticed in the nose. Nice, red wine, creamy caramel candy, dates, prunes, hint of olive and faint toffee. If the body wasn’t so thin this would be really nice.

2002 Vintage. This one has been sitting at the back of my fridge for some time now....I think I’ve been dreading it. Pours a very flat reddish brown with an almost gel like appearance. Sour. Sour. More sour. Vinegar. Ass. Just pure badness. Awful. This just didn’t hold up, as expected from a few of their others I"ve had. I’d rather have Busch Light.

in a bottle with a decomposed, crumbly cork. People really need to either stop using corks in beer, or work harder at storing them on their side so the cork doesn’t dry out. I really did not like this beer at all. it was sour, unfrlendly, and rude. I tasted it on July 3rd as part of Christmas in July moment, and really regretted it.

in the corked bottle from Dirty John’s. Pours a murky brown with no head. the dried cork broke while removing it. has a cardboard oxidized aroma with a slight smell of vinegar. there is huge thick dark brown sludge in the bottom of the bottle. I taste a little big of figs, medium sweetness, slight blend of tobacco and worcestershire sauce to the taste.

Let’s attempt this rating again. 9.3oz 2002 bottle. Pours a clear orange brown with a few bubbles for a head. Aroma of vinegar, sour apples and sour cherries, scorched toffee, light spearmint, and moldy leather. Flavor is spicy and sour acidic up front, leather, alcohol, and some cherry--though none of this is terribly strong. Tannic with the slightest semidry finish. No carbonation with a medium body. Not that great.

9.3 oz bottle from 2002. Pours cloudy rust color with lots of bubbles but little head. The aroma at first reminds me of that Lime Coca-Cola stuff, but with more raisin; some toffee and black tea notes come out, too. The flavor is kind of tart and acidic at first, with lemon, alcohol, and herbal notes. It gets malty toward the middle, and prunes and wood come out by the finish, which also has a distant fruitiness to it. Ok, not great.

No date on the bottle. I’ve had it for about 2 years. Aroma of dark fruit. Kind of an off prune aroma. Hazy ruby amber color with floaters. No real head. Starts a bit vinous, a bit thin, a bit caramel. Finishes a bit pruny, with hop. It develops some other fruity characteristics with passage of time. Tends towards puckerish. Perhaps a bit woody. It doesn’t get better than this, unless Fullers gets into a retro mode.