General Lafayette Holiday Cheer

Brewed by General Lafayette Inn and Brewery
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania USA

Non-cask version on tap at GLI. Pours turbid brown with medium tan head. Big aroma of malt, tons of fruit and spices, including pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cranberries. Tastes malty, with cranberries, huge pumpkin, cloves, cinnamon, and orange. The best pumpkin taste I have ever experienced in a beer. Great complexity, with a firm, spicy palate. This is a great spiced ale, a great pumpkin ale, and a great ale in general.

Spices galore in this one. Unlike many spiced holiday brews that taste like a lager with pumpkin spice thrown in, this beer all the spices compliment and blend perfectly. Nice light malt, and the cinnamon finish lingers well after the glass is empty.

Transparent dark copper amber with ruby hues and a nicely-lacing off-white froth of head. Aroma of sweet ginger and clove with some caramel malt and a touch of nutmeg. Body starts thick and well-spiced with a good bit of earthy dark caramel and some lightly tart cranberries. A good holiday ale with nice complexity of flavors and balance.

This years batch was brewed w/ the second runnings of a 275th anniversary brew that will be released in 2007. The abv is bumped up from the posted amount(now 8 %)...man that anniversary brew must be potent as heck. I can’t wait! Appears a murky, reddish brown, with a 2 finger, tan head that slowly fades out. Lots of lacing is scattered around the pint glass. Smell is of the anticipated cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, highligted by cranberries. I was also getting a whiff of juniper berries in there but all those mulling spices may just be playing tricks on my mind before the holidays arrive. Taste is of the mentioned aromas in a slightly fruity, malty, brown sugar infused flavor that seems to be what they were shooting for. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, spicy, smooth, with decent CO2 levels that lead to a semi-dry finish of cinnamon and nutmeg.

On tap at the GLI. Poured a medium, cloudy reddish-brown color with a smaller off white head. Aromas and tastes of malts, fruits and spices. Nutmeg the stronger spice with cinnamon. The body was a little thin.

Tasted on 11/20 (the 2nd runnings tastings). Cinnamon definitely stronger this time around. 8% very well hidden. My ratings on my notes were close enough that I’m not changing it...

I’ve had this beer in both cask and draft versions. Reddish colored ale with average head and adequate hoppiness.

On tap at the brewery. Sour vinegar and tart fruity nose on this, with some soy sauce. Odd tangy quality to this one for sure. Smells like a sour ale more than anything, with some woody presence. Dark cloudy amber-brown, with thin off-white head. Medium watery body with medium carbonation. Quite an interesting mix of flavors - reminding me of the fruitcake taste from an early-90s Amry MRE. Cranberry and orange peels, cinammon and a nutty bitter quality, clove, and sweet short bread. Very interesting and I’m not sure if I could drink a lot of this. Mild fruity tart finish with little bitterness. Not bad, but not a fave.

Reddish-amber color with a very spicy aroma that features some sugar & cinnamon. Flavor is sweet, bready and spicy with Nutmeg, allspice, and some cinnamon. OK. but toning down the spices would improve this one.