Great Lakes Christmas Ale

Brewed by Great Lakes Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Cleveland, Ohio USA

12oz Bottle $10.99 6-Pack Binny’s Orland Best Before 12/31/07 Let’s see how the first Christmas beer of the season goes down. Great Lakes Christmas Ale pours a stunningly crystal clear copper. A one finger head formed as I poured but fell to a solid crown in no time. A good amount of carbonation streams to the surface keeping what head is there alive. According to the bottle this has a combination of cinnamon, ginger, and honey. The cinnamon and ginger are definately there in the aroma and actually are the spotlight of this brew. There’s some toasted malt in the background but it’s only there as a backdrop for the spicing. I can’t pull any honey out of the smell. It does smell like Christmas. As I was about finished with this review it dawned on me the aroma has a strong aroma of gingerbread. Don’t know how that didn’t register a little quicker. The honey shows up in the flavor faintly. Toasted grains are the malt backbone. The spicing is, again, the highlight of this beer. Ginger, cinnamon, and honey glide over the maltiness in that order of intensity. A mouthful of gingerbread greets you and slightly fades toward the finish. The honey is mellow and ends things off nicely. Medium bodied and coating on the swallow. This beer has a solid carbonation that keeps things moving but there is a (just short of) sticky quality on the finish that actually goes nicely with the body and spicing. Tonight is downright cold and this is a good brew to enjoy as the holiday season quickly comes into view. My first Christmas brew of the season and a good way to start things off. The aroma of this beer screams Christmas and it doesn’t dissapoint. 11/23/07

Best Christmas Beer Ever! Perhaps that’s my emotion as I’m an ex-Clevelander living in the SF Bay Area. Holiday beers out here are the typical West Coast overly hopped beers with a hint of cinnamon in order to make them Christmassy. I do like some though. Anyway, a touch of honey, a touch of cinammon, a little clove and a touch of hops gives this dark amber beauty a fantastic aroma and light carbonation adds to a fantastic mouthfeel. Cannot wait to go to Cleveland for Christmas and indulge on tap at the GLBC brewpub.

pours dark amber with thin off white head. Ginger aroma with flavor following suite add some cinnamon. Thanks to the dankman for this bonus!

Pours an amber color. Aroma is ginger and toffee and the other great aspects of Christmas cookies. Taste is of spices and ginger.

Pours a rich amber color with light off white head. Aroma of light ginger, cinnamon, light toffee and gingersnap cookies. Taste is the same, but more intensity for the ginersnap cookies. Moderate carbonation. Well balanced with all the spices and alcohol.

Draft at the brewery and bottle. This specific rating is for a bottle with best by date of 12/21/07. Pours a medium amber/golden color with a small white head that dies down pretty quick. Ginger leads the aroma by a long shot though cinnamon and gingerbread are present as well. Taste is smooth with a sweet malty taste and the ever present ginger again. Thin to medium bodied. Spicy short finish. Quite drinkable. Alcohol concealed very well. After about a dozen mediocre pumpkin beers this year I am a bit worn out when it comes to gingery, spicy beer. There is nothing really wrong with this beer and I think it is good for what it is but I am frankly tired of the style.

This incarnation of Great Lakes’ Christmas Ale didn’t suite me as well as those of years past. Still somewhat sweet, caramely, and a tad bit spicy (nutmeg and cinnamon?) initially, but seemed to have a thinner feel. The finish of the fall 2007 recipe doesn’t seem to have the same bitterness I’d come to expect. A little disappointing, as I was really looking forward to this, but it is still very good. Maybe they set the bar too high before, or maybe I’m just getting old and grumpy. Some friends came home to visit NE Ohio from North Cakalaka recently and we shared a few pitchers, since they don’t get Great Lakes beers in Raliegh and always enjoyed them here. It seemed a bit different to me, but a good time was had by all. Does this age well at all? I just found a few bottles from 2003 or 2004 and was wondering if I should bother opening them.

Brown bottle, 12 ounces, best before 1/22/07, via Philippe Boutin, savoured on November 14 2007; eye: copper, clear, slight effervescence, tiny beige head that disappears almost completely, a bit of lacing; nose: caramelized malt, spices, light honey, light cinnamon, sugar; mouth: caramelized malt, spices, honey is present throughout the sip, a bit of cinnamon, having read the label I can recognize the presence of ginger, finale in caramelized malt with a hint of hops and honey, not much carbonation, mildly sweet, slightly bitter, sticky texture, a bit thin; overall: correct FRANÇAIS Bouteille brune, 12 onces, meilleure avant 1/22/07, via Philippe Boutin, savourée le 14 novembre 2007; œil : cuivrée, claire, très légère effervescence, petite mousse beige qui disparaît presque complètement, un peu de dentelle; nez : malt caramélisé, épices, léger miel, légère cannelle, sucre; bouche : malt caramélisé, épices, filet de miel présent tout au long de la gorgée, soupçon de cannelle, ayant eu l’étiquette je peux reconnaître la présence du gingembre, finale en malt caramélisé avec une petite présence de houblon et de miel, peu carbonatée, moyennement sucrée, très légèrement amère, corps moyen, texture collante, un peu mince; en résumé : correct