Great Lakes Christmas Ale

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

I live in Cleveland. It’s now January. I’m tired of this stuff. I’ll be on my knees come next October, though.

I can see how some people find this ginger and cinnamon flavor interesting. I can drink one if in the right mood, yet I quickly found this tiring/too sweet.

Pours sparkling clear and amber with a white head. Aroma is Moderatly malty;hay, and moderatly hoppy; grapefruit. Flavor is initally lightly sweet and moderatly bitter ant stayed that way through the finish some spice. Light to medium bodied oily and livley.

Bottle: Poured a clear copper ale in the glass with a 2 finger sticky rockey cap. Well carbonated. Aromas of spices, nutty malts and NW hops Passable malt presence, prickly mouth feel, medium bodied with a spicey-hoppy dry character. The frontside dumps some nut-like malts on the tongue only to have them quickly snached away into an astringent earthy taste by the spices ( ginger, nutmeg cinnamon) and the spicey NW hops...palate is clean crisp, astringent some fruit phenols from the ale yeast...finishes dry and slightly bitter from all the sharp spice and hop tones and just at the last second, some bready Christmas pudding sweetness appears. A nice warmer for cold weather...I could learn to like this one..not over spiced but certainly the spice and hops rides above the malts in this one.

2006 bottle - Pours dark amber with an effervescent body and a fully receding tan head. Aroma of spice: heather, cinnamon, and clove with notes of toffee. Taste is nicely spiced, with notes of cinnamon, gingerbread, toffee, and caramel. Mouthfeel is full bodied with soft, pleasant carbonation. Very well done, quite enjoyable.

Ar7 Ap4 Ta8 Pa5 Ov16

2007 bottle - Pours reddish brown with a fully receding tan head. Aroam of cinnamon, ginger, citrus, and toffee. Mouthfeel is full bodied, lightly sticky with moderate carbonation. Very nice once again, will surely buy some more and rerate before this is gone. Ap4 Ar9 Ta8 Mf5 Ov17

Bottle from OhioDad. Thanks Scott. Saved this one for early Christmas morning. Pour is very festive-a deep, translucent, amber with a small head that dissipates quickly. Aromas of wet cardboard, ginger, cinnamon, light malts and slight hops. Flavor is similar to nose and the body is rather light for 7.5%. Pretty nice balance of flavors with a slightly sweet (honey), slightly spicey/hoppy palate. Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Bottle: Amber colored pour with a white head. Aroma of spices, cinnamon, some fruits, some hops in there. Flavor, some sweet malts, some cinnamon, fruity hops, smooth and refreshing. A trace of warming. Pretty good, and it’s nice to see every year.

Pours with a red-amber body with great clarity, topped by a medium thick head with some lacing. It’s slightly sweet and malty with a nice cinamon and sweet honey note. A very slight hop note pops in from behind. Not as flavorful and spicy as expected, but, less is often more. Medium bodied, smooth and a touch warming.