Great Lakes Christmas Ale

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

growler and bottle- reddish/brown color, tan head, honey/cinnamon/malty/ginger aroma, without the slightest hint of hop. a great beer, that I have been told is so expensive due to the massive amounts of honey they brew with. alcohol hidden extremely well. my favorite chirstmas beer. 2007- re-rate- I am not going to adjust my rating, but I found this year’s version to be lacking in body, and was disappointed by it generally. Still, it remains wildly popular, and a decent brew.

Bottle: Pours a reddish amber color with minimal head. The ginger, orange zest and nutmeg aromas are the most apparent. For me the ginger and cinnamon were a little too much. Perhaps I should have tried the beer with some sugar cookies, but by itself the overwhelming ginger seemed odd. It’s not bad, just not my style of beer.

Bottle. Pour is copper/red with a quickly retreating off white head. Smell is malt, orange, clove, cinnamon, some floral notes. Flavor is semi-sweet malt, hints of spices such as cinnamon, ginger, clove, some grapefruit. Light to medium mouth feel. Nice Holiday brew

Dark reddish amber color. Smell of malt, hops, clove, cinnamon, oak, pine. coper and some alcohol. Taste of sweet malt, hops, cinnamon, ginger, clove, pine, pumpkin and a woody bitterness at the end.

Bottled. Rich, sweet malts combined with a little alcohol and a dash of orange peel to form a very interesting aroma. I noted some hops as it warmed a bit. The body was a clear, deep copper color with a quickly fading off-white head. The flavor was wonderfully malty with some spices dancing around. One detractor for me was the ginger. It’s just my personal taste, but I despise ginger...especially in my beer. Otherwise a very solid brew.

Aromas of honey and various spices. Taste is spicy as well with a soft hop presence, and a toasty malt background that carries other flavors very well. Dry finish and nice mouthfeel. Thanks to santa for this, I enjoyed it.

Amber body and foamy tan head. Nice spicy aroma anf flavor... loads of ginger, brown sugar and some pumpkin. Good medium body but the finish was slightly sticky. As it warmed the finish improved but the alcohol became slightly more noticeable.

It smelled great - all honey and spices, nutmeg and ginger. Thasted pretty good, too, with the same honey notes, plus a hint of orange, and a sweet, spicy finish. The only drawback is that it seem a little bit heavy, and ended up being a little hard to finish. But overall, a tasty, well made holiday ale - Thanks Jsquire!