Schlafly Christmas Ale

Brewed by Saint Louis Brewery
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Maplewood, Missouri USA

Vibrant opaque amber. No head. Light malt and light spice on the nose. Balanced, herbal character with a spicy finish. Good malt signature. Nice balance.

Bottle. [thank you, drmatt!]
[2006 vintage]
Pour is a hazy brownish amber with a head that fizzes while pouring. After the pours it settles as a quite small yellowish dense creamy head. Aroma is powerfully spicy. Cinnamon, orange peel, cloves (lots!) and malty caramel sweetness. Rather light mouthfeel. Flavour is very spicy as well. Cloves dominate again, some caramel maltiness and a clear frutiness; slight sourness. Finish is peppery hoppy. Aftertaste is long, sweetish and very spicy again. Nice, but I think I’ll only have one :o)

Bottle... Clear amber ale with a small, fizzy, off-white head. Malty, spicy aroma with notes of toffee and tons of clove. The flavor is sweet and chock-full of holiday spice. It’s lightly bitter, but not nearly enough to halt the cloying onslaught of sweet, buttery, over-spiced gingerbread. Full-bodied and creamy with moderate carbonation. Finishes sweet, spicy and tongue-numbing. Too sweet and spicy for me! Thanks, vyvvy, for the bottle!

Bottle courtesy of beastiefan2k. Pours light brown with a persistent white head. Smells of spice, fruit, sweet malt. Tastes of spice, cinnamon, sweet malt, earthy. This one’s a straight shooter.

Bottle. Poured dark amber hue with a moderate creamy off-white head that was mostly lasting with good lacing. Heavy spicy citrus aroma. Medium to full body with a smooth texture. Heavy sweet spicy flavor and an average sweet finish of moderate duration. Interesting drinkable spicy brew.

Nov 06 bottling. Head is initially small, frothy, off-white, mostly diminishing. Body is medium amber. Aroma is lightly to moderately malty (cookie, caramel), with notes of allspice/cinnamon, light note of metal shavings. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic, slightly metallic. Bit of a metallic twang to this one, but it’s minor. Not bad, but not a lot of uniqueness or enticement. Spice driven without a whole lot underneath.

Thanks again to Acknud for this bottle. Nice copper color with a decent beige head. Aromas of orange and clove. Near medium body with frothy/creamy carbonation. Flavor is orange zest and clove to me. There’s a roasted malt backbone. Finishes with something tending towards bitter that might be hop. Sort of a lighter version of the style. Quite tasty.

From a bottle. The body was dark copper with a light tan colored head. The aroma was cinnamon and nutmeg with some ginger bread and caramel. The taste was ginger bread with some nutmeg. The finish was decently spicy. This needs something to balance out the spice.