Abita Christmas Ale

Brewed by Abita Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
Abita Springs, Louisiana USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Medium amber color, week head minimal lacing. Good balance of hops and malt. Crisp clean finish.

A: Pours a murky mahogany color body with a fleeting one-finger off-white colored head. Lacing is nice, but the glass put a kibosh on its retention (not like people give a crap about head retention, anyways). S: Black pepper, coriander, nutmeg, and strong citrus notes - seemingly not from hops, but perhaps a bit of orange peel added to the brew? It’s strange, but it somehow works. T: Ack. This doesn’t. Starts off with a one-two punch of black pepper and orange peel (not citrus hoppiness), without a solid malt base to hold it up. The finish is strangely ashy, where the malt backbone goes from nearly non-existent to intrusively burnt. It didn’t completely offend my taste buds, it just left them wholly unimpressed. M: Far too watery on the finish and thin bodied in my opinion. Strong carbonation helps a little bit, but not nearly enough. O: Aesthetically, it’s pretty nice. And I did get it down fairly easy. But, still, it’s not a good beer. I give Abita credit for trying something different with their Christmas ale, but I’m thankful this won’t be around for much longer.

The scent is floral hops and roasted malt. The taste is malty and slightly grainy and harsh with a hint of hops and spices.

Not terrible but a bit sharp on the tongue. Pours a nice dark brown with a thick white head and a lot of carbonation.

This really does taste like christmas... or wait no.. it taste like Pinesol. I’ll pass on this one again... the aroma... marginal... everything else. I don’t think so. Meaty pine sol... to quote my wife.... GROSS!

strong flavor, but nothing works to well overall. its a harsh toasty malty taste that falls flat towards the end. hops a nice bite but is nothing too special. drinkable but not special

Dark red-orange with a big, stable cream head...downhill from there, I’m afraid. Aroma is vinyl/rubber....tastes like a generic ice-tea and dishwater, with some cardboard thrown in for kicks. Not recommended AT ALL.

I was excited about this beer as Abita Turbodog is one of my favorite beers. Pours a cinnamon/copper color with a light tan head that laces the side of the glass rather well. The aroma is pine and hops and is the beers best quality. The mouthfeel is lively due to a lot of carbonation. The taste simply leaves something to be desired. The pine and hop taste does not go very far to entice you and it seems to be missing a little more complexity which would make it more intriguing and fun to drink. I bought a six-pack two months ago and still haven’t finished it, don’t feel bad passing on it.

Bottle. Pours a dark amber color with a small off-white head. Has a fruity malty spicy caramel aroma. Fruity malty weak caramel flavor. has a fruity malty spicy caramel finish.

Clear reddish brown of color with a small off white head. An aroma of malt, appels, sweets and weak caramel. A flavor of malt, appels, dry, wood, spice and bread.