Abita Christmas Ale

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

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Draft and bottled. Pours an amber body with an off white head. Malty up front, caramel and some sweet sugars prevail. Fruity esters and lightly spiced with cinnamon. Fruity esters, no warming. Could have gone for a higher abv here.

I’m not sure what Abita was trying to accomplish here, but they fell short of whatever it was. It’s a thin malty brew with the usual Christmas ale spices. The finish was water with a drop of acid in it. Not worth coming back to.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eve & Winter Beer Tasting at Delilah’s, Chicago, IL 12/10/2005<font size=-1>

12 ounce bottle from Beer Run. Pours a clear amber color with a medium frothy tan head. Good head retention. Aroma of spicy hops, caramel and some toastiness. The taste is peppery, spicy hops with toasted malts. Medium bodied. Kinda bland but not bad.

UPDATED: FEB 28, 2012 Bottle (2011 batch). Head is initially average sized, frothy, off-white, mostly diminishing. Body is dark amber to medium brown. Aroma is lightly malty (grain, cookie, husks), lightly hoppy (apricot), with light notes of dirt/dust, grape jelly, and manure. Flavor is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly to moderately bitter, unclean, husky. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Horrible aftertaste, thin/watery, bland, not much in the aroma (which has off notes too). Typical awful Abita quality, sadly.

Bottle. Clear dark amber with small tan head. Aroma is malt, caramel, fruit and a little hop. Flavour is malt, little sweet, caramel, fruit, hops, little citrus and medium bitter.

Bottle: Clean amber hue with a small fizzy head and minmal lace. The aroma has notes of pepper, clove, piney and grassy hops, grainy and caramel malts and bit of a veggie tone. The taste starts spicy and grassy with a slight malt background. Some light lingering bittering but did not provide much depth of palate. The feel was thin and watery, some astrengent qualities. Very sub-par offering and wished for more.

UPDATED: DEC 25, 2011 First rating
Bottle at ekstedt tasting on December 2, 2011
355 ml, marked 5.5%
Clear brown color, small tan head. Sweet malty scent. Malty, grainy, bread taste. A bit flat mouthfeel, medium bitterness that is rather dry.
7/3/6/2/12=3.0

Rerate
355 ml bottle from Systembolaget. Sampled on Dec 25, 2011. Marked 5.5% ABV
Clear dark copper to reddish brown color, medium tan head. Sweet, malty, fudge, roasted scent. Mineral, roasted, butter, dry taste. Dry mineral aftertaste. Moussy mouthfeel, medium bitterness.
7/4/6/3/12=3.2

Brown color with a hint of orange when held to the light. Disipating light tan head. Mild caramel and lightly toasted malt aromas. Lots of malt character to this one. Dark caramel, light peat and Just enough hops to keep this honest. Smooth feel. Linger is all toasty malt. A nice brew. Thanks to DocLock for this one.

bottle, dark brown color with lots of foam, aroma is decent malt and nuts, flavor is flat cardboard and washed out, watery finish

2005 version. This ale pours a deep cooper color from a 12oz bottle. Small to medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is mild, slightly sweet with some spices. A light to medium bodied ale. Malts are caramel and not very sweet. As a result the first sip yields a whole bunch of nutmeg and cinnamon with no malt sweet to balance them out., which tends to make the first rather unpleasant. Then its sort of thin and watery and the carbonation is weak. Needless to say it does not make a good combination. No wonder they pushed this one off on the Beer of the Month clubs all over the country. Maybe I can use the other two bottles I got for cooking. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is crisp and sharp. Aftertaste is bitter. No good pass on this one.