Abita Christmas Ale

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

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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bottle. dark brown with a thin head that fades fast. sweet lager aroma with a touch of brown sugar. light malt flavor that finishes with an unpleasant bitter. watery in every aspect. some assorted smoke flavors that are present but not much else.

Abita stole Christmas ales and gave them a bad name. The look is amber, tan, lacing head, and clear. The smell is carmel, brown sugar, and dried fruits. The taste is watery, mushy, and sort of gross.

Pours a clear, deep, orange-brown with a frothy beige head that leaves wispy lace in its wake, diminishing to a thin, creamy cap. The nose is fairly muted: a tad phenolic with a malty front and lesser notes of mulling spices (cloves, cinnamon, etc.). Light-bodied and slick with a dry and fairly astringent finish. The flavor is of a nutty, bitter front with lesser emphasis on the malt & spice found on the nose. Fairly disjointed, this one just doesn’t do a lot for me. There are a LOT of better Christmas brews out there, and unless you’re compelled to tick-off another rating, I’d recommend skipping this one.

Had a 2009 version of Christmas Ale. Pour a dark brown. has usual consistency(which I like) of Abita beers...but tasted like sour grapefruit juice. Hard to drink. Did somebody replace my beer with grapefruit juice?

Pours a reddish brown with a very small white head that dissipates quickly. Mild aroma of hops and a kind of sour funk. The taste has a sharp bitterness up front along with that weird funk from from the smell. Fades to a very slight toasted malt flavor. I can’t say I enjoyed this offering very much. The flavors just did not play well together.

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.

looks good, tastes bland. Not that disappointing considering I haven’t loved much from Abita... Beer of the Month.

12oz bottle. Less than pleasant aroma of hay and dry dog food. That combination really reminded me of Christmas in an ’away in a manger’ sort of way. Poured a clear reddish orange color. The head was two fingers high and off white. It reduced over a minute or two to a thin film and left a bit of lace behind on the glass. Light to medium bodied and dry. The flavor wasn’t any better than the aroma; dry dog food, bitter grains, and unsalted whole wheat pretzel. Merry Christmas!

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.

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!