boy howdy. this is a holiday beer done right. lovely and complex, and not one of those syrupy concotions with overblown nutmeg and cinnamon messes that most holiday beers usually are. i taste the clove and ginger, but some pear and apples and even coffee and breadiness with some dark carmelization overtones. it has a hoppier bite than most holiday beers, but it doesnt drown out the other flavors. its been beautifully balanced. the mouth is left with a buttery finish and bit of the hops, but some warm banana and vanilla and a mild spiceness. i bought just one bottle on a lark, but i will need to go back and buy some more as this one is a keeper to stow away for later tastings. seriously quite impressive.

2008 Pours dark brown with a thin disappearing tan head. Sweet and spicy aroma of gingerbread, cloves and wort flavoured dark bread. Spicy roasted flavor of wort bread and ginger with a coffe-bitter finish. Well carbonated with a rich mouthfeel leaving a thick stickyness. Truly a beer that catches the spirit of christmas, really well done.

2008 botte. Pours a syrupy dark brown with little to no head. Really interesting aroma, it smells like a christmas trade show. Hot apple cider (cinnamon, apples), popouri, britch bark, some cedar, coffee. Palate is weird, at first taste. I guess weird is a bad word interesting would be a better word. Herbs, spices, a little apple, coffee and a little dark chocolate, that popouri comes through on the palate as well. Maybe a little tight and needs some age. Still really interesting.

Getting notebook online. Bottle, 1999 (had 8/11/07 at Lucky Baldwin’s). Chocolatel and burnt sugars on the nose surprising expectations (Sometimes surprises are good). Wonderfully complex flavors: chocolate, caramel, and coffee. Creamy and drinkable!! Had a 2007 a few days later it it seemed a lot hoppier I guess they make it different every year. I wonder why ratebeer doesn’t break out the year by year of beers like this?

Sampled the 1994 Bottle at Mugs Ale House: Pours a deep brown with a ruby hue in the light topped by a thin tan ring of head. The nose has evident ginger character, English tea leaf, dark cocoa and subtle papery notes. Nice and creamy on the palate. The flavor has spice notes of mid ginger, hints of mint, tea leaf, subdued dark cocoa with a papery note into the mildly roasted finish. Slight notes of oxidation, yet it has held up remarkably. Also sampled a 1999 Bottle at Mugs Ale House: 7 - 3 - 8 - 4 - 15 / 3.7 Deep brown pour with a fading tan head. The aroma is surprisingly less spicy than the 1994 bottle, with more emphasis on the malt/chocolate character with only subtle clove, ginger and graham cracker. Again, the texture is nice and creamy. The flavor has a nice roasted character with more dark cocoa and subtle vanilla notes, graham cracker, light cinnamon and ginger, with a smooth roast into the finish as well as a licorice/anise note. Very nice, and held up very well. A bit less emphasis on the gingery spiciness than the 1994, with better malt subtly. 1999 Bottle receives a 3.7