Breckenridge Christmas Ale

Pours with medium tan head, bourbon color. The aroma is roasty malt with a hint of flowers. Flavor a bit sweet, but what do you expect from a beer named after the sweetest time of year. Enough hop and a hint of lemon sour keeps it from cloying. The body is unremarkable for a darker beer, but the overall effect is jolly.

12 oz. bottle. Pours red with a ring of white foam for a head. Nose of burnt coffee, like its been in the pot too long. Tastes the same, with an astringent bitter at the end. Just not good. It may have been this bottle, but its undrinkable.

I detect a mineral earthen like aroma. The beer is dark amber in color, with not much foam. The flavor is a little lacking, and faintly of hops, and i keep saying earthen, and mineral, but it actually tastes kinda like how dirt smells. It’s a little weak and watery, esp. for 7.4% Despite the somewhat lackluster review I am giving this, the beer is very drinkable, and maybe that is the point for a Christmas beer.

Clean aroma with very little smell. No gunk on the bottom of this bottle, pours a dark clear root beer look. Little carbonation on the tongue. Rootbeer pop flavors with bitter ale attributes. Perhaps some roasted malt can be detected. Initially has an alky laced flavor about it but not anything near the apparent 7.5% listed here. Overall another spiced beer that leaves a medicine linger behind on the palate. (although this is in the ASA style)

Pours a clear, light brown with a creamy off-white head that laces well. The nose is slightly odd: malty and lightly spicy but a bit disjointed and certainly not something that elicits thoughts of Christmas. Medium-bodied with super-soft carbonation and a lightly dry and lingering roasted finish. The flavor is a blend of caramel and light chocolate malt with a roasted, nutty, moderately spicy finish. Just a hint of hop bitterness pokes out at the end, adding nicely to the mix. While I can’t say this beer is toward the top of my list of holiday brews, it is pretty decent and would pair exceptionally well with honey-glazed ham or pork loin.

Deep copper colored pour. Average head retention with a nice, but slightly overdone, malt character. Needs more hops and possibly a Belgian yeast strain to impart a nice spicy character.

tasted at crescent moon winter beer tasting. Brown beer with a molasses aroma. Brown beer with high malt content doesn’t have a stand-out particular flavor. Mostly just a brown higher alcohol beer.

A so so American strong. There are some Christmas beers that I consider "Christmasy" and this just doesn’t fall in that category. Aroma of caramel malt with a hint of alcohol. Pour was a nice amber with just a hint of a white head. Taste was like a subdued Arogant Bastard with a hint of spiciness and not as much flavor. That’s the best I can describe it and it barely works.