Breckenridge Christmas Ale

This is my choice for best Seasonal Beer in 2008. Had first at 3 Sons then bought a case from local Distributor. Highly recommended. Deep Ruby color, with modest head that does not hold but nice lacing. Only a faint malt odor but huge flavor with some grass, spice initial tastes , sweet but not too sweet.

Bottle. Pours a dark brown with a medium tan head. Floral hop aroma with caramel and chocolate. Good sticky lacing on the glass. The taste is a sweet malt with a dry finish. A good American strong ale from breckenridge.

Pours a dark amber color with a small tan head. Sweet aroma with some hops present. Flavor is sweet initiallly with a really bad finish of hops and alcohol. Did not enjoy this beer.

12oz. bottle served in a shaker pint. Poured a clear brown with a finger of off white head. Aroma of caramel malt with some piney hops. Medium bodied on the malty side. Some chocolate malt. A pretty good amount of hop bitterness. Not very memorable, but fairly drinkable.

12 oz bottle. Deep brown toffee color with a hint of orange. Pungent toffee aroma. Watery mouthfeel, low carbonation. Lots of caramel malt flavors, somewhat like an uninspired Dunkel. Lacks hop balance. Probably better fresh and on draft.

12 oz. bottle into pint glass. Great dark amber pour with nice frothy head that holds well. Really unique and balanced and great for the winter with a great Christmas cake character that I really like.

Thought this would be a spice/herb/vegetable, but I was completely wrong. Different label this year. I have never seen this beer prior to this year, but that is probably because I wasn’t looking hard enough. Anyways, decent pour. This beer is pretty dark actually. Thin head just settles on top of the beer. Nice looking beer actually. Fairly pungent caramel malt aroma! I was expecting some more hops to tell you the truth. I mean this is suppose to be an American Strong, but I don’t smell hops. I don’t like that too much. It has all the sweet aroma I can handle. Not as watery everyone else seems to be making it. A very average palate. Not too thick, and not too thin. I must say that I taste some hop flavor in the beer, but not much. It has a roast and caramel malt taste to it. This is not what I expected whatsoever! The flavoring hop is trying to show itself, but just fails to do so! What a shame. This could be a really great beer. If I were the brewers I would go back to the drawing board, and think about adding some friggin hops.

12oz bottle. Pours clear, dark brown. white soapy head. Aroma of rich malts, lots of caramel, some chocolate.Flavor has an bit of citrus hop, some chocolate malt. Quite an unique combination you’d not expect in a beer. A bit on the watery side. Not as flavorful or bodied as the Autumn Ale. It really is a great beer, just not what I’d expect for a Christmas Ale.