Breckenridge Christmas Ale

Brewed by Breckenridge Brewery
Style: American Strong Ale
Denver, Colorado USA

Pours a clear, rusty, garnet color with an off-white, fairly small, frothy head which diminshes quickly and leaves minimal lace. Nose is faint but not unpleasant; roasted almonds, toasty caramel, and hints at resinous hops and raisin. Flavor is actually not too bad with plenty of roasted almonds, toasty caramel, some faint undistinguishable spices, faint fruitiness, and light notes of hops bringing a moderately mild bitterness. Palate is medium, nearly lively and watery but smooth in texture. Finishes with the caramek notes becoming a bit sweeter, the roasted almonds, and the hop notes becoming a bit offputting. Not one of my favorite winter ales but at least a drinkable one with some decent qualities.

3-8-08 bottle
Clear amber brown with thin white head and some thin lacing. Crap lager spice smell. I cannot possibly believe that this is really a Strong Ale!! Flavor does have a maltiness to it but it is weak and watered down. Aftertaste of a nutmeg spiced bread. Carbonation is light and not fitting perfectly with the flavor. Boring on the palate. Nothing very special or memorable.

Pours clear dark copper with beige head that doesn’t last. Smell is metallic cardboardy, stale malt. Not appealing. Taste is blandish tart toasty caramelly malt. Light bodied, and light carbonation. Perhaps some alcohol showing. Pretty bad. I drained the sucker.

Dark brown garnet colors topped with an average khaki head. Faint roasted malts and a sweetness of spiced hops and alcohol. Medium body and average carbonation. Easy roasted chococarmel flavors; uninteresting. Throat warming finsh that lacks depth.

Draft, Baja Bean, Staunton VA. Reddish brown with offwhite head. Aromas of toasted grain, brown sugar, raisin, apple, and a slight alcoholic twinge. Flavor is mostly fruity caramel malt with enough bitterness to hold it together. Tasty stuff, even though I wondered how old it was....

Dark brown with a tan/white head that lasts. Aroma is very sweet and malty with some spice. Medium bodied. Flavor has some chocolate, nuttiness, dark fruit. Alcohol is pretty noticeable and lingers into the finish. Overall it’s ok.

Sweet malts, caramelly aromas. Pours dark amber almost brown. Smooth, rich malts, spicy hops, not really much going on here.

Giant swingtop bottle. Caramel colored ale with thin tan head. Resinous hops, grass, some malts on the nose. Tastes kind of metallic, bready, roasty, with off putting hop characters. I found this to be unpleasant and overpriced in the limited edition bottles.