Chelsea Hoppy Holiday Ale

Brewed by Chelsea Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
New York, New York USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Dark brown body, creamy white head. Aroma has nice clear balance of cookies and fruity hoppiness. Flavour has caramelly malt touch and same balanced hop bite. Creamy and smooth palate. Quite nice.

Tap at Chelsea brewery. Poured a copper hue with a thin beige head. Nose was citrusy. Front of citrus hops. Creamy mouthful. Abv easily hidden behind a decent malt base. Hints of orange and spice with a hint of sweetness in the finish. . Pretty easy to drink. Worthwhile.

stronger abv %9.2 this year. mellow almost syrup like and deep tangerine color with light orange and beige lacing. Creamy slick with refined orange hop and Vanilla. like an orange liquer with some soft foamy and vibrant carbonation. hop and fresh malt flavor kinda in the backround with minimal additional spice maybe pepper. some alcohol.

Tap at Pony last night with Paul and Streets. Pours dark amber/brown with a full, thick, off-white head (no bubbles). I was expecting a lot of vegetable, earth, spice, etc. but this was really just a balanced and refreshing ale with a good level of hop bitterness and no pungent aftertaste. There was some spice and the mouthfeel was thicker, which is what I’d expect from a holiday beer, but it was almost more like an IPA or a pale ale in terms of flavor. Some reviews say 7%, RB says 8.4%, and the Pony chalkboard listed it at 9.2% last night ... in any case, it hides the high abv very well. Good beer. EDIT: I now see this is classified as a pale ale, so that makes sense...

tap at barcade - nice citrusy, floral hopping, sweet caramel. candy. nice smooth palate. tasty

Tap @ Barcade. Clear brown with some off white head. Aroma is hoppy with citrus and a light grassy note. Very bitter, fairly full bodied, more grass/earthiness on the palate. A very solid, flavorful, pale ale.

Tap at Blind Tiger as Hoppy Holidays ale 9.2%. So I dont know which entry to use for this one? Pours a deep amber, clear, nice head. Aroma is green, grassy, hoppy, caramel malts, toast, light sharpness, light burnt note, citrus and orange. Flavor is more citrus,, caramel malts, toast, biscuit, molasses, earth, and a pretty clean bitter finish. Pretty nice and very easy drinking despite the high alcohol and makes it stand apart from all the other high abv beers that were hard to drink last night.

(Old BA rate - tap) Reddish-copper hue, poured with a nice proportioned slightly off white head. Wonderful lacing throughout the sample. Muted maltiness and really nice herbal aromas with a mild hop bitterness. Really interesting hop bitterness up front, followed by sweeter malts, and the herbal spiciness suggested in the aroma is a bit weaker than I would have thought based on the smell. Medium to thin MF, with some pleasant carbonation which makes this very quaffable. Really great on the drinkability scale give the 7% abv. I would have never guessed it was that high in alcohol as it was completely hidden. Definitely great on the flavors and they all melded well with one another.

[1887-20081206] Cask. Dark bready yeast and tea aroma. Clear, dark red amber body with quick white bubbles. Sweet honeyed hoppy bread malt flavour notes a heavy yeast. Medium body. Nice sweet and enjoyable, like the hops.
(@ Cole’s; Buffalo, NY)

Had it on tap at the brewery. Reminded me a lot of holiday ales from Seattle - Maritime Pacific’s Jolly Roger to be specific. High alcohol dominates - tastes higher than it actually is (more like barleywine-level).