Fegleys Brew Works Rude Elfs Reserve

Brewed by Fegley’s Brew Works
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tumbler

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Bottle split with dallas and pat. Pours a hazy amber body with lacing. Aroma is sweet cinnamon. Mouthfeel is nicely carbonated with ultra sweet malty notes surrounding spices, wheat, yeast, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Bottle with pat and james. Pours a clear amber with little head. Smell is pepperminty with booze. Taste is very sweet, notes of light candy mixing with spice. Booze is apparent. Would age to mellow out.

Bottle from craft beer outlet. Pours a deep golden color with almost no head, smells and tastes of spices. A nice warm ale for winter. Would have again.

Pours a fairly clear amber/ruby color with a medium tan head...lively looking and decent retention and lacing. Aroma smells like choclate covered cherries with a hint of bourbon...spicy notes of cinnamon and nutmeg. Flavor is somewhat similar but adds an earthy quality and is somewhat muddled and cheap tasting. Mouthfeel is somewhat lively and the finish is slightly medicinal and warming. Not a fan...

THOUGHTS: Nice and Christmasy,. Nowhere near as nice, but more Christmasy than Mad Elf. A little heavy on the spices, but there was enough malt to handle it, so all is well. Went down fairly easy. Hid alcohol incredibly well. Coats the tongue with spices. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a clear, medium to dark, reddish orange with an average to large, tan head that mostly diminished and left good lacing. The aroma had molasses, burnt caramel and light chocolate along with brown sugar, maple syrup, fruit cake, a little tobacco, holiday spices and slight cherry. The initial flavor was lightly sweet, slightly bitter and lightly acidic; while the finish was moderately sweet, lightly bitter and lightly acidic with a fairly long duration. There was holiday spices, burnt caramel, cherry, spice cookies, brown sugar and molasses. The medium to full body was a bit syrupy and then slightly dry with fizzy carbonation and a dry finish.

Last year’s vintage poured into a St. Bernardus goblet. Thanks to Ineedabeerhere for sending this out last winter. Color is a moderate garnet-brown color that starts with a bubbly, two-finger head. Cream-colored, it fades quite quickly, leaving behind a collar and a slight cap on top. The nose is fairly spicy with a load of cinnamon and allspice coming through. Maybe a bit of ginger. Some dark fruits meander in the background. The flavor brings forward a large amount of cinnamon, ginger, and allspice. Some clove and booze are there as well. There is some light sweetness in the background. Moderate yeast character, though not much. Body is somewhat light for the style, though I’d say more toward medium overall. Low to moderate levels of carbonation. A bit strange and full of spices without much else. No real Belgian character. Not a big fan. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 12-19-2010

Bottle. Pours dark brown. Off white head. Nose and taste of cinnamon, all spice, clove, nutmeg and malt. Warming alcohol in the finish. Spice is a bit overpowering at times.

Living in the great PA it’s hard not to compare this one with Troegs far superior Mad Elf. Has a big nose mainly of alcohol. A bit of spice on the tongue but nothing stands out. It doesn’t exactly mellow with age. If this beer were a person it would be someone who took every opportunity to tell you how smart they are which only covers up the fact they aren’t very smart. I almost bought a sixer of this at the Wegmans in Williamsport but luckily I talked myself out of it.

Bottle bought at the brewpub, poured into a large snifter. Really, if you’re into the supersweet, just a lovely aroma of bananas, candy sugar, molasses. I love the uncommon, almost butter rum background to this beer - it really makes it one of my favorites. I have not had a beer like that. Great carbonation, even though the head barely registered before moving on. And the flavor has nice sourness and bitterness, despite the aroma being so sweet. This one will be first on my list of holiday ales from here on out.

Bottle. Rich, reddish color with some soda-like carbonation. Massive boozy nose mixed with cinnamon and other pie spices. Flavor is really strange. There is a lot of those pie flavors you get in many spiced winter ales, but it finishes really hot, has a fair amount of medicinal notes, something oddly metallic, and then a bit of funk buried in there somewhere, probably from the Belgian yeast. I’m not sure if I liked this or not and it’s clearly not balanced properly, but it was interesting and had some tasty notes hidden in there.