3.5 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20There’s a touch of sweet aroma, with some pine hops in the background. It pours a clear, dark ruby red, with a full off-white head. The rye comes forward in the beginning of the taste, blending well with some dark fruit notes in the finish. This is a nice, surprisingly good sipping beer for a cool evening.
3.3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Bottle: The aroma consists of moderate berries, raisin, dusty notes, and light chocolate. It pours a dark orangish-brown that is more of a transparent copper when held to the light. It has a large creamy khaki head with great retention and it leaves a lot of sticky webbing on the sides of the glass. The flavor starts with light chocolate. There’s a hint of berries in the background. The finish has raisin, orange peel, rye, and some dusty notes. It’s medium bodied with lively, bordering on prickly, carbonation.
3.9 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
12 ounce bottle into pint glass, bottled 12/8/2011. Slight gusher upon opening. Pours hazy dark red orange color with a huge 2-3 finger khaki head with great retention that reduces to a thick cap that lasts. Some nice spotty lacing on the glass; a lot of carbonation streaming up. Took a while to pour this one. Aromas of caramel, dark fruits, apple, cinnamon, chocolate, biscuit, and herbal spices. Pretty nice and well balanced aromas with decent strength. Taste of caramel, dark fruit, lightly tart berry, brown sugar, cinnamon, herbal spices, citrus, apple, biscuit, and earth. Fair amount of spicy bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of dark fruit, caramel, brown sugar, and spices on the finish for a while. Very nice balance of flavors, without being overly spicy. Medium carbonation and body; with a fairly creamy and slightly slick mouthfeel. Alcohol is well hidden with only a warming after the finish. Overall this is a very nice winter warmer. Nice fruity flavor profile, with a good balance of spices. Definitely enjoyed this one.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
12 ounce bottle, single bought for $2.09 with a bottled on date of December 8, 2011. Served in a pint glass, the beer pours a murky dark burnt orange/brown color with a couple inch frothy light tan head. Head retention is pretty good, and there’s a good amount of lacing left on the glass. The brew smells like dark berries, orange peel, nuts and a bit of sweet spices. It tastes like dark fruit/berries (sweet and tart), orange peel, sweet spices, and some earthy hops. Mouthfeel/body is medium, it’s a bit creamy but also has high carbonation. This certainly is a different winter warmer beer that has a nice mix of fruit, spice and hops. It’s not overly spiced like a lot of beers in this style are. I’ll have to try this again in the future, I liked it.
3.3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Draft at Crunchy’s, East Lansing. Hazy, orange-red-brown body, thin to medium clumping beige head. Woody, tannic nose with fruitskin and soapy hops. Lots of tannic bitter and fruity, woody notes in the body, bitter, herbal, and slightly tart. Gets muddy after a few sips.
5 AROMA 10/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 10/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 20/20
A perfect ale. Aroma produces hints of raisin, chocolate, nuts and everything else that makes the Holidays great. How these smells and tastes are achieved through only malt and hop additions is beyond me. Truely a masterpiece!
2.5 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 4/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 9/20
Pours nice and dark, with a rocky head. Big strong, what seems top be, high alky initial impact. Roasty almost like a stout or porter. Yes, hard to see this as a dubbel, no way, heheh. Nice roasty, Its starting to grow on me. Yea, not bad after a while, or matbe its just numming my buds. For a festivus, there are no real spices in here, just good
3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
I found festivus ale to be a bit, well,... dissapointing. Bitterness was the predominate flavor, up front and lingering under a hazy porter-like smokiness. As a quasi-holiday beer, I expected some spicy or fruit notes, but found none. Still very drinkable, just not what I expected. Not sure what the abv was... Perhaps this was north peak’s feat of strength.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
12oz bottle. Totally opaque dark mahogony color, minimal light tan head, decent lace. A pretty interesting, tasty, and unique winter ale! great malty / hoppy dark fresh fruit taste. Cherry juice. Light, crisp, very drinkable. Good sweet spiced taste. An enjoyable, unique holiday ale, with the sweet fruit notes.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Sample at Ale Wine & Spirits in Powell on 12/16/2011. This brew pours a dark brown color with a medium beige head that diminishes slowly. Stringy lacing on the glass. Aroma of malt and dark fruits. Medium body with flavors of spicy hops, bready malt and fruit. The finish is mildly spiced with a short hoppy aftertaste that lingers a bit. All in all there is almost a cohesiveness issue but it comes together fairly well. Above average.
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