4.4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 10/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 18/20
Poured into a snifter out of a 22oz bomber.
Pours pitch black with a fairly thick one finger dark tan head. While head retention isn’t especially outstanding, the lacing is. This is really a nice looking beer.
Gingerbread is huge in the aroma along with a healthy dose of clove. Really no subtleties here. Some cinnamon and allspice but I really have to try hard to pick out any stout characteristics. Almost no roast, coffee, or chocolate. A little too spice heavy.
On the taste, there is a little more going on. Still extremely heavy on the spices with ginger, nutmeg and allspice dominating. Peel that back, however, and you have some vanilla and cinnamon notes along with some hints of baked bread, molasses, and brown sugar. I honestly tastes like taking a bite of a gingerbread man. You really need to let the beer warm up a little for the flavors to make a big impact. Mouthfeel is thick and creamy but the sweetness remains dialed back enough to make this fairly drinkable.
I have to say I had my doubts at first but Samuel Adams has really pulled off a good one. This beer is so gingerbread like it is scary. Like someone put a pulverized gingerbread man into a stout. I really wish I would’ve tried this earlier so I could have picked up another bottle to age.
4.2 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 17/20
Pours black with a brown frothy head. Aroma is nutmeg, molasses and roasted malt. Thick in body and maybe a bit sticky. Flavor is a wonderful combination of actual gingerbread flavors (nutmeg, clove, molasses) and a very nice stout. Finish is sweet with a lot of darker today flavors lingering.
4.5 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 18/20
This stout pours as black as coal left in Christmas stocking. One fingers worth of creamy gingerbread cookie colored head. The aroma is big, with heavy notes of nutmeg and ginger. Flavor notes of gingerbread, malts, and spice, complimented with a smooth rich body. The alcohol is nicely masked, but intensifies the closer you get to the bottom of the glass. The finish has notes of chocolate, cinnamon, and toffee. A great holiday seasonal.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Tasted on 5/14/13 from a capped 22oz bottle. Pours almost completely black, dark brown with a thick tan head that slowly recedes to even, average lace. The nose is full of darkly roasted coffee, molasses, dark chocolate, and of course, tons of freshly baked gingerbread. The flavor is much the same, with the gingerbread taking the lead, and all of the classic roasted coffee and chocolate notes of a stout taking a back seat. The body is full with fairly lively carbonation for a big stout, with a very long gingerbread and bitter coffee finish. This is a solid beer.
3.8 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Bottle. Pours with a near black hued body with a large and retentive foamy brown head. Aromas show huge gingerbread spices with ginger, nutmeg, clove, anise, chocolate, raisins, and nougat. A little bit woody feeling from the spices. Floral. Flavors are a bit raisiny and chocolate like with a touch of eugenol tongue numbness. Clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and graham cracker. Plums, dark fruit, light chocolate with a medium to low ashy character. Creamy mouthfeel with well hidden alcohol, medium to full bodied. Light cotton candy in the finish. Pretty solid. Slightly reminiscent of Pumpkinator.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Bottle. Pours pitch black with a small brown head. The aroma has a big cinnamon, nutmeg, gingerbread kick.. kind of overpowers everything else. The taste has gingerbread, some milk chocolate, and some booze on the finish. This is decent for what it is but not something i’d want a lot of.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Black pour with a tan head. Big spice aromas of clove and nutmeg. Plenty of ginger, some sweet molasses, toast, and chocolate. A bit of sweet potato, maple syrup, and roast. There’s a really good gingerbread, clove, and nutmeg flavor. Notes of maple syrup, sweet potato, bread, molasses, chocolate, and roasted malt.
3.5 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Bottle. Rating #284. Very dark black pour with a brown head. Big ginger and molasses aroma. Light bitterness, more molasses and ginger with some cinnamon, not bad. (2729)
3.7 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
THOUGHTS: Not all that different than a pumpkin stout. Not quite what I was expecting. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t really live up to it’s label description. It did go nicely with Reese’s Pieces. Great label art.
TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a very dark brown that was basically opaque black in the glass with an average, light brown head that mostly diminished and left fair lacing. The aroma was fairly weak and contained gingerbread, light roasted and chocolate malts; brown sugar; lots of ginger; and other spices. Ginger is the dominant aroma. The initial flavor was moderately sweet and slightly bitter; while the finish was heavily sweet, lightly bitter, ever so slightly sour and slightly acidic with an average duration. There was chocolate, cookie, ginger, brown sugar, cinnamon, other spices, roasted malt, ginger bread, but mostly ginger and cinnamon. The medium body was oily and a bit creamy with fizzy carbonation and a slightly astringent finish.
4.4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 18/20
Batch No. 1 bottle. This stout smells like a baked gingerbread cookie with a little extra cinnamon, and the appearance combines an opaque dark brown color with a medium tan head that dissipates quickly to a thin layer on top of the liquid. The taste is mildly sweet, slightly bitter, but there is a definite mild spice flavor reminiscent of a gingerbread cookie, which mixes ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove; furthermore, the palate fuses a long finish, full body, slick texture, and a soft carbonation, making the flavor the main attraction of this brew.
3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 12/20
Pours dark brown color with tan foam, smells of cinnamon and roasted nuts, and malt. Gingerbread flavors with stout finish. Fun beer to try.
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