CharlesDarwin (1333), State College, Pennsylvania, USA Mar 9, 2008 22oz Bottle. Curt cinnamon roll nose. Fruit paste mingles with fruitcake and cinnamon Christmas cookies. Pours a lightly hazed peach, with a thin rim of white. Not much head retention. Flavor is a cinnamon roll, with light fruit glaze. Cinnamon dominates in a real doughy way. Dry. No wheat. And the fruit is extremely subliminal. Light off malt character. Low alcohol profile. Clean, but overpowered by a cassia dust. Tastes like I’m an airport near a Cinnabon. It’s a good cinnamon flavor, but leaves the beer with some one dimensionality. It’s amazing how the fruity malt sugars that linger transform into bun glazing with this level of cinnamon. There’s just too much going on here. It would probably be really good as just a cinnamon beer, or just a cranberry beer (which some of the skins do show through). But, as a Spice-Fruit-Wheat beer, it’s a little confused. It is clean, fresh, dry and not overwhelming in terms of spice magnitude, which really sets it apart from other potpourri-tasting Christmas beers. So, compliments for that. A fun idea. Thanks Sean!
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