What a way to end the year! This Belgian Style Golden Ale from North Coast Brewing is a cloudy dark yellow color, aptly code named, golden. Aroma comes off the glass very light, so if you take a sniff be careful not to get too close and get it up your nose. I think I figured out what one trick this brew has up its bottle: it starts dry and turns sweet. I know, its backwards. A somewhat ‘wheaty’ taste turns sweet a bit like honey until it finishes with something tangy. Who knows what’s going on. Have a safe and Happy New Year!

Specs: 12oz bottle
7.6% ABV
20 IBUs

Oh yeah, this is a beer for me! Color is deep and dark, nice head, chocolate aroma. If you’ve read any of my posts, I’m a malty dude, the more the merrier. This Winter Ale from Summit Brewing has tons of rich deep taste with prominent notes of caramels, chocolates, and even some roasted coffees to give a little extra bitter. Goes down smooth and tastes great, what more could I want? Summit, thanks for a great brew!

Specs: 12oz bottle
6.2% ABV
36 IBUs

Before we get into this beer, let’s talk about packaging of the beer. This is available from Labatt’s sampler pack, a 24 bottle sampler pack. With each bottle being 11.5 oz, I end up missing out on one beer. I don’t like that one bit. I see this as Labatt owes me one beer for each sampler I buy. On with the first of the sampler. The golden color of the beer almost matches that of the signed bottle cap. The aroma were weak, but did let a little bit of sweetness through. The head fell very quickly in the glass before I tried it. I enjoyed the lightly roasted malts, and the subtle sweetness to this one. I drank it very quickly, and grabbed another. Perhaps that is Labatt’s ploy. I’m not sure if this is a trial sampler by Labatt or not, if you get a chance try them, you might as well. More from the sampler in the up comming week or two.

Specs: 11.5 oz bottle
? ABV

Man down! When I opened this present at my door, coolly kept due to the weather, this bottle fell short of full! Apparently Buddha was laughing at me. This looked so clear, I thought it was water – smelled a bit like it too with the lack of remaining carbonation. Taste? What taste? This was honestly like drinking water with a hint of lager. I’m not giving this a rating because, well it came damaged. This is said to pair well with sushi and seafood, so I guess the feather-light taste probably would go well.

Specs: 22oz bottle
4.5% ABV?

I was shocked at the price of this one, and just had to buy it then. It was only $2.99 for a six pack! I was told that it is actually a really good beer. So now that I have poured it I can see that it is not black, but a more dark brown/red color. The aroma of it is a bit sweet and smells like alcohol. The taste is definitely different. There is the sweetness, but some definite sour taste as well. It may not be for everyone, but I could see myself drinking a few of these at my favorite Chinese restaurant. For those looking for gluten free beers, this is one of them!

Specs: 12oz bottle
4.9% ABV

While Jon and I have avoided the subject for over a year, I had a birthday/Christmas gift that couldn’t not be reviewed. Let me, the recipient be the first to say, thank you, Charlie for the homebrew for the holidays, made with home-grown hops [to my understanding]. Now, on to the good part: with the low head, a strong, almost repulsive aroma come off the glass; the taste however was nothing like the scent that filled the room. The full body had many notes of chocolaty malt goodness with a spicy cinnamon spice finish to make you forget that you drank a beer that has been in waiting since July. To all you homebrewers out there, keep on truckin’, it’s well worth your time because your creations drive the unique beer out there. Thanks again Charlie for my birthday beer!

Specs: 16oz bottle
Unspecified ABV

Merry Christmas to all! This holiday package was the last in the store where I purchased it, and it was well worth it. The color is a nice red, my favorite, and a creamy head with lots of aroma. The body is well saturated with caramel malts, and lots of carbonation. This really had the carbonation, aroma, and some taste of champagne, unusual for our Christmas celebrations at least. The body was very rich with great caramel notes before the hops and that very dry finish cleansed the taste off the pallet. The dryness really threw off the taste of those great malts, but it was an unusual taste that I could well stand again for some winter celebrations. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Specs: 750mL
7.2% ABV

WOW is that a name or what? Can you imagine getting three brewers together from competing craft breweries to collectively contribute to a single beer bottle by Stone? I am just amazed in the idea and thought put into this beer. The beer poured up a dark brown. The head was very small then after a few moments of it sitting there it grew to a good quarter inch. Looking closely at my glass I could still see some bubbles rising. The aroma is fresh and sweet malts and spices. I really like the aroma on this one, but can’t pinpoint what it is. The taste has not a normal spice taste to it, but something else. I almost want to say herbs rather than spices. They do use something from each region of the other breweries: Stone (California) – sage, Jolly Pumpkin (Michigan) – chestnuts, Nøgne Ø (Sweden) – Italian (it’s as close as they could find) juniper berries. I don’t see myself drinking a ton of this, but it is a good beer with a great thought process behind it! On the 11th day of Christmas three wise men (brewers to be specific) collaborated to make a new holiday brew.

Specs: 12oz bottle
9% ABV
*My picture just did not turn out great so I put up this link to the logo on the bottle*

This brew is made every year, hence the 2008 tag for this year’s batch. Dark malts give this a beautiful color and together with the spices make an aroma that remind you that there’s only a couple of days before Christmas. Now the smell of cinnamon is stronger than the taste, which is dominated by the malts with a hint of orange. This is actually a pretty sweet tasting drink with that spicy cinnamon finish combined with the hops to cleanse and and make you forget you just had such a strong beer. Keep track of how much you partake, or you may be ‘Blitzen’ yourself. On the 10th day of Christmas I got shopping done and celebrated with Blitzen!

Specs: 22oz bottle
6.7% ABV
16 IBU’s

Yes, day 9.5. I reviewed a beer that got mixed up with my 12 days of Christmas beers. Brown Shugga’ was not supposed to be in the 12 days, but somehow sneaked in. So here it is: This warmer poured up a nice red with a big head on it. I had to take a few breaks in pouring to let the head settle, and after the picture, the head went down to what I best describe as pond scum on the top of the beer. The aroma of this one is sweet, but hints of cinnamon are coming through. That thought alone as I write this makes me not want to drink it. The taste is watery, then spicy, then almost nothing, then spices again. The cinnamon is strong, and their site confirms that taste. Not so sure about ‘combination of these two spices results in a balanced, pumpkin-pie flavor’. I’m not a fan, I am really sorry. I will finish this one, and I would have one if there wasn’t another beer around at a party. On the 9.5th day of Christmas (?!) I had too much to drink and missed a beer!

Specs: 12oz bottle
5.9% ABV
22 IBU