Dec 14

Dec 14 Holiday Beer Taste Test | Day 14

The Christmas Season is all about family, right? So I decided to involve some of my own family in the blog and we did a taste test of Holiday Beers. I sat down with my father and brother, also known as Hamster and Hamster Boy in my family (don't ask), to sample some beers. In order to elicit useful commentary from them I said something to the effect of I'm going to find the website that tells you how to drink beers. Naturally they both pretended to need a lesson on how to drink any form of liquid. My father knocking his glass into different parts of his face pantomiming that he did not understand that he had to drink with his mouth. It was their way of denigrating and poking fun at the occasional snobbery of beer aficionados. As my father put it multiple times, "it's just beer"; of course he used his Texas drawl, the one he only uses when he wants to harken back to his roots or prove that "he is just a simple man." At this point I took my first notes "Hamsters don't know how to drink beer. They might throw the beer on their heads." Needless to say I was worried that I had made a mistake in thinking I could trust them in this task. Fortunately, they ended up being "minimally useful" and only occasionally got ridiculous. (It will be pretty obvious when that happens.) So here are our thoughts about five interesting holiday beers.

The Beers

Anchor Brewing Company (San Francisco, CA) - 2014 Christmas Ale

According the their website, this Winter Warmer has a 5.50% ABV and has been brewed seasonal since 1975, making this the 40th anniversary. Each year "the recipe is different...as is the tree on the label."

Gritty McDuff's Brewing Company (Portland, ME) - Christmas Ale

Gritty's brews this Extra Special Bitter every year in time for a the holiday season. The brewery does not any added fruit or spice, but claims its 6.2% ABV "gives it a light warming feature."

Great Divide Brewing Company (Denver, CO) - Hibernation Ale

Great Divide has been brewing this Old Ale style beer since 1995. It is "a dry-hopped ale with malty richness" and a hefty 8.7% ABV.

Victory Brewing Company (Dowington, PA) - Winter Cheers

Surprisingly this is a holiday beer but it is a light wheat beer or hefeweizen. Victory calls it a light and spicy warming beer with a 6.7% ABV.

Stone Brewing Company (Escondido, CA) - Smoked Porter with Chocolate and Orange

This porter is a transitional beer, somewhere between Fall and Winter, but with the tastes of a Chocolate Orange, I put it squarely in the Christmas camp. Light for a porter, it only has 5.9% ABV.

Our Thoughts

Anchor Brewing Christmas Ale

Daphne: Smells sour and spicy. Doesn't taste the way it smells. Lighter than expect. Bitter aftertaste.

Hamster: Smells sweet and spicy. Tastes a little sweet, not very spicy. Muted

Hamster Boy: Dark, smells like a holiday ale should. Tastes like nothing, very light.

Great Divide Hibernation Ale

Daphne: Smell was overwhelming when opened. Strange aroma, I think it's potato chips... Toasting and potato-y in taste.

Hamster: Looks dark. Smells toasty. Sweet with a bitter aftertaste.

Hamster Boy: Tastes like a baked potato.

Our Favorites

Daphne: Victory Winter Cheers and the Stone Smoked Porter with Chocolate and Orange

Hamster: Gritty's Christmas Ale

Hamster Boy: Stone Smoked Porter with Chocolate and Orange

Gritty's Christmas Ale

Daphne: Reddish, but still dark. Smells sour. Tastes very bitter, not spicy, but no real after taste. A little bit of coffee.

Hamster: Smells very sweet. More holiday-ish than the Anchor.

Hamster Boy: Smells like maple leafs and fig laurels crunched beneath the tiny feet of elves wearing green heats and no shoes. Tastes a little bit sweet.

Victory Winter Cheers

Daphne: So light and bright VERY SURPRISING! Much more carbonated. Tastes and smells like bananas. It's well-rounded and sweet.

Hamster: Has the aroma of stale corn tortilla chips. Tastes very much like a wheat beer. Doesn't have the spiciness we expected.

Hamster Boy: Smells odd. Tastes fruity like finely chopped pear. Not the prototypical wheat beer, but its obviously a wheat beer.

Stone Smoked Porter with Chocolate and Orange

Daphne: Dark, but not as dark as I expect. Definitely a big hit of orange when you first smell it. Tastes smokey and you can taste a little bit of cocoa and a lot of orange.

Hamster: Smells just like a porter. Tastes the smoke then the porter. A little bitter. Unexpectedly not heavy. Very nice for a porter.

Hamster Boy: Can definitely smell chocolate. Tastes dark and smokey, then you taste the chocolate. Great. Just great.