Why We Picked It: Good brewery and a respected holiday brew that - for some reason - has not appeared in 24 Days of Beer since 2014!
What Great Lakes Says About It: Do not open ‘til Christmas? Whoever coined that phrase obviously hasn’t tasted Christmas Ale’s fresh honey, cinnamon, and ginger flavors. There is a yuletides worth of holiday spice and sweet honey to you a-wassailing all season long.
Style: Winter Ale
ABV: 7.5%
IBU: 30
Website: https://www.greatlakesbrewing.com/
To Better Know A Brewery: Two Irish brothers with limited brewing experience. A city that shuttered its last production brewery in the early 80s. A neighborhood in serious need of a facelift. In 1986 when Patrick and Daniel Conway opened their fledgling operation in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood, the odds were stacked against them. Fortunately, they surrounded themselves with a staff of passionate, knowledgeable people, and from the start committed themselves to bringing a sophisticated, diverse selection of craft beer to their home state. Two decades, multiple awards, and a whole lot of stories later, Pat and Dan Conway celebrate over two decades of brewing exceptional beer for their adventurous and discerning customers.
only 2hrs 7 min to go.... open, open, open.
ReplyDeleteI checked and was shocked I have only had two beers from this brewer. The Eliot Ness and the Burning river. The former in Philly with Scott at a company event where we threw Axes (Urban Axes), the later in Recine WI, south of Milwaukee. Both rated 3.25, which is high for me.
That only used up 5 min. Open, Open, Open...
Bill and Jay, I'm quite sure we've had this at office holiday parties of Christmases past. With lots of Cleveland family, friends, and colleagues, I've definitely had this, although not for a few years. I'm getting almost a juiciness to it, or maybe that's the honey? I'll take this one over most winter brews for lack of the weird spices...not bad!
ReplyDeleteMany holiday parties. And this is the one that Katie is obsessed with.
DeleteI am not quite sure what this flavor is, but I am enjoying. It tastes similar to other holiday brews at first, but then something strange kicks it. I like it. Just can't place the taste. I'll gladly keep trying to figure this out.
ReplyDeleteSo back to back nights from what I considered to be overrated breweries that are constantly yammered on about by people who grew up too close to Lake Erie....
ReplyDeleteOkay, that was a bit harsh. Great Lakes is a fine brewery. I just think it's one of those that was a lot better ten years ago and has stayed the same while other breweries are doing newer, cooler things. And none of their flagship beers really jumps out at me.
Had this one many times. As mentioned above, our Cleveland native co-worker declares this to be the best beer in the world so it tends to show up at office parties (there's that phrase "office party" that I don't know what it means again).
They claim this is the same every year, but I swear it changes almost as radically as Anchor Steam. Maybe it's just based on my mood and whether or not I was forced to consume a 2XMAS in the last 24 hours. This one seems spicy but that's not what I'm having issues with. I gave Ro her designated 6 oz glass and she took one tiny nip and said "where is that strange sweetness coming from?" I now have 11.8 oz of beer. But this is just loaded with honey in my opinion. I almost need more spices. You get all the spice up front and then the honey just lingers. When we drink the Mad Elf, that usually has a ton of honey, but I've always found it more balanced and mixed with the figs and ginger and cardamom and whatever else they throw in there.
So I definitely like this better than last night's Lake Erie spiced seasonal brew, but still too spicy and definitely too sweet. 2.9 out of 5 Cleveland Baseball Teams.
To me, this is more glogg-ish then yesterday's.
ReplyDeleteI think it was Anonymous who said "think not beer". I'm trying, but "not beer" means a lot of things like carbonated Robitussin DM. As of today, there has not been a beer I had to pour out and this doesn't need to either. It's just "not beer". It is better then 2XMass.
2.2/5 those aren't Covid coughs.
I took this out of the fridge, looked at the label, and thought oh look at the apples, a Christmas cider! Ok not my thing but let’s give it a try. Cant be worse the some of the others. Took a sip...doesn’t taste like a cider... took another sip...I don’t get ANY apples in this. Looked at the bottle again. Oh it’s a train car of ornaments not a wagon of apples. Ok. Not a cider. That makes a little more sense.
ReplyDeleteI found the beer to be a pretty drinkable beer. I lost my voice today after some “meetings” with one of my non-us teams and wanted a drink. This hit the spot since I was able to drink it in about 5 minutes. It was a easily drinkable beer. Pretty forgettable, as I forgot to write this earlier and have since moved onto a nice mile made with home infused jalapeño vodka for a nice little kick.
3.9/5 how about dem apples.
4.9/5 for my spiced vodka mule.
Mule not mile.
DeleteHaha I washed this down with a Moscow Mule too.
DeleteTito's w/ Fever Tree.
There are a lot spices here, perhaps too many. It does remind me of Xmas and I think that’s the point. It’s a 24 DOB staple I’m still thankful to get.
ReplyDeleteVery nice Christmas beer. It's the one time of year when I would enjoy this style and this one fits the category quite well. I love Great Lakes brewing, they have some amazing beers. Good amount of spice, nice malty profile, and all around solid flavor profile.
ReplyDeleteA totally drinkable beer but I don't think the flavors work that well together - just kind of a herbal blah with nothing really discernible.
ReplyDeleteSo, the kids have decided that "Die Hard" is a Christmas move, and we watched it the other night, and now we have moved onto Die Hard 2. I was also doing my own ranking of the other Die Hard movies. And that brings me to this beer - I think this is like the Die Hard 2; not as good as the original, but serviceable, but two of the other sequels are way better.
ReplyDeleteSmooth, drinkable, a bit fruity for my taste but not crazy-fruity. 2.75/5.00 Hans Grubers from me.
Yippee-ki-yay, DOBers.
Greg -- Houston, we have a problem. Great Lakes Christmas Ale ain't great at all... not even good. This is my first beer this season, and I believe in any of my four seasons (two other winters and a summer) of 24DOB, that I couldn't finish. To read everyone else's ratings here makes me suspect that I got a "corked" bottle, but I don't think that happens to beer the same way it does with wine. But, it was off and somewhat foul. In the sips I did managed to consume, I studied my reactions and tried to attribute them to the flavors---I think the honey might have been off (?) Ugh. Not a fun experience. The first time I have a rated a beer with a "1." I'm relieved that you all liked it more.
ReplyDelete