Christmas Ale
Ramapo Valley Brewery

poured a deep reddish-brown color with slightly off-white moderate head. Quickly fell to a thin ring. Smell is enjoyable, being a nice combination of coffee, nuts, and roasted grain. Taste follows through with the smell with some dark fruit notes (prunes, dates) present, but it seems to have a flat taste. Finish is very boring, and the taste and feeling rapidly fade. Not a bad offering, but seems to be lacking in character.

The beer pours a dark brown color with a thin offwhite head that fades to spotty lacing. The aroma is decent. It has a warm crystal and roasted malt scent that is loaded with spices. It has a strong ginger and cinnamon aroma; maybe a little too much spice. The taste is average. It has a syrupy flavor that boasts of crystal, roasted, and some chocolate malts. The ginger is very apparent. It's slow going with a raisony finish. The mouthfeel is inadequate. It is a full bodied beer with little carbonation. This is a poor Christmas ale. It is high on spice and malts, but low on CO2 and drinkability. My advice would be to tone the malts down, add more CO2, and reconfigure the spice content.

Appearance:

Dark with hints of ruby. No head, but still some carbonation after all these years.

Smell:

Ripe figs, with pine. Somewhat reminiscent of Anchor's Christams Ale

Taste/Mouthfeel:

Surprisingly good. Alcohol and a piney sweetness warm the tongue at first sip. Anchor's recipe was definitely followed on this one, as there is little to distinguish (price aside) the two. Too sickly sweet to have more than one for my taste.