Hazelnut Christmas Ale
Scrooge & Marley Brewing Co.

 

Copper colored with a nice tan head and nice active carbonation. Hazelnut aroma stands out with some roastiness notes underneath. A bit too strong on the hazelnut for my liking but it's not unbearable even considering the strength of the essence... Medium-light bodied and smooth with a nutty finish.

Pass ... was wondering if this was the same as Berghoff's considering the J. Huber/Monroe connection ?

'2695' lasered on neck
Tasted: 01/19/07

Pours a transparent copper color with a soft cream colored head that dissipates very quickly.

The nose has a nice mix of caramel/roasted/bitterness/nutty. Malty and sweet as it warms.

I can taste christmas-season spices like nutmeg and ginger. It has a slight bitterness up front, but that gives way to a smooth and silky finish. Seems to lack a little bit of umph. A little monotonous after the first few sips.

The mouthfeel is a little on the flat side and actually seems to be a little warming.

Drinkability is average. It goes down smooth, but gets kinda boring after awhile.

Pours a cream, one finger-head that goes quickly leaving no lace. Cyrstal clear amber color. Medium carbonation and medium bodied. Nose is spices. Starts sweet nutmeg/hazelnut, finish is smooth and spicey. 12oz bottle from 12-pack $15.99 Tully's Beer & Wine Wells, Me.

Better then average amber color-coppery with a very slight head. Metallic/medicinal aroma. Hazelnut is very slight though its there. Malty flavor backed by a distinct hazelnut flavor. Never really parlays into full blown hazelnut-it lingers and is gone pretty quick. Caramel and toffee like flavors tend add a bit more. Medicinal in the finish. Body is fairly standard. Overall a pretty standard beer. Looks/labeling can be deceiving. Give me a Rogue Hazelnut or the old Longshot from Sam Adams over this if I want a hazelnut beer. Nice concept for a dessert beer but this one falls flat.

From the Scrooge and Marley holiday sampler. The Hazelnut Christmas Ale pours a dirty penny color with a modest, soft khaki colored head consisting of mixed sized bubbles. It slowly settles and vanishes to a thin collar. Only a few carbonation streams are present. The aroma is of sweet honey peanuts, nice and promising. Instead, the taste is of mild hops up front and in the finish, with hints of malt sweetness around the edges. Nothing really like the smell. Light body, and slightly effervescent. Not overly impressive here. I won't be reaching for a second.

A Scrooge & Marley mixed case showed up at the store the other day, and none of us, nor Beer Advocate, had ever heard of it. The bottle says it's from the "Scrooge & Marley Brewing Co., Monroe, WI" and that it is from a group of "limited edition seasonal brews from one of the oldest breweries in America." Well shit, who hasn't heard of the famous S&M Brewery? Coincidentally, the Huber Brewery is also in Monroe and also touts itself as one of the oldest breweries in America. And what's this, written very small on the bottom of the box yet mysteriously not found anywhere on the bottle labels? Ah yes, www.scroogeandmarleygifts.com. It's beginning to come together: Gift company contracts with Huber to brew some name-brand beer to sell through their holiday catalogues to unsuspecting old people. Onto the mysterious beer itself...

Hazelnut Christmas Ale smells ridiculously like honey roasted peanuts, with some buttery toffee that grows in prominence as the beer warms. Quite a unique smell. The taste doesn't live up to the nose; there's a faint nutty character but nothing really going on here besides some malty sweetness, though the toffee does show up a bit in the finish. Really worth having just to smell the damn thing.