Humbugger Christmas Ale
Barley Island Brewing Company

Poured on tap at Barley Island Taproom.

A- Pours a dark red with hints of light brown. Half finger white head shows good retention overall. Streaks of lacing on the sides of the glass.

S- Tons of spicing in the nose. Lots of cinnamon, brown sugar, rock candi, ginger, citrus tones, maybe some light mint tones. There is a soild backbody malt base to this....kind of chocolate malt I would say. This is mostly a spice overload and I kind of like it.

T- The beer itself follows the nose in the flavor aspect. The only big flavors that showed up not in the nose for me was a sweet alcohol taste along with a boatload of Cardamom. Big flavor in the front of the beer and it lasts into the ending.

M- Medium heavy mouthfeel. Carbonation was lacking but worked for the beer. Cardamom, cinnamon, and heavy malts left on the palate. Aftertaste was mostly sweet alcohol, cardamom, light chocoalte malt, and minty flavors. Spice forward as far as blending goes on this beer. No off flavors at all although the alcohol is lightly annoying. Heavy drying on the palate from the alcohol.

D- This beer was a nice sipper. I couldn't drink a lot of this but it was good for what it was. The mouthfeel was a little off for me and it kind of ruined the beer a little for me. A nice attempt from Barley Island but with the alcohol and ABV being so in your face it is hard to have one than one glass of this.

Humbugger Christmas Ale

Appearance is a dark red with some brown and an off white head.  Smells like cardommon, spicy, possibly some mint and some brown sugar.  Tastes sweet, brown sugar, alcohol, spices a lot of carammon, really good.  Mouthfeel is sticky, drinkability is pretty decent for a beer of this ABV.

Had on-tap at the Barley Island tap room in Broad Ripple.

This is a wonderfully dark brown beer with good head and excellent lacing throughout. It has a huge deep and malty scent with wonderful spice aromas, mostly brown sugar and orange peel, and maybe cinnamon? Great flavor, a huge thick malty beer that will warm you up nicely in the winter, along with great winter spices that compliment each other rather than competing with each other; great brown sugar, maybe cinnamon, I think orange peel, and others. Goes down great with a wonderfully warming slight alcohol heat. I think I've found my new favorite winter warmer.

On tap at the Broad Ripple pub. This is loosely based on the British candies called Humbugs, which are a mint-chocolate rock candy with a toffee center.

Pours and smells like a solid warmer. Dark red with a small white head, and it smells like spice cookies. There was some ginger, chocolate malt, nutmeg, and light citrus.

Tastes like a very smooth, very intense winter warmer. Wow--I really didn't think they'd pull it off this nicely, especially with the inflated ABV. The flavor profile isn't anything out of the ordinary--it's malty and spicy--only it manages to double all the malty spicy sweetness without it being cloying or painful. If you had told me this was a 6.0 ABV, I would have believed you.