Frosted Frog Christmas Ale
Hoppin' Frog Brewery

A spicy nose invites notes of nutmeg and cinnamon on the palate. Finish gives me notes of black tea. Dark copper, thin, light tan ring lacing. Pleasantly sweet in my book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to the calendar, cracking this twelve ounce can open and pouring its contents into a clear pint glass may be a little late. But, if it's a good brew, a few days shouldn't matter. The ale is copper-brown, mostly brown with a slight beige enduring head. It smells like pumpkin pie. It tastes like pumpkin pie with a heavy hand from the spicer. That's too bad, because the malt mouthfeel is excellent and a more mild version of spicing would have been wonderful. However, the various spices here don't seem to compliment each other when they're delivered with this much intensity. This is a nicely smooth ale overpowered by its spicing.

Murky brown/ruby hues, quickly dissipating head. Smells of caramel, malt, and spices. Tastes of dark fruit, caramel, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, vanilla. Thin, light to medium bodied, mild booze presence. Not bad, not great.

 

 

 

12oz can from Tavour. Dark amber/brown pour, fizzy head. Aroma is cinnamon and nutmeg. Taste leads with the savory spice, minor sweetness, light malt profile. On a chilly night, this really hits the spot.

Hoppin' Frog Frosted Frog Christmas Ale (Winter Warmer), 8.6% ABV. Pours opaque brown with a one-finger off-white head that left no lacing. Nose is ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Taste follows, slightly sweet, slightly bitter. Mouthfeel is thin and watery, and light on carbonation. Overall very good.

 

 

Can. Caramel color. Clear.

All the spices. Too much spice. Gingerbread, cinnamon, nutmeg, caramel, toffee. Medium bodied. Abv shows. Hard to drink a lot of this.

Poured a dark brown color with a one finger tan head that dissipated quickly. No lacing. Malty nose with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. Taste follows the nose but more pronounced. However, the spice overwhelms any other flavor. No hop bitterness. Medium body and light carbonation, which feels too light.

Ordered from Tavour with great hopes, but... poured into a pint glass.

Look: light brown with little to no head, no lacing as we drank it... the look in the glass was almost like iced tea (yeah right?)
Smell: spicy cinnamon, some nutmeg and gingerbread
Taste: spicy cinnamon and nutmeg on the front, other spices (gingerbread?) in the middle, beery ale notes on the end with the spicy something in the nose. Bren says slightly boozy, but I don’t get boozy until I drink the whole friggin thing. Not super malty, which we were kinda hoping for.
Feel: flat, carbonation is OK as it warms. Take a couple good swallows of it and walk away and it actually makes you thirsty.

I love Christmas ales. Spicy, usually dark character and notes of coffee, maltiness, caramel, a bit boozy... this is none of that. Love the playfulness of Hoppin Frog and Tavour gave this one good ratings, but for me, besides the spice and 8%, there is not much Christmas about this Christmas ale... too beery for me, but if you like that, have at it.

 

 

Taste: warming notes of ginger, cinnamon, all spice, some sweet spices, nutty. Nutmeg, cinnamon malty nose. Mahogany Copper color, clear, average head and lace. Medium body. Reminds me of Xmas desserts. 12 IBUs

12oz can. Poured out a murky, brown color with a small, khaki-colored head of foam. It left minimal lacing on the glass. It smelled like a snickerdoodle cookie. Notes of spices - nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice with some toffee. Sweet toffee and caramel taste with cinnamon and vanilla.

Pours a dark copper, minimal head. Aroma is dark brown sugar, cinnamon, clove, anise, nutmeg - awesome! Very flavorful - lots of Xmas spices: Clove, cinnamon, heaps of brown sugar, nutmeg, ginger, touch of caramel apple, a bit boozy. Exceptional. Carbonation is appropriate. Medium bodied, almost syrupy. Overall a fantastic Xmas beer, probably my favorite.

12/3/20
12 oz can dated “Best by 10/16/2023”
4.5 rating

great xmas ale from this brewery, malty and spicy- love the beers from this brewery

 

 

 

Reddish brown with a clear bubble cap. Holiday spices dominate the nose, good caramel and sweet bread malts underneath, festive. Taste is much the same, but the traditional cinnamon, brown sugar and nutmeg take a backseat to ginger, apple, booze, and clove, creating a weird balance. Malts are there but do not drive flavor well. Feel is spiced, malty, but slightly watery in the finish.

 

 

 

 

Poured from a bomber into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Hazed ruby/mahogany pour. Minimal fizzy head... no lacing to speak of.

S: Sweet malts and a ton of spice. Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove.

T/F: Overly sweet/malty. Caramel... overspiced... loads of cinnamon and nutmeg. Unpleasant and cloying. No significant hop presence. Undercarbonated. Sticky on the mouth.

O: Downright unpleasant... and 1/2 of the bomber was a drain pour. Never again.

Poured from a 22oz bottle into a Teku glass.

Look is a hazy reddish brown with no head.

Aroma is incredible, like a fresh ginger cookie. If it tastes as good as it smells I might have changed my mind about spice beers.

Spice is a little too astrigent, but overall an excellent spice beer balanced by a great beer.

Poured from a bomber into a tulip glass.

L - poured a nice ruby brown color. Very little in the way of head or lacing.

S - Slightly maltiness with lots of spice. The spice dominates the nose without much else going on.

T - More of the same. Malty with an overpowering amount of spice, dominated by mostly by cinnamon.

F - Thin but drinkable if you can get past the spicy notes, which I could not. Definitely did not drink like an 8+ ABV'er.

Overall not my cup of tea. Way too much spice, too much that I could not finish the bottle. Definitely would not revisit this one.

 

Drank from 22oz bottle in a pint glass in May 2018. There was no bottled-on date on the label, and I drank this about 1 month after purchase.

Appearance: Very dark golden-red with a thin tan/brown head. Head was very carbonated, but left very little lacing on the glass.

Smell: Balanced aroma of nutmeg, sppices, cinnamon, toasted malts, and caramel as well, but overall the spices dominate the others. I do not get much hops aroma.

Taste: There is a strong cinnamon flavor as well as some peppery spices. Also some caramel, roasted malts, chocolate, and some bitterness from hops. There is also a hint of sweetness like strawberries, with just a little hoppy bitterness bitterness adding some complexity.

Mouth-feel: Medium alcohol, but with a very smooth and creamy body. Matches the 8.6% alcohol on the label.

This is a nice, spicy that has a variety of flavors that adds some complexity to the beer. This is a medium-bodied brown ale, which is very smooth and enjoyable to drink. This is a fun holiday beer that I would buy again at the holiday season.