Frosted Frog Christmas Ale
Hoppin' Frog Brewery

Deep, mahogany color with a medium-sized, off-white head. Caramel malt, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon are in the aroma. Malty but not overly sweet taste. Warming finish.

Poured a murky brown/ruby color with no head but lots of carbonated bubbles. The smell of cinnamon punches you in the nose. You also get aromas of figs, caramel and malt. Taste follows the nose. Too much cinnamon, followed by a second-strong cast of baking spices. It's too bad, since you can tell this has the potential to be amazing. The malty backbone of this beer is really nice - its just overpowered by cinnamon. Mouthfeel is medium. This isn't a bad beer, but I won't seek it out either.

 

 

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.