Frosted Frog Christmas Ale - Barrel-Aged
Hoppin' Frog Brewery

Great seasonal brew. Mahogany color. Thin, white head. Nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, and bourbon in the aroma. Moderately sweet taste with a warming finish.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a dark orange brown with a one finger light khaki head that dissipates to patches with nice lacing. Aroma of pale malt, apple pie, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg and a hint of whiskey; festive. Flavor is candi malt, apple pie, caramel, cinnamon, nutmeg, light ginger and a touch of whiskey; winter spice finish; caramel lingers after the tasted. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess and nice mouth feel. One of the more spicy winter warmers I've had, and the aroma gave me pause at first, but the malt is sturdy and holds up to the spine well. Clear notes of cinnamon with a more muddled Christmas inspired mix of other spices. The barrel character is quite subdued and I might actually have missed it if I wasn't looking for it. Plenty going on in flavor and a nice, festive winter ale. Mouth feel is excellent.

This one pours a dark golden brown color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like caramel, whiskey, vanilla, and spicing.

The spicing on this is luckily pretty subtle – I definitely get some spicy clove and nutmeg, but not a lot of cinnamon. This is pleasantly caramelly and cookie like, with a soft vanilla and oaky barrel character, with just a hint of whiskey as it warms up a bit.

This is medium bodied, creamy, maybe a little thin on the finish but nothing too much to drop the rating.

I enjoy that Hoppin’ Frog is still making solid beers and still putting them in packages with terrible labels.

Appearance: Pours a slightly murky auburn color with a head that quickly fades to a collar; spotty lacing

Smell: Cinnamon, caramel apple, nutmeg, allspice and vanilla with a very subtle hint of Bourbon

Taste: Caramel apple with a strong cinnamon aspect; nutmeg, clove and allspice emerge with the subtle Bourbon and vanilla elements arriving after the swallow

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with low carbonation

Overall: Just a bit more Bourbon barrel would do wonders for this beer but it is a nice Winter Warmer, regardless

 

 

 

 

 

From the tall boy can in a snifter. This solid Christmas brew pours a
muddled and murky red tinged brown color with a decent head of off
white foam that subsides to a thick ring, thin light veil, and shows some light
lacing. Nose of cinnamon, baked apple, nutmeg, subtle bourbon, faint
vanilla, and caramel malts. Flavors hit the mark with caramel
apple---baked, vanilla, oak, cinnamon (on the medium heavy side),
nutmeg, butterscotch, brown sugars, and subtle pine touched hops
over medium light layers of bourbon. Nice mouth feel; medium light
body, low carbonation, and a herb spiced finish that is moderately sweet,
warming, and lightly dry.

Overall---a solid offering!

Cheers

Murky brown/ruby hues, quickly dissipating head. Smells of caramel, malt, and spices. Tastes of apple, dark fruit, caramel, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, vanilla, and barrel. Medium bodied, slightly thick, definite booze presence. Slightly better than the regular version, a boozier kind of winter warmer.

Edit 12/19/22: Upped taste and feel to 4.5. Doing a side by side with Great Lakes Christmas Ale, and I like this one more, as it has more depth and flavor. Enjoyable.

 

 

Bomber from Tavour. Dark brown, a few bubbles then flat. Savory winter spice aroma, gingerbread. Taste adds a hint of chocolate, more winter spice, and just a hint of barrel.

 

great bourbon flavor added to their already great christmas beer - malt slightly sweet / just had their 2021-2022 relrase believe last year had more flavor - still a great winter beer

Slightly foggy brick red to brown with a short khaki head that fizzles out to a thin chain. After it settles out, the body clears up to a gem-like chestnut amber.

While I'm not a huge fan of the style, for one of the more heavily spiced Christmas ales out there, this is certainly up there with some of the best.

Incredibly intense cinnamon expresses heavily on the nose, as though fresh ground, yet also somewhat Cinnamon Toast Crunch-like. Baked apple and pie crust blooms as it warms.

On the palate, cinnamon again dominates, but more in flavor as opposed to spiciness. This is tempered by a bit of toasty caramelized malt that adds a touch of molasses and gingersnap. The most impressive part comes next in that the vanilla character from the barrel contributes more here than possibly any other BA HoFro I've had.

The medium body is softly round with a moderately delicate froth, finishing pleasantly dry, exhaling a touch of gingerbread.

Just purchased a bomber from my local craft beer store. I am certain that this is a 2018 season bottle. That means this is 20 months old.

Look is mostly light brown (slightly darker than brown sugar) with a red tint and orange around the rim of the beer.

Smell includes burnt sugar, candied yams, faint banana, a bit of fig, cinnamon, nutmeg, and faint vanilla.

Taste is similar to smell. Definitely burnt sugar (almost like charred marshmallow) sweet potato pie, dark/sweet fruit. With cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla sweetness at the end.

Feel is somewhat chewy but light. Easy to taste and swallow. Mouth and tounge is immediately awakened by the flavor. It doesn't hesitate. Everything that's there is introduced immediately. The sweetness encourages gulping. Even if you do you still get a full flavor profile. Lingering presents faint licorice and other flavors better ignored by a quick sip.

Overall, this is a fantastic spiced ale. Holidays are definitely emphasized in this one. To me, with the sweet potato pie flavor, it could easily fit into the Thanksgiving or Christmas Ale categories.

Side note: Can't remember the last time I drank the original. Nevertheless the barrel profile is not present unless I'm missing it. However, the enhancement of each flavor is definitely worth purchasing the barrel aged.

 

I received this beer about three months back. Since the world is going apeshit, I figured I would relax and sip. The beer is 44 degrees and served in a chalice. The pour of the beer produced a one fingered light tan head. The retention of the head is poor. The head left no lacing on glass. The color of the beer is a rusty orange. The clarity of the beer is hazy. I have not had the original Frosted Frog. The appearance of the beer is good sad to see the poor head retention.

The initial aromas in the beer are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, oranges, toffee, caramel, burnt sugar, and candied apples. Next, I smell wood, earthiness, biscuit, malty sweetness, ginger, and banana.

The flavors in the beer are ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, oranges, toffee, caramel, burnt sugar, candied fruit, earthiness, banana, cloves, bread, and phenolic.

The mouthfeel of the beer is chewy, warming, and spicy.

The body of the beer is medium-plus, medium carbonation, and a full finish.

The barrel aged in the beer does not come through in the taste. I was expecting a nice barrel aged beer and I did not get that. The beer is heavy with ginger and cinnamon. I wonder if those flavor hid the barrel notes. I feel the beer is not as balance as many of the offering provided from Hoppin Frog. This one is my least favorite from this brewery so far.