Kris Kringle
McMenamins Inc.

 

Chestnut brown with healthy head. Grapefruit smell. Surprisingly little hop bitterness. Just candied grapefruit hop flavor. Combined with caramel flavor and effervescence, makes for a shockingly balanced winter warmer. Negligible ethanol taste.

Draft at Crystal Ballroom. Dark brown pour, clear, one finger fluffy off-white head. Light, sweet malty aroma. Aroma is toasty malts, not too much spice coming through. Taste is malty and sweet. Full, but not normal seasonal spice. Rich, malty ale.

Interesting. Not too overpowering. But still fundamental herbal/aromatic flavor. Fig flavors? Two hop varieties: simcoe and mosaic. Toasty caramel. Happy holidays.

16oz draft

Pours a lovely finger of tan head into a nitro glass. Retention is quite nice, and most of the head remains after a few minutes. Initial lacing looks great. Body is brown. Looks really nice so far.

Nose is a bouquet of northwest goodness - hoppy, piney, spicy, some citrus. Hints of caramel malt underneath, slight malty sweetness/candi sugar. Exactly what you want in a winter ale, smells great.

Flavor is very nice as well. Malty, some bread, not much caramel, definitely not as sweet as the nose. Some pine, a little dank and earthy, not that fresh hop bite that I was hoping for though. Malts are also not super “fresh”. Still, a solid beer, has all the components to a great winter ale, well balanced, just not perfectly executed.

Carbonation is medium. Has a lighter body, but definitely has body. Bitterness is moderate-high. Not very sweet at all, that bitterness starts to take a firm grasp as the beer warms. A solid mouthfeel.

Drinkability is great. While bitter, this is well balanced and very tasty.

Appearance turned out very nice. Head was nice and the lacing was thick all the way down the glass.

Overall a very solid beer. The hop profile is a little different on the flavor than on the nose, with slightly less of a bite than anticipated; but a nice winter ale regardless.

 

 

 

 

Fulton's Pub. Pretty average winter. I still look forward to it every year. They put out a helluva imperial stout at the Holiday Ale Fest in Portland. But this one is pretty good. Get a lot of pine and malt with some caramel and a little hop bitterness on the end.