Santa Caws
Bombastic Brewing

Pitch black with no head. Big chocolate and orange aroma and flavor; very dessert-like. Nice balance of flavors. Very light bodied for 10.5%; possibly due to undercarbonation/flatness.

L: Dark brown body, lighter brown single finger head.
S: The candied orange jumps out immediately, more aromatic and floral than medicinal. It’s a bit like the perfuminess of smoke from a good cigar. Notes of toasted cocoa, vanilla, and caramel follow.
T: Follows the nose. Candied orange peel upfront, light and floral but quite present, rolling into cocoa and tobacco. Flavors of nutmeg, vanilla, dates, orange blossom, baking chocolate, orange candy, and black tea. Growing bitterness through the finish
F: Quite smooth, a bit thin, with a bit of warmth on the finish.
O: I dig the aromatic, candy like orange flavors, and the cocoa pairing is done superbly. Very well balanced, and it drinks surprisingly light for the quality of flavors— in fact, my only complaint would be that it’s a bit too light.

With one of my favorite flavor combinations this had a good chance of being a beer I loved. It’s like drinking a Terry’s dark chocolate orange. Smooth, tasty, not too overwhelming, I’m getting more in for Christmas! However, I do agree with other reviewers in that the body could be a little fuller.

Review: 2438
Name: Santa Caws
Brewery: Bombastic Brewing
Location: Hayden, ID
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 10.5%
Canned: Unknown
Date: 30 June 2025
Some of Bombastic Brewing's beers are stellar, while others fall short of expectations. I am looking forward to this beer; chocolate and orange do not sound tasty to me, but I am willing to give it a try. I am using a tulip glass, and the beer is served at a temperature of 50 degrees. The pour created a foamy, one-fingered tan head with poor retention. The quick dissipation left no lacing on the glass. The beer's color is dark brown, nearly black, with an SRM of 32, and is mostly opaque. The appearance of the beer is average; I was expecting better head retention.
Nosing the glass, I detect notes of char, orange, dark chocolate, coffee, molasses, nutmeg, earthiness, dark roasted malts, malty sweetness, and subtle char.
The flavors start with oranges, chocolate, and nutmeg. Sipping the beer again, I taste dark roasted malts, char, slight bitterness, molasses, caramel, raisins, and earthiness.
The mouthfeel is coating with a light and bitter finish. The body is medium-plus and has low carbonation.
Final Thought: Santa Caws falls short of my expectations. The nutmeg is perfect; any more, and this beer would be awful. What was not ideal was the combination of orange and chocolate. Those two flavors got lost in the stout. Overall, I was not impressed with this beer. Not being an orange chocolate person, I could appreciate a beer with stronger orange and chocolate flavors.

Can dated 10/2/24, courtesy of @muchloveforhops3

Pours pitch black with one finger of creamy, mocha-colored head that dissipates in minutes and leaves pockets of webby lacing. Smell is chocolate, orange soda (Sunkist, Crush, Fanta, take your bias pick), trace vanilla. There is also a slight holiday spice note on the nose (reading the can after-the-fact, nutmeg listed). Taste echos much of the nose with chocolate and orange soda playing off each other. Mouthfeel is moderately carbonated, body is thinner than I would like for an impy, but creamy. Finish concludes with a lovely bitterness that turns sweet and a hint of holiday spice. If you told me 10.5% abv I would say no as it certainly drinks under. That said, this would benefit from a thicker body IMHO. Whether more chocolate/orange was added to amplify things, who knows, but the nutmeg is 100% maxed for what it adds and anything more would likely be off-putting.

Pours an effervescent Mahogany with one finger of mocha colored head. No head retention or lacing, pretty viscous

S: Plenty of orange, some chocolate & vanilla, Orange Liqueur once all warmed up

T: Follows the nose, some booze on the edges, along with a little roastyness, & a hint of smokeyness up front, some woody hops way in the background. Some cinnamon & nutmeg showing up as this beer warms up, milk chocolate and oranges as well. Finishes with a little orange peel infused booze, some chocolate & a little vanilla & dryness

MF: Medium body, moderate carbonation, fairly warming

Love Terry's Orange Slices, this is knocking on the door of that, the orange needed to be a tad sweeter & the chocolate a little richer. Drinkability is lovely. Was on the verge of loving this, body not quite there

SAmpling a 16 oz can poured into a small tuliped stemless snifter at cellar temp. Date stamp is 10/2024. Actual day is illegible.
the beer pours a black coffee color and a fizzy beige head foams up about 1 cm and fades slowly till there is nothing left in my glass a few minutes into the sampling.
Not really any lattice, but I do see some "legs" on the glass when I swirl the beer.
Aroma is some milk chocolate , a little bit of nutmeg and hints of citrus. No hop character and not really boozy either. the nose is pretty much what I would expect.
First sip reveals a medium body with smooth texture and very fine tingly yet gentle carbonation. Finish is a little thinner feel and the beer is gone quickly down the gullet!
Flavor is milk chocolate and some sweet orange flavor, like the pulp in the fruit. Sort of artificial tasting, but certainly orange notes that linger after the swallow. This does taste like the chocolate orange candy you can get at Christmas. We had these for our kids this past year so the flavor is fresh on my palate! :)
Still no hop character and there is only a faint warming on the swallow that reveals the booziness.
This is a tasty and drinkable beer, that delivers pretty much what I expected by reading the description. I would drink this again around Christmas time if given the opportunity. Fun twist on an imperial stout. Glad to have tried it.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque in the glass with a thin khaki head that dissipates to sparse patches with light lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, orange zest, milk chocolate and a touch of nutmeg. Flavor is dark toasted malt with a hint of char, milk chocolate, orange peel and dark chocolate. Chocolatey orange finish with light spice. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. To my taste, they really nailed the classic Terry's orange ball, both in the aroma and taste. I always liked those and although the aroma was more milk chocolate, the taste is more dark chocolate, which is my preference. I appreciate that while this has good chocolate and fruit notes, it not that sweet. I like dessert leaning stouts that are fairly dry. I'm leary of fruit in stouts and ended up liking this quite a bit more than I expected. Although I bought this as new arrival at the store, it appears it has 4 months on, dated 10/24. It handled the time fine. Bombastic is making stout to my taste, kudos. Festive and flavorful.

 

 

Acquired a can from @muchloveforhops3 on 2-16-24, thanks Doug! Shared the can at poker night on 5-13-24.

This was an interesting beer as i got orange, sarsaparilla, and chocolate with the flavor profile. Definitely a fun beer to try!

Appearance: Pours coffee colored with a quickly fading tan cap; drizzles lacing

Smell: Chocolate and orange tones with a burst of rind; the nutmeg brings a holiday spice aspect

Taste: The orange and orange zest flavors dominate, from the outset; some chocolate, underneath, adds a balancing sweetness; nutmeg adds holiday spices to the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium body with low to moderate carbonation

Overall: The concept is good but the recipe cries out for more chocolate and a bigger mouthfeel

Thanks, JohnGalt1, for the opportunity

Canned on: 11-6-23

Many thanks to muchloveforhops3 for this can!

A - Black pour with thin toffee colored lacing and very delicate carbonation.

S - Chocolate malt and resiny orange dominate the nose.

T - Palate follows the nose with chocolate and resiny mandarin orange (orange dominating most of the experience) with chocolate finally poking through at the very end and ends on the sweeter side with delicate bitterness and alcohol presence.

M - Big silky body, leaves a sticky residue on the lips, and light warming in the back of the throat.

O - Big resiny orange and chocolate.

16oz can purchased at Total Wine, on Spokane, WA's northside, for some dollars sometime last week. According to the extremely blurred stamp on the bottom rim of the can, this was canned on November 24,2023. The label States this was brewed at Payette Brewing Company, in Boise, so it appears Bombastic is still contract brewing.

Poured into a large Fremont snifter, this was a deep, dark brown color, virtually black. Modest mocha-tan head. Said head retreated to a very thin ring in very little time.

Orangey and chocolatey nose, in that order. Smells good, but also somewhat restrained. I was expecting something a bit more brash, but it's not a bad thing.

The orange flavoring definitely sticks out more in the taste than in the nose, at the expense of other qualities. I think I can pick out a bit of nutmeg as mentioned in the description, and there's a vague chocolate flavor deep in the background, but this is dominated by orange flavor.

Fairly thin, watery mouth feel. Given the style, I was expecting something a bit more substantial.

Well, it definitely hides its alcohol well. Besides that, I'm really not getting a whole lot out of this one. Live and learn.

16oz can from a brewery whose stouts I typically respect; pours fairly dark brown and sits opaque black in the glass with a very small ring of khaki head. Unique combination of orange/orange peel aromas and flavors on this one, combining with nutmeg and other seasonal spices and some roasty bittersweet dark chocolate. Fairly smooth and creamy with some minimal palatable alcohol presence, this one is pretty good.

Santa Caws from Bombastic Brewing. From @muchloveforhops3 in BSBIF #1, 16 fl oz can. Reviewed 10/01/24 (Review 3215). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped over bottom rim of can “??/??/2023”. Stored at 34 degrees F at home. Served at 57.7 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 64.5 degrees F.
Appearance 4.
First pour: Amber Brown (SRM 18), clear.
Body: Black (SRM 40), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, same with slight penetration at the edges – amber.
Head: Large (Maximum 4.5 cm, aggressive center pour), wheat, high density, short retention, dropping to a uniform 0.25 cm crown and a thin partial cap.
Lacing: None.
Aroma: 4.25 Begins with orange and roasted malt. No hops, no yeast, no alcohol (10.5% ABV).
Flavor: 4.25 Begins mildly sweet with a hint of orange, followed by light chocolate and a hint of spiciness (according to the blurb on the can, it’s nutmeg, but I can’t confirm). No hops, no yeast. Slight ethanol on the aftertaste with orange dominating an occasional belch.
Palate: 4 Medium; somewhat creamy; lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4.25 Very enjoyable impy stout – not fantastic but a solid, tasty example of the style which I’m enjoying. Thanks Doug!

16oz can from Boise Co-op. Near black pour with a filmy beige head. Savory/ sweet aroma, root beer, ginger, orange, not your typical winter spice. Taste is orange, ginger, clove, chocolate. Really, really smooth. I'm enjoying this immensely. My only Christmas wish is for a thicker body on this brew