The Mad Elf
Tröegs Brewing Company

 

 

 

Cold bottle into a snifter. Reasonable foam settles down fast.
Aroma is festive spiced cherry pie.
Tastes like winter in Maryland. Spicy and sweet, a tad of tartness too. Alcohol makes a big noise.,.
Feel is medium to thick, medium carbonation.
Overall, nothing to complain about., big and bouncy boozy beer. Good shyt.,.

 

333 ml bottle
Freshest By 07/10/2023
Consumed On: 08 March, 2023
Glass: Troeg's 0.4 L Tulip
ABV: 11%

Look:
Clear amber with bubbles continuously rising. A 1-finger hight beige/light tan head quickly dissolves to a ring and filmy cover leaving OK lacing.

Aroma:
Fruity, sweet, and a touch spicy. Tons of cherries with honey and candi sugar. A light note of cinnamon with a hint of cloves and some baking spices.

Taste:
What is in the aroma is here. The sweet cherries and the candi sugar are more pronounced. The cinnamon and other spices are quite a bit sharper. The sip dries slightly and does not get cloying but it is certainly sweet and spicy. The alcohol is not hidden and provides a noticeable boozy note.

Feel:
Sharp but also syrupy. Warm to hot from the alcohol. The body is medium-light.

Overall:
This is not my favorite BDSA nor my favorite Troeg's offering, but this makes a decent winter warmer. If you like sweet, fruity, and boozy beers, this one is for you.

My ratings reflect this beer as Holiday beer or a Winter Warmer (which is what Mad Elf really is). I would rate this much lower as the BSDA that it is currently listed as.

I didn't like it as much as a I thought I would, but it was still pretty good.

(Freshest by 07/15/2023); Pours an opaque reddish copper into a Samuel Smith Imperial pint glass with a thin tannish head that fizzes and dissipates quickly leaving no lacing. Malts & cherry forward in the nose with a nice sweet earthy aroma to boot. Taste follows nose with a tart velvety finish. Very slight carbonation with the spicy Belgian yeast mid tongue, a syrupy mouth and noticeable alcohol burn, but hey @ 11% ABV it's hard to hide. This has been a staple in my beer fridge around the holidays for many moons. Always enjoy kicking back with a couple of these on cold winter nights.

 

 

1/14/23 poured from 12oz bottle purchased from Troegs gift shop.

Color is a beautiful reddish copper.

Aroma: cherry, raisin, malt, honey. Dave can pick out the Belgian yeast!

Bright effervescence and smooth silkiness in the mouth

Taste is tart cherry, malt, clove, and it's boozy, almost "hot"with alcohol. Slight metallic finish on the sides of the mouth.

Not our favorite, but it's decent. Enjoy the mix they have on tap if the Grand Cacoa and Mad Elf.

 

 

Awesome, my favorite.

 

 

 

Well this was something else. I feel like this is like when you read the recommended dosage on cold meds and say, yeah but I'm really sick, and take more. Then it knocks you out. Same thing here. It says it's full of cherries and you say, well yeah it's probably a little tart but it's a belgian dark strong ale so giddy up. Then it knocks you out with tart cherries, and that 11%.