Distinctive Holiday Ale (2025)
(Batch of Distinctive Holiday Ale)
Cloudburst Brewing in Seattle, Washington, United States 🇺🇸
Spiced / Herbed / Vegetable / Honey Winter|
Score
7.11
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Canned on 11/18/25
Spiced Winter Warmer
The day Sapporo decided to close Anchor Brewing was a sad, sad day. But a few weeks prior to that, they announced the discontinuation of their Special Ale (aka Christmas Ale), and that was a mad, MAD day. We get that a spiced winter warmer is not an easy sell (LIKE, PLEASE BUY THIS BEER) but that version was essentially canonized. It was always rich in malt and interesting in flavor - often spiced, but never with the same combination - and packaged in an iconic bottle (or magnum) with a new label every year. If that beer was to no longer exist…well, what does that say about…um…the storied winter seasonal beer market? And thus, we put it upon ourselves to create a similar rendition, filling that glaring, singular hole on the shelf at your favorite bottle shop. A beer of malts, hops, spices, joy and cheer. A beer you can drink one can of, leave a second can in the back of your fridge, bring the other 2 cans over to your friends house so they can drink one can and regift the other one. So watch out, seasonal shelf turds - it’s another year for our new Special Ale in town and it’s our Distinctive Holiday Ale.
Spiced Winter Warmer
The day Sapporo decided to close Anchor Brewing was a sad, sad day. But a few weeks prior to that, they announced the discontinuation of their Special Ale (aka Christmas Ale), and that was a mad, MAD day. We get that a spiced winter warmer is not an easy sell (LIKE, PLEASE BUY THIS BEER) but that version was essentially canonized. It was always rich in malt and interesting in flavor - often spiced, but never with the same combination - and packaged in an iconic bottle (or magnum) with a new label every year. If that beer was to no longer exist…well, what does that say about…um…the storied winter seasonal beer market? And thus, we put it upon ourselves to create a similar rendition, filling that glaring, singular hole on the shelf at your favorite bottle shop. A beer of malts, hops, spices, joy and cheer. A beer you can drink one can of, leave a second can in the back of your fridge, bring the other 2 cans over to your friends house so they can drink one can and regift the other one. So watch out, seasonal shelf turds - it’s another year for our new Special Ale in town and it’s our Distinctive Holiday Ale.
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7.9
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
From Good Times Oakland, canned November 18th 2025.
It pours a clear dark amber a solid finger of foam. Retention and lacing are top notch.
The smell is spicy with the most noticeable being nutmeg. There's caramel malt, allspice, on the sweet side but not really sweet.
The taste is nutmeg, allspice, caramel malt, sweet but yet again, not overly sweet. Very little bitterness here with the spicing dominating the entire session.
Medium bodied, I would certainly drink this again. It's very good.
Tried
from Can
on 12 Dec 2025
at 14:31
7.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
Tao at Smike Eaters.
Tried
on 03 Dec 2025
at 00:45