Christmas Ale
Gritty McDuff's in Portland, Maine, United States 🇺🇸
Bitter - ESB / Strong Bitter Regular|
Score
6.66
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jgb9348 (11828) reviewed Christmas Ale from Gritty McDuff's 18 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5
Deep amber coloured body with a tint of brown and a very thin off-white head. Aroma of malt, caramel, nuts, pit fruits and some spices. Medium-bodied; Potent hoppiness up front with a good malt backbone coupled with a light amount of spices. Aftertaste shows a little hops, but nothing special - nor ESB-like. More malt and caramel follows with not much else. Overall, a decent beer - I can’t see what the hoopla is about, it isn’t a good ESB at all in my book. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased from Oliver’s in Albany, New York on 26-May-2007 on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
beastiefan2k (4724) reviewed Christmas Ale from Gritty McDuff's 18 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
12 oz bottle best before October’07. Small head, color is dark dark amber. A clear beer but dark enough to allow only medium visibility. Aroma is good strong maltiness with candied sugar surrounding a slightly coffee-ish biscuit. Some vanilla in there as well. A nice supped up ESB. Taste starts of with a plain ESB biscuit but finishes strong with that candied sugar coffee like biscuit. Aftertaste is slightly roasty. Just a hint of bitterness at the end to round it out. A very nice brew, sipper, returnable and recommended.
BoiseBrewBlog (9108) reviewed Christmas Ale from Gritty McDuff's 20 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6
Bottle Poured a murkey brown, like unfilterd apple cider, very enthusiastic sandy colored head and heavy lacing. Aromas of fermented apples, pitted fruit, pears, some cinnimon and a very pleasant earthy note as well. Flavor was almost hard to percive through the electric carbonation. Felt like I was back in the late 70’s with pop-rocks. Woody, plain flavors low on the hops and a noticeable alcohol flavor. Slightly bitter papery aftertaste.
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Christmas Ale from Gritty McDuff's 20 years ago
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
2005, best before Nov 2006 bottle consumed on 12/4/05. Pours a deep garnet-auburn-magenta with some dark tan-brown hues. Carbonation is fizzy and high, forming a moderate amount of beige head that is poorly retained and quickly dissipates to a ring, leaving little to no lacing. Aroma of sugar plums, dates, raisins, toasted malt and dry toffee, with a light amount of cherry-like fruits and a touch of vanilla-cream-like sugars. Some light floral hops add a touch of bitterness but are otherwise not very apparent in the nose. The flavor shows a touch of diacetyl, though it is quickly passing and turns in to a more creamy-sweet malt and then just a light caramel-raisin-date sugariness, with a touch of fruitiness lingering. Fair amount of bitterness on the finish, but almost no hop flavor. Bitterness seems almost medicinal at the end, or possibly just astringent. No alcohol apparency. Medium body, very sugary and simple overall, with little malt complexity. Texture is overcarbonated and watery on the end, very filtered and lifeless beer, slips over the mouth providing little substantial chewiness or fat malts. Just slick sugariness. Didnt finish it.