Bottle. Cherry malt and hops aroma. Red amber color with small head. Sweet cherry malt flavor initially quickly overwhelmed by hops flavor. Another very nice strong ale from Rogue.

Poured a perfect clear amber color with creamy tan head. Nice lacing left behind. The aroma is light with sweet caramel malts and sweet citrus/pine hops. The flavor is top heavy with pine and sweeter grapefruit hops that increase in power as the taste progresses. By the end of the sip your palate is getting ran sacked by hops. As my taste buds adjusted to the assault I could pick up faint murmurs of sweet malt trickling through a field of hops. The hop flavor evened out a bit by about the middle of the 22oz bomber. Maybe this one could age a bit to allow the sharp hops to soften up and allow for a bit more maltiness and balance.

Hoppy, very hoppy. I didn’t figure as much since when I got it I expected a more "holiday flavor", but I enjoyed it. Sweet flavors with a very grapefruity and hoppy flavor. Sometimes I wish I could get these in 12oz instead of the bombers, but hey, I enjoyed it none the less.

(Draught at Akkurat, Stockholm, 8 Dec) Dark amber colour with firm, rocky, off-white head. Hoppy nose with notes of chocolate and pine needles. Very fresh hop aromas. Fruity, grassy taste with a distinctly hoppy character. Notes of grapefruit, chocolate, toffee and caramel. Dry, hoppy (but not really bitter) finish. Complex, surprisingly dry with a dominant, but well balanced, hop character. Lovely!

Bottle conditioned. Pours a hazy dark amber to brown color; the head disappears quickly, but leaves clogs of foam on the surface.The aroma is very nice, at first impression, with malt and some hops from the West Coast. The mouthfeel is thinner than expected, with a dominant caramel flavor, carrying some malt, light liquorice and soy sauce too, and with a very high hopping, leading to a bitter and long final, not without qualities.

Pours a dark amber into a shaker. Significant mocha-colored micro head leaves spider lacing as it slowly recedes. Resin aromas. Crisp with upfront sweet malt and a lasting bitter pine and citrus finish.

BottleL Deep amber brown color with a plump off-white head. Aroma is mostly hops, with some sweet malts and earthiness. The taste is full of hops, citrus, and malt. A nice strong ale with a potent hops kick.

Brownish color with a nice dense one-finger high head. Aromas are wintery... spices and maybe some orange peel with a hops backbone to it. A nice sweet caramel scenting is present as well. Flavor is a different matter. First the good... there is a wonderful hops presence at the end that leaves you with a nice bitter pucker. You can sense it coming, but it gets lost for a while and then comes on strong as an aftertaste. That said, getting there is quite a journey. The flavor leading up to the hops burst is watery at best. Mouthfeel is very thin and doesn’t balance well with the aromas. As a whole Santa has some nice qualities, but really doesn’t do a good job pulling all of his reindeer together. Alright... that was lame, I admit. I guess that what I’m tying to say is that this beer really doesn’t come together nicely... but rather is a collection of a bunch of nice scents and flavors that are largely disconnected.

12oz Bottle Pours out a dark brown with some red in it as well. topped with a very nice thick off white head. A Great hop aroma along with a nice hop tast.

Bottle; hoppy, caramelly nose; Rusty amber with a good tan head; flavor is hoppy bitterness with some caramel notes. The finish is hop bitternessin a medium mouthfeel.