It’s time to rerate this beast... and boy, look how cheap a bomber used to be. Don’t have my itemized receipt, but it was a few bucks for a 12 oz single at Market Street Wine Shop Uptown. Pours amber with a small, soft beige head. Aroma of grapefruit, light pine. Flavor is still outstanding: vanilla, citrus hops, caramel, sweet dark fruits. Still good after all these years. ____________ original rating from 11/18/04: Paid $3.99 for a 650ml bottle. Rubious red in color with a large, frothy tanish-red head. Smells like a luscious American IPA. Lots of grapefruit and pine... nearly pefect. Flavor is outstanding... Hoppy as hell... amazingly hoppy! Lots of pine, with a hint of soapiness, but not too much, and very drinkable! Wonderful amount of carbonation that feels nice in the mouth. An amazing brew! Tastes like a tremendous IPA, and probably should be categorized as such.

Bottle Pours a clear redish copper color with a huge sandy head that lasts forever. Aroma is mainly hops like an IPA quite citurs and some malt as well. Flavor is more of a woddy malt with some pine and vanilla. Feel is somewhat thin and the after taste is more IPAish with a bitter hops bite.

Pours a deep red. Aroma is cocoa and hops. Flavor is a wet hop spice combo. Very tasty aftertaste, kinda citrus and pine like an IPA. Very good stuff. This must be what Santa drinks after the milk and cookies.

Reddish brown,lasting beige head.Good deep hop nose.Hoppy throughout with very long finish, lots of balancing malt

3/14/2004 : Nutty brown ale, with sharp bitterness from the malt, good hops to balance this good body with enough complexity. 6-3-6-3-14 Dec. 2004: Lightly hazy red copper with off white head. Light sweet malt and restrained c-hops with citrus notes. Crisp sweet malt with nice sustained bitterness, caramel and grapefruits. Rich creamy body. 7-3-7-4-14

Bottle. A dark brown and reddish beer with a medium beige head on top. The aroma is of good pine mixed with some sweet malts. The flavor has strong hop bitterness with a bit of a roasty malt base. Definately more in the grapefruit and pine taste than a balanced beer, but there's enough of a complex malt backbone so that it doesn't seem out of place in this dark beer - well, maybe you need to be a hophead to think that. As you keep drinking there is some spicey flavor to it, but very subtle and can easily get lost with the hops. The hop flavor just stays forever.

A tasty red ale, with a very nice citrus bite. Pours like Rudolph's glowing nose, with minimal head and slight lacing. Aroma is earthy and hoppy with notes of prune and caramel. Very rich flavor- plenty of hops bitterness, but with raisin, prunes, and breadiness mingling with citrus. If the hops were toned down this would rate as excellent, not merely very good.

2003 Batch:
Dark copper colour with a dense off-white head. Aroma of hops, caramel and brown sugar. Medium-bodied; Definite water taste-initially hoppy-fading to a spice finish. Aftertaste clean and a bit spicey with some hints of tea! Overall, not really worth drinking-same as all the other Rogue Beers! I sampled this from a 65 cL bottle provided by Haddon90 (Phil) purchased from Norm's in Vienna, Virginia. I sampled this bottle on 28-November-2003. Score for this rating: 6,4,6,2,12.

2002 Batch:
This is the 2002 bottle with a different picture on the front (compared to the picture). The colour is dark red and dark amber...very nice looking with a good tan head with huge bubbles. The smell is simply great. Smells like a nice IPA mixed with a barley wine. Full bodied, the hop bitterness is very strong initially, but calms down to a malt flavour after a bit. I was hoping for a more complex beer, but this one is pretty simple. If you like the bittering factor of hops that leaves your mouth dry and waiting to take another sip, definately try this one. Seriously, not that bad, but not as complex as I was hoping for. I had this in a 22 ounce bottle purchased from Beers of the World in Rochester, New York. Score for this rating: 8,4,7,3,13.

Whoa, Santa sure likes his hops. This reminds me quite a bit of sierra nevada celebration ale, but not quite as good. It''s hoppy, bitter finish just doesn''t sit right with me, but everything else about this beer is great.

Rich grapefruity and pine aroma. Dark red-amber and large tan head. Nice caramel sweetness up front, quickly followed by spicy and citric hop flavors and then a solid finishing bitterness.