Holiday Spice
Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States 🇺🇸
Spiced / Herbed / Vegetable / Honey - Spiced Regular|
Score
6.62
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Timed to coincide with the holiday season, a very special lager is brewed with honey, oranges, and spices. This beer uses two pounds of honey per pound of malt in its brew, making it an exceptional fortified holiday specialty beer which will keep for years. The spices and hops balance the sweetness of the honey and malt to give this lightly hopped beer its perfect flavor.
Alcohol ABV varies from 9.5% to 11% each year
Alcohol ABV varies from 9.5% to 11% each year
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12oz can pours a murky amber, huge white head. Nose is huge with booze and raisin and baking spice. Flavor has a lot of apples over the malt body, spices, ginger. Full bodied and spicy. Full, sweet.
Tried
from Can
on 21 Sep 2025
at 20:47
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Keg at Whole Foods Wauwatosa, 12/18/18. Clear amber, thin fizzy off-white head, good retention. Aroma of toffee, cherry, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, an oak-like note. Coulda sworn this was barrel aged but the tap list didn't indicate it and I forgot to ask the bartender. Taste is vanilla, toffee, spice, ginger, nutmeg. Full bodied, low carb, hot. 2018 vintage is 9.4%.
Tried
from Draft
on 22 Dec 2018
at 21:07
5.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 5
Flavor 5
Texture 8
Overall 5.5
Hotel room breakfast tasting with Jack & Leighton, Hilton Tampa, 22/02/15. Chestnut brown with a decent beige covering. Nose is dark malt, toffee, figs, spice, clove, light nana. Taste comprises butterscotch, banoffee pie, fudge, sticky toffee, clove, light smoke, sweet and sour notes. Medium + body, fine carbonation, semi drying close. Ok for style I guess but considering the ABV this is a let down.
Tried
on 30 May 2015
at 08:25
8.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
12 ounce bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 10/29/2014. Pours lightly hazy/cloudy deep ruby red color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big caramel, brown sugar, honey, toast, brown bread, plum, fig, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, and herbal/spice earthiness. Damn nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready malt, spices, and dark fruit notes; with good strength. Taste of big caramel, brown sugar, honey, toast, brown bread, plum, fig, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, and herbal/spice earthiness. Slight spice bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, brown sugar, honey, toast, brown bread, plum, fig, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and herbal/spice earthiness on the finish for a while. Damn nice complexity and robustness of dark/bready malt, spices, and dark fruit flavors; with a great malt/spice balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a very smooth, fairly creamy, and lightly slick/sticky mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is fairly well hidden with a small-moderate warming present after the finish. Overall this is an excellent winter spiced ale. All around great robustness, complexity, and balance of dark/bready malt, spices, and dark fruit flavors; and very smooth to sip on for the big ABV. A very enjoyable offering.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Mar 2015
at 20:43
7/10
Tried
on 19 Sep 2014
at 19:47
8.2/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
Bottle poured into a shaker. Pours a dark brown with a finger of off-white head. Aroma of citrus, nutmeg and cinnamon. Taste is similar. The nutmeg and cinnamon really come through in the finish. Full bodied with a thick, creamy texture. Lively carbonation and a very long finish. Awesome beer. I grab me some every year.
Tried
from Bottle
on 09 Apr 2014
at 19:51
7.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Pours a dark ruby - moderate lace - the spices are pretty heavy in the nose, especially the orange peel and clove, but these actually work pretty well with the earthy, complex sweetness of the honey - a slight melanoidin richness adds additional depth - creamy texture - rich clover honey flavor - spices seem a little overdone at first - strong clove, especially - but they don’t seem as assertive as the beer warms, and settle into the honey and sweet malts a bit - cinnamon adds an interesting spicy kick late - finish of candied orange peel and nutmeg at the finish, along with some rich maltiness - quite sweet, but a nice beer none-the-less.
Tried
from Can
on 05 Jan 2014
at 19:43
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Draft. Boozy caramel malt aroma (a bit medicinal while it was cold). Dark brown with moderate head. Sweet orange-caramel malt and bourbon flavor. Very smooth and nice. One of the better Christmas beers.
Tried
from Draft
on 10 Dec 2013
at 16:35
6.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
12 oz bottle that was part of the Winter 2012 World Market 9 pack, courtesy of my in-laws. The pour is brown copper with a small light tan head. The aroma is cinnamon, sweet fruit (maybe apple cranberry), and quite heavy on the holiday spices. The taste is big on the potpourri spice of the nose, along with the cinnamon and the sweetness from the fruit. The palate is medium bodied, soft carbonation, lingering spice in the finish. Alcohol present in the finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Apr 2013
at 13:17
2.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 3
Flavor 2
Texture 4
Overall 1.5
OK, let’s celebrate the holiday spice lager beer at easter. A darker beer and it smells overtly of spices, quite obtuse. Makes me nervous about the taste. From a bottle there is no head. Big crappy clovey, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloying tasting thrashing machine. Wew, what else can be said. Not hardly impressed by the holiday spiced series of beers, any of them. Almost unsweetened vanilla extract background begins to stick its ugly head thru. Rude bullshit medicine finish, approaches gag reflex. I guess being an older bottle makes it worse. Glad to taste it but will not ever purchase again, as with most of these holiday spiced beers.
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Mar 2013
at 10:48