Holiday Ale
Two Roads Brewing Company in Stratford, Connecticut, United States 🇺🇸
Farmhouse - Bière de Garde Winter|
Score
6.50
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Holiday Ale is a Biere de Noel, an offshoot of the Biere de Garde style. Traditionally this style was made by just a handful of small farmhouse breweries in France during the few weeks leading up to Christmas. It has a deep malt flavor with notes of treacle, toasted malt, and caramel. The malt character is accented by a mild herbal presence of French Strisselspalt and Aramis hops.
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6.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
22 ounce bottle. Dark Amber with a large frothy beige head. Faint bready malt aroma. Flavor is toasted malt with notes of caramel and baked bread. Some notes of red fruit and toasted nuts. Some spicy hops in finish. Dry bitter notes in aftertaste. Lacks complexity, but OK overall.
Tried
from Bottle
on 22 Dec 2015
at 21:52
7/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 7
Rated as a Biere De Garde, this was poured into a tulip.
The appearance was a dark hazy red to auburn color with a slim one finger white to slim laced foamy head.
The smell has a nice sweet malty to bitter rye profile up front with a fairly decent underscore of spicy rye to sweet rye, nice for the most part.
The taste was moderately sweet with a nice balance to the spice of the rye to slide right on into the aftertaste and into the finish nicely.
On the palate, a nice gentle smooth rye sweet clean feel slides over my tongue very nicely.
Overall, well, if anything, I liked it for me, but I will say, yes, it is a bit maltier for a Biere De Garde for the most part. Still, I could see myself having again.
The appearance was a dark hazy red to auburn color with a slim one finger white to slim laced foamy head.
The smell has a nice sweet malty to bitter rye profile up front with a fairly decent underscore of spicy rye to sweet rye, nice for the most part.
The taste was moderately sweet with a nice balance to the spice of the rye to slide right on into the aftertaste and into the finish nicely.
On the palate, a nice gentle smooth rye sweet clean feel slides over my tongue very nicely.
Overall, well, if anything, I liked it for me, but I will say, yes, it is a bit maltier for a Biere De Garde for the most part. Still, I could see myself having again.
Tried
on 21 Dec 2015
at 14:44
7.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Location: 22 oz bottle from Buy Rite, 11/29/15
Aroma: Bready malts and spice on the aroma, toasted malt, and some herbal hop notes
Appearance: It pours a clear reddish-chestnut brown color with a creamy beige head
Flavor: The taste is malty as well, bready and a little nutty, mid-sweet, lightly herbal / bitter finish
Palate: It has a medium body, leans light, soft carbonation, and a clean, lightly dry close
Overall Impression: Decent winter-spice type of beer here. It has a bit more sweetness than I would have personally preferred, with the spice falling off a bit in the flavor in favor of that sweet, bready malt flavor. I still enjoyed it though.
Aroma: Bready malts and spice on the aroma, toasted malt, and some herbal hop notes
Appearance: It pours a clear reddish-chestnut brown color with a creamy beige head
Flavor: The taste is malty as well, bready and a little nutty, mid-sweet, lightly herbal / bitter finish
Palate: It has a medium body, leans light, soft carbonation, and a clean, lightly dry close
Overall Impression: Decent winter-spice type of beer here. It has a bit more sweetness than I would have personally preferred, with the spice falling off a bit in the flavor in favor of that sweet, bready malt flavor. I still enjoyed it though.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Nov 2015
at 15:02
5.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 5
650 ml bottle shared by friends. Brand new 2014 vintage. Darker ruby color, thin white head. Aroma is cinnamon, nutmeg and Christmas like spice with a thin amount of caramel.
Flavor is thin and all over the place. Traces of yeast with a malty base for the body. Yet it really is on the watery side. Spices come in on the finish, and give very minimal balance for the malt and yeast. Ummmm... Yeah, ok.
Flavor is thin and all over the place. Traces of yeast with a malty base for the body. Yet it really is on the watery side. Spices come in on the finish, and give very minimal balance for the malt and yeast. Ummmm... Yeah, ok.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Dec 2014
at 15:56
3.5/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 5
Flavor 3
Texture 2
Overall 3
Crisp amber and copper coloured body with a thin, one centimetre tall tan head. Aroma of nuts, earth, caramel, toffee, toasted malt, light apples and pears and some light yeast. Medium-bodied; Assertive yeast and malt flavour with a light medicinal and sharp metallic flavour and some assertive grain and deep squash bitterness at the end. Aftertaste shows some depth with more malt and caramel coming out, but there is a big deal of the flavours that are just up in the air, plain bitter and not very enjoyable while others are simply mild and underwhelming. Overall, a pretty poor offering with not real flavours, no complexity, no style definition and not enjoyable at all. This definitely was NOT a biere de garde and was more like an amber ale than anything else, and not a good one at that. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from Stop & Save Liqours in Newtown, Connecticut on 27-November-2013 for US$5.99 sampled at home in Washington on 24-February-2014.
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Feb 2014
at 22:21