Polishing Off Christmas Beer Season

Did I say I only had 2 Christmas beers left? Turns out there were more. Rather than belabor the holiday beers, I figured I’d just finish them off, all in one post.

  • Mikkeller Red/White Christmas – Inspired by the colors of Christmas, red and white, Mikkeller made this combination between an Imperial Red Ale (i.e. the Red) Belgian Wit (i.e. the White). Is this anything more than a gimmick? Well, I’ll tell you, if there’s wheat in this beer, I couldn’t detect it (and only found out about it after the fact), but there are spices added. Of course, the spices are subtle, but there’s definitely something going on here. Whatever the case, it’s a pretty great beer:

    Mikkeller Red White Christmas

    Pours a dark reddish brown color with fluffy head and tons of lacing on the glass afterwards. Smell is fully of earthy hops and citrus, maybe a little pine. The taste is sweet with a spicy bite and a well balanced hop bitterness in the finish. The hoppiness trends towards the citrus and pine, and as the beer warms, some complexities emerge in the taste as well. Mouthfeel is great, smooth and eminently drinkable. I was taking pretty big swigs of this one. Surprisingly medium to full bodied, with lots of complexity. It’s not quite Yule Smith, but it was quite enjoyable. B+ (Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV on tap. Drank out of a tulip glass on 12/29/11.)

  • Ridgeway Reindeer’s Revolt – A Christmas gift from my brother (apparently picked out by my nieces, as they liked the funny looking reindeer on the label). As it turns out, I’ve sampled this before, but neglected to rate it. I was pretty middle of the road on it in that context (a larger tasting with lots of other beers), but by itself, well, it just didn’t stand up. Pours a clear orange amber color with a very small amount of bubbly head. Aroma is very English pale ale to me – bready, a little citrus, maybe even some raisins… but there’s also some buttery diacetyl notes (typically something that doesn’t go over well with me). Taste is sweet, a little bready, with some light caramel/toffee flavors there, but I can never seem to get past the prominent buttery diacetyl in these beers. Mouthfeel is ok, maybe a little light on carbonation, but smooth and drinkable. The beer gets slightly better as it warms up, but this was still disappointing. C- (Beer Nerd Details: 6% ABV bottled (500 ml capped). Drank out of a tulip glass on 12/29/11.)
  • Ridgeway Pickled Santa – Another Christmas gift from my brother. Ridgeway is a brewery that makes 22 beers, and I swear, half of them are Christmas beers. 11 Christmas beers. And most of them seem to be mediocre at best, this one not being an exception. It’s definitely better than the Reindeer’s Revolt – more spicy, more head, less diacetyl – but there’s nothing particularly special about this beer either. C+ (Beer Nerd Details: 6% ABV bottled (500 ml capped). Drank out of a tulip glass on 12/29/11.)

So there you have it. That wraps up this year’s Christmas beer blogging extravaganza. Regular beer blogging will resume next week, and boy did I have a doozy to start the new year off right!

2 thoughts on “Polishing Off Christmas Beer Season”

  1. That Red/White sounds tasty.

    And you are dedicated, man. I wouldn’t have had the fortitude to give that reindeer beer a C-. I probably would have wimped out, not reviewed it, and lied to my brother and niece about how it was good. 🙂 Hardcore, man. Hardcore.

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  2. I’ve never had anything bad from Mikkeller – always solid stuff. If you don’t mind paying through the nose, which you sometimes have to do.

    I, uh, may not have finished the entire bottle of the Reindeer beer. But still, I drank at least half of it, and it wasn’t the worst beer ever. But yeah, I wasn’t really looking forward to that one.

    They also got me a Clown Shoes Lubrication beer that I’m actually looking forward to though:p

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