Saturday, January 26, 2013

A Year of Craft Beer, Vol. 26, Goose Island Christmas Ale

Check out this pint glass!

Points for a crimp top bottle!

I poured this beer at about 58 degrees into this pint glass.  I don't know what kind of pint glass it's called.  The color is a red and super clear!  I read a bunch of reviews all saying theirs was cloudy from the bottle.  Chill haze?  Did they pour in the mud?  I don't know.  I'm thinking their beer was much colder and had the chill haze to it.

The head was thin and a light reddish tan that stayed throughout the drink.

It is classified as a brown ale and is apparently more!  There has to be cherry in here as it is quite apparent in the nose which is also malty mixed with caramel.  It's also described as bready.  I wouldn't have picked that up unless I read it, but I do catch a little of that as well.

As you drink it, you are hit with the bittering hops that melt away to malty cherries, then hops again, then a great Black Cherry Wishniak Franks soda!  It may also be a bit hot with alcohol.  The beer is fairly carbonated which makes the cherry stand out and maybe gives it a little peppery end.  The beer finishes slightly bitter dry over top of sweet.  It's kind of weird, like they are fighting each other.

Full bodied and a smooth mouthfeel with a bit of carbonation overload with some noticeable alcohol.

All in all, I really super like this beer!  I don't like the brewery, but this is a good beer.

Personally I would give this beer an 8.  To be professional about it, I would give it the same or slightly higher...  8.75 or so.

I would totally recommend this beer to most everyone as it is not over the top hoppy, but they have to like some hop to like this beer as it is balanced but not mixed like sometimes when you are using taps from an old sink and you want warm water so you turn on the hot and the cold faucets and out the spout comes hot and cold water that hasn't mixed and you feel both the hot and the cold but it's not really warm?  Let me know if you have ever experienced that.  It's pretty cool actually and so is this beer.

I would call that complex!  OK, 9!

-Fish




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