Last night was not a very Christmas-y evening with mild temperatures and drizzling rain - a night I will take over twenty degrees and snow any night of the year. Regardless of the deceptive weather it is a fact that Christmas is a mere eleven days away, and so with that in mind I popped the cap on a bottle of Schlafly Christmas Ale and forced myself into the holiday spirit for you, the reader.
The first thing you will notice about the Christmas Ale from our good friends in St. Louis is the heavy spice aroma - it smells like a batch of cinnamon sugar cookies. Point of note here that the aroma and flavor are dead on similar and so there are going to be those drinkers who love the heaviness of the spice and feel it is very fitting for the style and season, and there are going to be those who feel it is a little over done and that the spice is too dominant. I love cinnamon and so I found it to be quite inviting and an enjoyable sipping beer. There are not going to be too many food pairings that this brew will match up with and so drinking it as a dessert beer or a sipping beer while sitting around enjoying holiday company are going to be your best bets. Touting an ABV of 8% the brewers did an excellent job of concealing the alcohol taste as I could really detect none, but the alcohol and spice definitely provide a nice warming sensation.
Schlafly's Christmas Ale is positively a beer worth trying if you enjoy spicy, malty beers. The readers of Ratebeer.com give it a cumulative score of 85 while their cohorts at Beeradvocate.com toss a solid B rating its way. While it's not a beer that I think I could drink more than two of at any one sitting, I'm not sure its a beer that you should with the alcohol content being what it is. However, if you have some lingering guests who will just not leave, a few more of these might put you in just the right frame of mind to let your "holiday cheer" shine through.
Santa, this Christmas I would like more followers, if you could have them "Like" the Lville Beer Facebook page or have them follow me on Twitter and Foursquare I'd be the happiest little boy in town. However, I cannot promise that I will be good...just so you know where I stand on that.
