REVIEW: Breckenridge Christmas Ale

I know what you're thinking. What the hell am I doing reviewing a Christmas Ale when it's damn near March? Well, first of all, Jungle Jim's was liquidating its stock of Winter beers so it was three bucks for a sixer. Also, this February seems to be as close as we're going to get to an actual winter. That's how I'm justifying it so you might as well just go with it. OK? OK. To the beer!

Christmas Ales are kind of a weird bunch. Lot's of breweries craft one each year but Christmas Ale in and of itself isn't really a style.  Some breweries make brown ales for Christmas, some make winter warmers, some make Belgian or English style strong ales, and so on and so forth. A lot of these beers are brewed with seasonal spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. On the popular beer website Beer Advocate they usually get all rounded up into the nebulous Herbed/ Spiced Beer category. All of this makes Christmas ales a bit of a weird style to review.

I usually try to avoid getting too caught up with styles and how well or poorly a brewer brews to a particular style. Like judging a pale ale too harshly because it's too hoppy and really should be classified as an India pale ale. I think that stuff is kind of silly. If I enjoy a beer, I enjoy a beer. However, branding a beer as a Christmas Ale sets up certain expectations for me, and it's hard to divorce myself from that. I had to go to Breckenridge's website to find the actual style for this beer, an American style strong ale. Here's what they have to say about it:

The chill of a Colorado high-country winter calls for a beer with extra flavor and strength. Here it is. At over 7% alcohol, with a sturdy texture and rich flavors of caramel and chocolate, our holiday seasonal is the fermented equivalent of a good fire.

Breckenridge's Christmas ale pours a deep deep red color with a towering white head. One of the prettiest beers I've had on the blog.

On the aroma side I'm getting pretty much nothing but hops. Normally not a bad thing. If you've read any of my other reviews I think it's fairly evident that I'm a huge hophead. So, I'm not dismayed by the hop presence here, it's just not what I was expecting.

The flavor mimics the aroma. Big bitter hop presence, with a slight fruitiness. It's a very clean crisp ale. As I was drinking it I thought to myself that it was really more of a red IPA than a spiced Christmas ale. After going on Breckenridge's website and learning that this is an American strong ale everything made  much more sense. Stone's Arrogant Bastard and Great Lakes' Nosferatu are two of my favorite American strong ales and this beer fits in very nicely with those two other beers.

This was a very enjoyable beer. I liked it quite a lot. I love a beer with big hops and this one had them in spades. But branding it as a Christmas ale and not an American strong ale, I think does it a disservice. I was expecting cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices. Instead I got a strong hoppy ale which is something that I love, but still a bit of a disappointment. It's all about managing expectations I suppose. Anyways, sorry to ramble. I liked the beer. It's definitely worth keeping an eye out for next winter.