Goose Island Christmas Ale

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

April 2014: Shared bottle at local tasting, from Voldby Købmandsgaard. 2012 vintage, 7.3% ABV. Weak aroma, brown malts and bread, hints of stale jam. The flavour is better than the aroma, malty with a slightly warming mouthfeel. Hints of spices. Okay, but not really impressive.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Pours dark amber with a low off-white head. Aromas of caramel, toffee, figs, dates and raisins. Taste is caramel, toffee, figs, roasted oak barrel notes, dates. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with medium carbonation.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

12 oz bottle, bottled on 09/18/12 - 2012 7.3% ABV version. Pours dark reddish brown with a medium creamy light tan head that retains well and laces the glass.

The aroma is sweet nutty malts, brown sugar and dark fruits and a little alcohol.

The flavor is sweet sugary nutty malts, dark fruit and some fruitcake with a medium bitter alcohol bite in the finish. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with smooth carbonation.

Overall, a nicely balanced Christmas beer. A tad much on the sweet and nutty side for me.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

This was okay. Brown pour with a thin off white head that offers decent lacing and little retention. Raisins and plums on the nose compete with some faint alcohol phenols. Tastes of wheat bread, dark fruits, and some Belgian style yeast. What kind of beer is this? Seems like a straight dubbel to me and classified wrong. It's a passable beer, interesting for a Chrismas Ale as I tire quickly of the spice bombed winter warmers.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

2012 version. I thought it was average tasting, like a unique brown I guess but not really what I expect from GI. Smelled and looked ok, can't justify the price though, just not sure what occasion this would be good for, not Christmas though.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

halve paast foour... . 22oz bottle, 2011 vintage .. . Pours a deep tan amber .. . medium foam, good lacing .. . light caramel, nuts, and tree bark sweetness .. . pretty nice Xmas ale .. . . Oh, man, what a day. It's no cakewalk being a single parent, juggling a career and family like so many juggling balls--Two, I suppose.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

poured a nice darkish amber, with a decent white head, that lasted a little while. The aroma was that of caramel and spices. Beer tasted of caramel and spices, with the caramel being a touch to over powering. All in all not a bad beer to ring the season in with. P.s. Santa enjoyed the one i left him.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Dark red brown color with a nice beige foam. Awesome aroma of cherry, figs, malt and hints of yeast. Smooth, medium body with a hair of alcohol that is nice for a Christmas ale. This one was bottled on October 9, 2009. Actually tastes like a good Belgian Dubbel. Not really that spicy too me, but maybe it mellowed out over the past year. It's very nice and bitters up at the end perfectly.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

This beer pours a deep, translucent auburn with an okay, off-white head. The aroma is mostly fruity malt with apricot, raspberries and sweet cherries coming through. The flavor is definitely not faithful to the style, but that’s our affectation and not the brewery’s. It’s relatively sweet and malty with lots of malt fruitiness on the palate. This is a good and interesting beer, but it lacks complexity and a real hook. That seems a bit contradictory, but the beer is interesting as being malt fruit dominant but boring as these flavors are easily appreciated and don’t really go anywhere. This is a nice Christmas ale that avoids the common holiday beer pitfalls, but it doesn’t really have a big enough backbone or enough soul to grab me. Good beer but not something I would ever feel the need to buy again.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

i got the feeling that this one would have been better fresh, but it was still enjoyable (bottled 10/08). a little hoppy for an old ale, in a good way. a little unfocused in the aroma and flavor department. muddled. maybe cuz it was 14 months old, but some had a hard time telling the style. overall, a bit nutty, bitter. a decent old ale, but a little under expectations for GI.