George Gale Christmas Ale

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

With a very careful pour it only produces a three-finger thick, somewhat tightly beaded, tan colored head. The beer is a brilliantly clear, deep orangish tinted, copper color when held up to the light, but is otherwise a dull, albeit fairly dark, cranberry color. A wonderfully tart character greets my nose as I am inspecting this beer. A mix of tart cherry, green apple and some definite aromas of white wine vinegar. Woody aromas of damp oak, leather, as well as full on funky notes of moldy cotton, barnyard aromatics & interesting sharp acidic notes. This is definitely quite a bit more funky than when I last had this. It has a really nice, vibrant fruity character to it underneath all of the funk though; at times it has a distinct, candied cherry note to it. Very lightly sweet and definitely well carbonated, the beer has a distinct spice flavor to it that was expected, but not really noticed in the aroma. The spices add a sharp, woody, bitter astringency to the finish of this brew. Definitely tart though, the acidity adds a nice touch to this brew. Sort of chalky, lactic, green apple, star-fruit, tannic oak, a touch of urea, almond, nutmeg, a touch of apricot pit and a touch of butterscotch form a mix of flavors all which I can't quite discern. As the beer warms the astringent spice notes tend to die down a bit and the tart / funky character becomes a bit more noticeable. This is definitely quite a nice brew at this stage, and I definitely prefer this brew when it gets more towards the funky side of the spectrum.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Bottled 2002. Amberish red colour, minor head. Extremely wineish nose with sweet grapes and a bit of alcohol. Flavour was plummy and spicy, a bit sticky palate. Very pleasant Christmas beer. Thanks to Beer Hunter’s (A pub in Pori) for this one!

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 6

George Gale Christmas Ale comes in a corked bottle which makes for a slight challenge as a beer drinker. Also of note, there is a ton of sediment in this bottle. The taste was good with notes of cinnamon and a fruity flavor. Overall an interesting ale if you don't mind sediment.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 2 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 2 | Overall: 2

Im going on the assumption I got a bad bottle, because I have never tried a beer this bad before! In fact, I offered it to 3 other people - none of whom could drink it either (and the 4 of us are all pretty experienced beer drinkers.) I wont continue to knock it because if it was in fact a bad bottle, it doesnt seem fair. But unless I try a fresh one (and Im not all that encouraged to) this review will stand and Ill advise you not to bother trying it either.
**Funny though, unlike all the other reviews, my pour had PLENTY of head and EXCELLENT carbonation. In fact, it was almost perfect in that repsect. Huh, weird?

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

~ Initial Review, 07-01-2003 (2002 Vintage):
First off, yes, I know how silly it is to be drinking a Christmas Ale in July (a particularily hot July in San Diego, no less). And yes, this being a 2002 bottle, I should set this aside and cellar it until Saint Nick comes around a few more times. But after a few indifferent lagers, my taste buds deserve a bit of a treat. Unfortunately, this bottle didn't quite live up to the task.

After fighting the cork (the cork broke in half, so I had to use my cork-screw twice -- the second time no doubt introducing some cork fragements into the beer itself), I worked up a thirst. But when I poured this (agressively) into a Red Back Bitter glass, absolutely, postively, *zero* carbonation. Not a single bubble of any size in the entire 9 oz serving I poured. Thus, the rather awful "Appearence" score.

But things take a turn for the better, with the aroma and so on. Fruity, spicy, malty -- all quite nice. Ditto for the flavor profile, which carries on with the fruit/spice/malt triple bill nicely. Perhaps this could be more distinctive, more "in your face", but I guess that wouldn't fit in with the English way of doing things.

Adequate mouthfeel -- the thinness is made so much more obvious by the lack of carbonation. But overall drinkablity doesn't suffer too much, in the long-and-short of things.

Not something I would purchase again (for something like $6, if I remember correctly), but interesting enough if you can find a sample with some sort of carbonation to it. I'm half-tempted to simply dump this beer into my 5-gallon Corny keg of Barleywine, just to make good use of the spices and such in this Holiday ale...

~ Re-Review, 01-05-2005 (Unknown Vintage, maybe 2004?):
A sample with a bit more life to it than the previous time I had this. While the previous bottle ended up costing me something like $6 (and was a bit on the average side), I was pleasantly surprised to find this for much less than that, *and* to have the beer itself not fully disappoint.

Still not as full tasting as I'd like -- the minimal carbonation is something I don't mind, but the dime-thin mouthfeel is much harder to overlook.

Scores adjusted up slightly. But still..., there are better Winter Warmers out there, me'thinks.
//TB

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

Dark brown color. Small head. Aroma is malty. Apple ciderish, musty and wineish. Sweet malts, not very hoppy. More like a cider than a beer. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 2 | Overall: 3

Opaque brown body with no head. Deep malty aroma with a woody background. Not that great of an aroma. Bitter sour Winey flavor with a woody finish. Not at all what I expected. Bottle may have been compromised considering the lack of head and carbonation, and bad flavor.

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

The Christmas Ale comes in a corked bottle. The beer has a nice reddish color to it, it had almost no carbonation or head when poured. The flavor of the beer was very winey.