Great Lakes Christmas Ale

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Pours a deep golden color with a thin, white head. Not much there on the nose, but the taste is sweet with a fairly solid malt backbone. Caramel and cinnamon are primary with hints of other spices. None are overwhelming, which I like. Solid for the style.

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

Beerfest 3 oz sample, had a nice aroma and color. One of the best tasting Christmas Beers i have had.Some seem to be over cloying and over spiced. This was not . An excellent sample i would love to have again.

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

pours a nice dark amber, with a nice white head that sticks around for a while. The aroma of honey and cinnamon great the nose, and tempt the tastebuds. The taste is excellent with a rich spicy tones, with decent carbonation, with a hoppy finish. This is an excellent Christmas Ale, perfect for cold winter days in Ohio.

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

Holy ginger, it does have a spicy christmas nature to it. The ginger makes it smell like a christmas candle instead of a beer but still, not bad. The flavor is more ginger, not bad, but then a terrible weed-like bitterness on the back end and in the aftertaste. Something worth trying.

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

I got this beer as a house-warming gift from my new neighbor in Roanoke. This beer was very nice - I enjoyed it. It has a nice herbal aroma and is generally well spiced. The beer has a full body and warms quite well. I think this may be the best Holiday Beer of 2010.

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

Very nice clear amber with burnt orange and yellow highlights around the bottom. Slight off white head was thick and full of small bubbles. Great bit of retention and plenty of lacing for me to enjoy. Smells of ginger bread cookies and cinnamon. Brown sugar and touches of honey. I even picked up hints of sweet molasses. Really picking up the ginger and cinnamon with the first couple of sips. The cinnamon comes on stronger as the beer glides across the tongue to the throat. Hints of alcohol start to pick up as I drink. Only traces of honey in the taste. This beer is really sweet!!!! Medium to medium/thin mouthfeel that was mostly dry. The alcohol bite stands out and gives it not quite as smooth a finish as I like. Very warming however. This brew is a pretty good "warmer." Definitely captures the Christmas feel. May be a bit too sweet for me to enjoy all night, but would be acceptable in small doses.

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

This beer has a spicy aroma with undertones of ginger and clove. The taste is complex with clove, mace, ginger, honey and citrus. This beer gets better the more you drink it and let the flavors spread over the tongue. Another great offering from the Great Lakes Brewing Company.

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

pretty close to hitting the head on the nail as far as spiced ales are concerned. good looking cloudy mahagony body with decent head and retention. aroma is nice...toasted malts, spices (cinammon, ginger, honey, ornage peel?). body starts off a little too carbonated but rounds out as the honey really stands out when it warms. lingering spiced dinish with some sweet malt and a touch of hops. well done. A very good winter warmer...and this one was a few months old. probably a 4+ fresh!

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

The pour is a beautiful dark amber red. tgere is a nice small head and some lite lacing that hangs for a bit. The aroma is honey, ginger and spice. It almost has a sweet aroma. The flavor is sweet ginger with hops, a little malt mixed in. If you like ginger you will love this one. I personally do not like the flavor of ginger, so this is not a repeater.

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

This was the Great Lakes seasonal available when I visited O'Shaughnessy's Public House while in Columbus. Pint filled with a dark caramel color liquid with a short but strong head. Thin sheets of lace, nicely carbonated. Nice smells of spice and hops. Taste was good, with some spices, cinammon, clove, with the dark malt flavors. High alcohol is well hidden. Mouthfeel and drinkability were both OK, maybe a bit thin. I always like a well made local beer.