Saturday, November 20, 2010

Thirsty Dog 12 Dogs of Christmas Ale

Here is what the Brewer Says:
Spiced for the holidays with honey, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and Santa's secret recipe.
ABV = 8.3%, IBU's = 21.5, OG = 18.5 P
12 Dogs on Draft
My Thoughts
Appearance: This beer is dark amber in color with a thin white head.  The head only lasted about 1/4th of the pint, but did provide nice lacing throughout.

Smell: The smell to me is excellent and well balanced.  The cinnamon and nutmeg really stand out, but are balanced nightly by a sweet, but subtle malt backbone.  I personally love nutmeg and it really shines through and I hoped it would come through as well in the flavor. 

Taste: I'm happy to report that both cinnamon and ginger come through in the flavor, but are secondary to the nutmeg.  Clearly this beer is based on nutmeg and whatever their secret ingredient is I like it!   There is a very slight hint of roasted malt, but the sweetness does not over power this beer at all.   I find the flavor of this beer to be excellent both on draft and in the bottle, but the freshness of the draft does win the battle.

Mouthfeel: This beer had a medium body with a decent amount of carbonation.  I have bottles of this in my fridge and it is great, but on draft it is even better because the body and carbonation just feel fresher.

Drinkability: If you are looking for something great instead of a Great Lakes Christmas Ale I highly recommend you try this...you might just fall in love with it!  It is slightly higher in abv (8.3%) so watch out when you are throwing these down on a cold winter night.


My Rating: Overall 90/100
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | drink: 4.5

12 Dogs out of the Bottle

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