For the Third beer of Christmas...

~~~~For the Third beer of Christ-mas,~~~~

~~~~the beer-store gave to me,~~~~
~~~~Santa's Private Reserve by Rogue Brewery!~~~~

Yum! Yum! Yum!
Beer! Beer! Beer!

I'm a quarter of the way through the 12 Brews of Christmas and going strong!

Today I tried Santa's Private Reserve by Rogue brewing company (which you might recognize from last months BREW REVIEW of Dry-Hopped St Rouge Red).

This beer was a really fun one to taste, but a really hard one to review... You see, the 12 Brews of Christmas is supposed to be a list of some of my favorite beers to enjoy during the holidays... This beer, managed to be simultaneously both a terrific ale, but only a mediocre Christmas beer... Allow me to explain.

With a name like Santa's Private Reserve--and a likeness of the jolly one himself raising a pint on the label--I went into this tasting with pretty high expectations. I hoped that the moment I cracked the cap of the bottle, a no spices-barred Christmas bombshell would pour out of the neck; nutmeg, pine, cinnamon and honey, would flow from the glass and fill my nostrils; and visions of sugarplums would fill my head! I did NOT get what I expected.

When I first smelled this beer the aroma came through as distinctly herbal with notes of rosemary and thyme. It reminded me of a wet-hopped Oregon IPA. There was a hint of menthol in the aroma, and a heavy heaping of hops.

The beer poured a beautiful, dark brick red. It was somewhat cloudy with a beautiful creamy white head.

When I tasted the beer I was surprised by a pleasantly high acidity, and by how strongly the hops persisted on the palate. I was unpleasantly surprised by the absence of many of the Christmas spice staples:

• No Cinnamon!
• No Nutmeg!
• No honey!
• No pine!

I think this is a really good beer but if I had tasted it blind, I would have pegged it as a wet-hopped, amber IPA, not a Christmas beer (I also would not have complained about the taste).

Maybe it's not the best 'Christmas beer', but it's delicious nonetheless.

Stay tuned, more seasonal beers to come!

-Prost!

D.Lux