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Abita Christmas Ale - /beer

Abita Christmas Ale

Style: Winter Ale
ABV: 5.5%
Package: 12oz Bottle
Rating: 3/5 ★★★✩✩
Abita Brewing Company
United States
Abita Springs LA
Untappd https://abita.com Facebook Twitter

I’m usually pretty hard on Abita for their beers. I feel like I’m justified, though, because, honestly, most of their year-round beers are just kinda okay. Amber’s a pretty okay lager. Purple Haze is a pretty okay fruit/wheat beer. Jockamo is an okay IPA. Restoration Ale is a so-so pale ale. I do love Turbodog and generally speaking, Strawberry Harvest is usually pretty solid. And their Select Series generally churns out some interesting stuff (their Imperial Stout and their Black IPA stand out as really good ones to me). Their seasonals never really hit it out of the park, like their Pecan Harvest and Satsuma Wit. I’ve generally felt the same about their Christmas Ale. It’s different every year, so I try it every year, hoping it’ll be better. This year, I got a surprise.

The 2012 batch of Abita’s Christmas Ale has a deep brown, caramel color with a light white head, but that head dissipated rather quickly. It has a pretty hoppy aroma, mostly piney hops.

It has a medium body. The flavor gave me hops in the front, then a light malt flavor, and then hops again on the finish. The taste was less Christmas-y than past years. I’d say this is kind of a more-rich IPA. Mostly piney hops, nothing overly floral, and not much Christmas spice pulling away from the hops.

Overall this year’s batch is far better than previous batches. I’ll gladly drink a 2012 Christmas Ale. Kudos for stepping it up on this one, finally.

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