Day 7 of the Advent-ure Calendar
Day 7: Ellicottville Brewing Co. Lloyd Christmas Ale
This was the first beer we grabbed in Ithaca for this beer advent-ure calendar. It’s from Ellicottville Brewing Co, which isn’t available in Ohio, so we knew we had to buy it. It also happened to be labeled as a Christmas Ale, so that was a plus. You’ll notice that many of the beers we’ve tried or we will be trying are not labeled Christmas ale, which disappoints Broad. From Ellicottville’s website: “Brewed with fresh ginger and figs, this festive brown ale has a well-rounded body and just the right amount of character in all the right places.”
REFLECTIONS
Beard & Broad
Beard: I’m not a huge fan of a “cooked” ginger taste in beer so I was immediately apprehensive about this. Paired with the figs, (which I think should only be a malt/yeast character and not an actual ingredient) I could almost guarantee I wouldn’t like this one. Malty sweet on the nose, I get lots of fig and almost no ginger. The taste is almost syrupy, followed by a bitterness that doesn’t seem like it’s from hop additions, but the figs. Basically, this tastes like a fig beer that had ginger kind of waved over the kettle. I will say that the 8% ABV is nicely hidden though.
Broad: It’s true, I was on the hunt for only Christmas ales and was pretty upset we didn’t find many. I was skeptical about this because one of the key ingredients is fig and I’m not a fan of fig. It turns out my skepticism was warranted. This beer is not great. It’s a bit hoppy, too malty and I taste the figs. I don’t taste any ginger which makes me sad.
Adam & Alex
Adam: Lloyds Christmas ale has the best name so far. It’s decent. I looked up what it’s supposed to taste like after a sip and I do get figs and the ginger bite. It’s kind of dry. I’m starting to think we might just be spoiled in nottheast Ohio with our holiday beers.
Alex: This one tastes dry to me. I don’t taste the figs or ginger, but I taste an overall spice, just nothing specific. To me this isn’t anything special, and I feel like I’ve had beers that are supposed to be similar that I like much more.
Mez & Sam
Mez: This beer falls flat for me. Literally. Just doesn’t have much pop or flavor. It’s not bad, just isn’t real good either.
Sam: Very Holiday spice-y. Just a tad bitter for me to really enjoy it.