Hello again guys.  Today I’m going to be tasting the Hoppin’ Frog Frosted Frog Christmas Ale brewed by the Hoppin’ Frog Brewery located in Akron, Ohio.

This will be my first time trying a beer from this brewery and keeping in sync with the season I thought I would crack open their festive Christmas beer.

Let’s find the commercial description from the website, hoppinfrog.com., shall we?

The essence of Christmas is captured in this very bottle you are holding. Perfectly blended spices compliment Frosted Frog’s rich malt flavors, creating the ultimate Christmas experience. Celebrate the holidays as you savor this very special seasonal offering.

I hear those sleigh bells ringing.

This brew has an ABV of 8.6% and it comes in a 22 oz. bomber.

The beer poured a clear, deep rusty/copper to “iced tea” brown color with plenty of burnt orange highlights showing at the bottom of the glass.  The relatively small, smooth and somewhat creamy head was light tan in color with not real good retention and only so-so lacing.  After a few moments, no trace of a head or lacing was to be found. 

The nose revealed a definite Christmas spice tone.  Hints of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.  Faint hints of a baked banana bread brought some pleasure along with a fragrance of cookies and brown sugar.  It was fairly robust with the bouquet.  The balance was not as good as I had hoped though.  The spices were really strong.

The taste confirmed even more spice.  I’ll tell ya, it was a little too much for my liking to be honest.  Tons of cinnamon and allspice.  Ginger snap cookies mixed with baked breads and a significant alcohol tone.  This brew was very sweet and as it warmed it began to develop a slight medical characteristic.  Again, not quite balanced as well as I was hoping.

The mouthfeel was medium bodied, mostly smooth, somewhat crisp and dry.   A lot of flavor and warmth was left behind on the palate after each sip.

Well.  The Hoppin’ Frog Frosted Frog Christmas Ale might have a little too much spice for me.  It started to become a wee bit distracting after a while.  It was kind of difficult to drink.  There’s no doubt that it concedes to the Christmas atmosphere, however it was somewhat like chewing on some cinnamon potpourri sticks (at least that’s how I imagine “sticks” would taste).  The nose seemed to be balanced a touch better than the flavor, although neither, in my opinion, were as harmonized as some others I’ve had of this style.  With that being said, if you favor strong, robust and spicy Christmas beers, give this one a try.  You may very well find it enjoyable.

Do you guys like Christmas seasonals?  If so, have you had this brew?  What did you think?

Thanks for reading and commenting folks.  I really appreciate it.  Until next time.

Cheers.

Score:  2.65 out of 5
Grade:  C-