December 24

December 24 - Criminally Bad Elf

 

Merry Christmas Eve to all!  Tonight, I won't take too much of your time.  We have this evening, from Ridgeway Brewing (from the United Kingdom), an English Barleywine - Criminally Bad Elf.

 

Since the elves are running amuck tonight getting gifts ready for Santa's sleigh, they will probably need a stiff drink tomorrow night (or day, depending on time zone I guess...).  This is for them!  Clocking in at 10.5% ABV, this barleywine style ale is bound to relax those high-strung elves.

 

The aroma is very indistinct.  I got caramel and some toffee notes as well as slight hints of cherry.  The photo below does the pour pretty good justice.  Didn't have the right glass for the job, but it did just fine.  There was a decent amount of white head on the beer as it poured a reddish-orange color.

 

This brew was very malty along with some cherry flavor.  There was nothing distinct that I could pull from the taste other than that.  I guess I should mention that the alcohol was very well hidden for a 10+ beer!  Most barleywines are very flavorful, whereas this one was not.  Also, there wasn't much hoppiness to this beer at all. 

 

Don't confuse that with not being any good.  If you want to try a barleywine style beer without the in-your-face alcohol taste, this may be a good starting point for that.  If you're more into flavorfully explosive barleywines, you may want to pass on this one.

 

Taste is in the eye of the beer-holder here!  I'll stay neutral and give it a 3 out of 5.

 

Merry Christmas Eve!!