12 oz single, 2024 vintage, still clearing up the festive season here in the middle of March.

Dark brown close to black pour. Nose has light, plummy, alcoholic fruit, but it is not strong.

Initial tastes have some mild acidic fruit. The very, very, very light acidity lingers among the more familiar dark fruits. The beer is relatively thin within the style. The acidity feels like a little cherry and the beer delivers not much more than caramel sweetness and some sweet licorice. I get virtually no Christmas elements per se, and this beer feels a real disappointment in that regard. It’s sweet, and a little cloyingly so. I mean I get it, but this is a bit heavy and doesn’t let-up. The mouthfeel and drinkability suffer for me.

I think that there are plenty of better Christmas beers than this one, and its sweetness is a bit off-putting. Not awful, but not a beer that I would either recommend of ever reach for again. IMO many other, better examples exist.