So this is weird. You know it’s July right now, and that means I’m drinking the Christmas beers I stashed last December for July imbibing. The one I’m drinking right now is Goose Island Sixth Day, something they describe on the label as “A Festive Brown Ale” but I would call a winter warmer. This is a holiday release for Goose Island, and the single 12 ounce bottle that I bought says it was bottled on 25SEP13 1414. Wow. They even give you the time.

OK, so we know when the beer was bottled, and I also know it was late getting to Total Wine. My bottle was checked in on 1/8/2014 but they have it tagged as 10 Hills Pale Ale. Somebody screwed up somewhere, evidently. I can tell you the beer was selling for $9.99 a six-pack, and the labels says it improves in the bottle for up to 1 year. Sixth Day has an alcohol content of 8.3% by volume. Allegedly, Goose Island changes it up from year to year.

Other than that, there really isn’t a lot of information about this beer. Goose Island had a web page devoted to it, but it’s been taken down.

www.gooseisland.com/pages/sixth_day_/24.php

The fact Total Wine got in after Christmas was over is part of the reason I socked this bottle aside for Christmas in July, but is also seemed a good candidate for ageing. So let’s see how that worked out, shall we?

Goose Island Sixth Day pours to a reddish brown color with a medium creamy head formation and a sweet dark malty nose. Taking a sip, a sweet sticky maltiness washes over the tongue and the beer is replete with chocolate and toasted nuts in the palate. Raisins and figs come to mind in their dark exotic fruitiness here. Spice cookies too, and in the finish there is respectable hop bitterness.

Goose Island Sixth Day is very nice indeed, although I think it could benefit from more malt sweetness and surprisingly it may be too dry for the fruit and cookie malt flavors I get. Still, it’s quite tasty and does not seem its strength. Certainly a beer I would buy it again.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft

(G)=Growler

 

 



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