Jekyll Holiday Sour Ale

Review Date 12/24/2020   By John Staradumsky

Ok, time to fess up. The first time I tried Jekyll Holiday Sour Ale, I was way too hard on it. In all fairness, I drank it after a few other powerful beers, with The Bruery 8 Maids a Milking directly preceding. For this reason, I took no notes. I did rate it very poorly on Untappd, though, because it did not seem to impress me much then.

A few days later, I decided to give it another shot with a fresh palate as the first beer of the night. I’ll tell you about my impressions on that shortly, but first a little background on the beer. I picked up a six-pack of it the week before Christmas at Sherlock’s in Kennesaw, Georgia. I spied it next to a number of six-packs of Jekyll Redneck Christmas Stout, one of my all-time favorite Christmas ales, but when I inspected the cans they were dated as packaged in 2019. Having a few cans of the 2019 at home (and maybe even some from 2018), I passed on that.

The label for Jekyll Holiday Sour Ale says this beer is part of the Jekyll Small batch Series. The beer is described as “sour ale brewed with cranberries, apples, and cinnamon.” It has an alcohol content of 7.2% by volume and was canned on 12-04-20. I paid $10.99 for my six-pack. That’s all I know.

Jekyll Holiday Sour Ale pours to a pale yellow color with a medium sized fizzy short-lived head and a very tart nose that hints at green apples. Taking a sip, the beer is very tart indeed with more sour apple and hint of vinegar notes. There is a hint of very tart cranberry and a gentle suggestion of cinnamon. The beer finishes very sour and tart indeed. Mostly, I get tart apple here, and just a bit of cranberry.

I fear I was too harsh with this beer the first time I tried it. It does have tart green apple notes and a hint of cinnamon (I'd like more), and subtle cranberry (I'd like more of that too). A note of vinegar distracts. But it does have its moments, and were it to return next year, I would try 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

 

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