Christmas Ale in the ides of March? Why not? These beers generally keep well if properly stored, and with a beer the likes of Ridgeway Reindeer’s Revolt English Christmas Ale, you’d hardly know this was a Christmas beer if the label didn’t tell you so. And here’s why:

A golden-amber, hop-accented, English "winter warmer" brewed without spices. It's lighter on the palate than the other Ridgeway holiday beers.

That’s how the Ridgeway Brewery describes this beer, and it’s the dearth of spices (actually, most of the Ridgeway Christmas beers are not spiced) that make this a very acceptable brew for a chilly spring evening as well as a cold winter one. Still, the 6% alcohol content by volume is plenty and enough to keep you warm on either type of night.

From the back of the bottle:

Overheard at the Bar: “Bartender, if anyone calls, I’m not here, right? Every year it’s the same nightmare, hauling that over-sized, red-suited endomorph all over kingdom come, up to my shivering haunches in snow and muck! You call him a saint? Slave-driver, more like! Going down in history is all well and good, but what about the here and now? My therapist says I have to start doing things for me for a change. It’s about time I had a Merry Christmas myself, don’t you think?”

Here’s what I think:

Ridgeway Reindeer’s Revolt English Christmas Ale pours to a tawny orange amber color with a medium creamy head formation and a soft buttery malty nose. Taking a sip, the beer has a bit of caramel malt up front followed by lightly toasty toffee and a buttery layer of diacetyl goodness. The latter really puts me in the English ale frame of mind. A bit of minty grassy hop aroma builds into the finish, and becomes surprisingly pronounced there, finally being punctuated nicely with an herbal lingering bitterness.

A very nice English Ale (ESB to my taste) perfect for the holidays, with more hops than I expected. A bit pricey, I think, at $4.95 a bottle ($3.99 might be more in line), but still a tasty treat I’ll be sure to repeat.



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