Cut Out Kid

Cellar Dweller: Hoppin’ Frog Brewing 2015 “Frosted Frog Christmas Ale”

I’ve always frowned upon Christmas beers of any sort. Just like pumpkin beers, save for a special few, brewers throw too many spices into them. But, yesterday I drank a Christmas Porter, 2018 Alpha Klaus from Three Floyds that was drinking well, and today we’re drinking a 2015 Frosted Frog Christmas Ale from Hoppin’ Frog, that turned out much better than I’d hoped. This ale has been aged for almost 5 years, on the same shelf, behind the same curtain, allowing little to no light. But still, I wasn’t expecting anything special from this beer.

I don’t go out of my way to purchase Hoppin’ Frog beers. This was a gift from my wife, who puts together a 12 Beers Of Christmas for me each year. She tries to find a good mix of stuff from sours, to stouts, from haze to IPA’s. It’s been something I look forward to every Christmas.

The first thing I noticed was the color. It didn’t match the amber pours I had previously seen in a lot of the pictures on Untappd. Instead, my bottle expels matte charcoal that evokes a Christmas cookie bake-off. Bubbling up over the top of the glass, the two-inch head dissipates quickly, leaving behind a ton of carbonation, that propels this beer forward.

Cold, there’s tons of cinnamon, followed by vanilla, and chamomile, all in the first sip. As it warms, there’s a battle waging in your mouth. Who’s going to win, Snickerdoodle or Oatmeal cookie?

Not a huge fan of nutmeg usually, but this mixture of faded spices sends the senses, overwhelmingly, into snickerdoodle territory, and we have a winner. There’s no way I’m drinking a whole bomber of this on my own, but I’ll do a solid 8 to 10 ounces. The carbonation keeps it tasting fresh and makes for easy drinking. It does NOT taste five years old.

In the end, I’m blown away by how well this held up and want to experiment more with this beer again.

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Christmas Beer, craft beer, Frosted Frog Christmas Ale, Hoppin’ Frog Brewing