It pours a light, bright orange. There's a nice steady stream of carbonation feeding what was initially a 3/4 inch head.

This thing smells sweet, like candy sweet, but not in a bad way. The honey and cinnamon mix so well together, like the honey makes the cinnamon seem more like cinnamon sugar than pure cinnamon. I don't get a ton of the ginger on the nose, but no worries it comes in later. The signature Great Lakes malt backbone only comes in light and late. It smells like the holidays.
Great Lakes Christmas Ale

The ginger really comes on strong in the flavor, and really works well with the honey. They balance each other out, and kind of reminds me of a ginger snap. Really sharp ginger and honey keep going. The honey gives it a latent sweetness that rounds out the spices. The cinnamon is more of an afterthought in the taste, but thats really not a bad thing. The signature malt bill from Great Lakes (to me it feels really grainy--I love it) comes in in the perfect amount. I kind of feel like theres a hint of sweet cranberries as well--I got the same type of flavor from Highland Cold Mountain.

The lingering flavors are glorious. It's just as balanced as the original flavors. Latent dry honey sweetness with a hint of spicy ginger. Like most other Great Lakes beers, the grainy malt feels amazing through the finish. The earthy, grainy malt is the last thing you get as it fights with the spicy ginger until both fade away.

The hype for this beer knows no bounds in Ohio, and I have started that hype here in North Carolina. If any of you have the chance to try this beer, do it. It tastes like the holidays. Oh and good luck trying to actually saving this beer for Christmas. I know that I'm struggling to.

Cheers guys!

Review by Tim Campbell @vncentlife
BeerAdvocate - VncentLIFE