Our delayed Christmas Eve was delayed even more tonight, thanks to our dilatory son, Mike, truly a man likely to be late for his own funeral. Our daughter and son-in-law finally decided Mike’s arrival would make it too late for them to come tonight, but when Mike’s crew of five (six counting Chewy, the dog), finally straggled up the driveway past eight the rest of the program could begin. That meant pizza, the usual gift of Christmas pajamas to the three kids (not really kids anymore) and some doings for tomorrow’s dessert in the kitchen. We put off trimming the tree until morning.
It hardly seemed warranted to give Mike the gift of a Christmas beer, but charity begins at home, I’ve heard. Besides, I’d already downed one Abita Christmas ale and I was curious to see what he thought of it. Mike’s tastes are more mainstream than mine, and the Abita brew, available nationwide, seemed pretty mainstream to me. So, as it turned out, it did to him.
The brewery has been around a long time, since 1986, and maintains its independence. I vaguely remember visiting the brewery in its early microbrewery days in Abita Springs, near New Orleans—it brewed the grand total of 1,500 barrels its first year. Fewer than ten years later it had expanded to a larger production facility in Covington, about 30 miles north of the Big Easy. (There’s still a brewpub at the original location.)
Not counting pilot beers, Abita now churns out roughly 30 different brews each year and produces enough volume to put it at #35 in the Brewers Association Top 50 Craft Breweries list, and #45 in all U.S. breweries.
The Abita Christmas Ale looks remarkably like last night’s Breckenridge Christmas Ale, a deep brown minus the garnet highlights, a tan head, clear. Frankly, it tastes similar as well, though at 5.5% vs. 7.1% ABV, there’s less body and not as strong a caramel malt aroma. Which is a little surprising, since the beer is brewed with six types of malt. There’s a fruity, melon-like aroma in the nose, a light sweetness in the palate—Mike thought he detected a note of chocolate—and then a pleasing lightly piney hop bite takes over.
But though hopped and dry-hopped with Columbus, Cascade, Centennial, and Amarillo, the hops don’t particularly take over, either, which makes it all seem nicely balanced for such a hop-laden brown ale. It’s not a beer that will blow one away in any direction, but I liked it. I liked the label, too, which upon close inspection show a Santa driving a sleigh that looks like a canoe over a faint skyline (presumably New Orleans) driven not by reindeer, but alligators.
I had to take a break from the crowd to finish up my wrapping, while watching the 1951 Alastair Sim version of “A Christmas Carol” for the nth time, and keeping an eye out for Fred’s maid. We have some history.
Name: Christmas Ale
Brewer: Abita Brewing Co., Covington, Louisiana
Style: Brown Ale
ABV: 5.5%
Availability: Oct-Dec, nationwide
For More Information: abita.com
[December 26, 2023]
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