Tröegs The Mad Elf Holiday Ale
The combination of Cherries, Honey, and Chocolate Malts delivers gentle fruits and subtle spices. Fermented and aged with a unique yeast , this ruby red beer has significant warming strength that underlies the character of this Ale.
3.5
1138 reviews
Hershey, United States
Community reviews
(Thanks, Jeremy! "JStax")
Bottle.
A- Cherries, honey, mild spice.
A- Dark red color, dark liquid, tan head.
T- Honey, cherries, raisins, candi syrup, nutmeg, booze.
P- Full body, average texture, average carbonation, malty finish.
O- Pretty boozy even as aged as it was. A real winter warmer. Actually detected a lot of cherry and honey and the spices were subtle which was appreciated. Not bad.
Poured from a 2019 bottle. Amber in color, choose your holiday metaphor, it bodes well with the warmth of the season. The first thing you will notice when drinking is that it’s a heavier bodied ale. The honey and cherries are not hidden and should stand out from start to aftertaste. The ale smells amazing and taste even better. It will not take many of these to warm you up with the 11% content.
Bottle pour from Total Wine & More, Danvers. Appearance is clear, dark amber/cherry with trace sparkle, finger-width foamy beige head with fair retention and no lacing. Aroma is sweet malts, dark fruit, nutmeg. Taste is strong cherry, caramel malt, background alcohol and late holiday spices. Mouthfeel is medium side of light-to-medium bodied with smooth, thick texture, soft-to-average carbonation and finish as taste. Overall, an ale perfect for the holidays--nice sweet aroma and flavors, alcohol just poking through to get you through the darkest days of the year/holidays (not that those two are the exact same thing).
Nice holiday/winter beer. 11% and heavy, but good cherry flavor.
Seen this last season but was a little pricey and not a big holiday ale fan, so I passed. Had to grab a single though this winter to sample. Still has that expected sweetness, but not super over the top. Not a super strong bite for 11% ABV. I'd compare this to a thinner strong imperial brown ale...with winter spices.
Has a cloudy darker amber appearance. Will keep this on the radar to sample again next year.
10 ounce glass at Winking Lizard Pennisula Ohio. Smells sweet! No head/ No film. Amber in color. Clear. Taste sweet alcohol well hidden. No real after taste. You can taste the Belgium sugars used. Just an amazing holiday beer. Cheers!
I haven’t had this one in many, many years. Poured from a can into a sample glass. The head dissolved quickly; little nose is present (malt and cherries). Nice red/rose color. Taste is boozy with cherries and honey. Extremely smooth with a velvet finish. Cheers and Merry Christmas!
Sweet, smooth, strong! Cherry, chocolate, honey. Sligtly off aftertaste.
12/1/18
With A & Lucy while watching Bama vs. GA SEC CG.
Poured from bottle. Deep ruby with a moderate head that dissipates pretty quickly.
Nose is complex. Clove-y Belgian yeast and lots of cherries and dark fruit.
Taste is dense, warming & hearty with deep belgian yeast and a big cherry presence. It's sweet and absolutely dripping with honeyed cherries and balanced superbly with dark yeast.
Palate is thick & heavy but blossoms to a wonderful carbonated fluffiness. Alcohol and cherries linger on the decadent finish.
Overall, this is just such a perfect Christmas beer! It tastes like a "cozy December night by the fire" in a bottle!
12/9/18
Vertical with 2017 & 2018 version. The '17 surprising had more of a head. Taste of the '17 is darker, and much denser & bourbon-y compared to the fluffier, spicier new bottle where the honey and fruit are more prominent. Overall, both amazing but IMO the fresh bottle is best!
Twelve ounce can. Clearly one of the most underrated beers on this website.
A little metallic in flavor in the initial taste, but boy does this have a kick, 11% abv! The cherries tone down the taste, and you smell and taste the well balanced chocolate. A surprisingly good mouthfeel.
Bottle pour. Deep caramel color. Aroma of vanilla. First sip is sweet but not quite syrupy. Strong alcohol and yeast notes followed quickly by the cherry which closes out the last few waves of flavor.
So so brew. Bready, cherryish and malty. Best part of it is the high abv..
F: medium, light tan, quick gone.
C: coppery to brown, hazy.
A: rich malty, mellow fruity, honey, bit cherries, bit spicy, dried fruits.
T: malty, some red berries, cherries, honey, herbal, light spicy, light oily mouthfeel, bit warming alcohol, full body, lower carbonation, very nice, enjoyed, bit too sweet but I like it, 355ml bottle as courtesy from tderoeck, many thanks.
Bottle from A.J.'s Beer Warehouse. Aroma of chocolate and cherry. Taste is sweet.
Drink a couple of these and you will be good to go. Hints of honey and cherries with some alcohol breathing out.
12 oz bottle. Big alcohol scents with cherry and yeast. It pours a red brown with an off-white head or microbubbles. Big yeast flavors with a kirsch-like alcohol flavor. Not my favorite expression of the style.
I highly recommend this beer at Xmas time, for the cherries and honey flava, and the 11% ABV make even the most shrewish mother in law tolerable. But if you drink it back to back with a Belgian Xmas Ale like St B, the presence of its more marginal characteristics rise to salience.
12-ounce bottle pours bright, clear ruby-red with a spritz of tan head and lacing. Aroma: cherries, honey, some barnyard. Flavor: malt-forward (grenadine, honey, cherry cough syrup) with sour cherries, white pepper, allspice, cinnamon, clove, Belgian barnyard yeastiness. Mouthfeel: full-bodied, oily with a warm boozy finish.
Bought a six-pack a few years ago and kept one for later. I should have kept all.
Pour is a dark ruby red with a large tan head that goes away quickly. Aroma is a pleasant dark fruit with some bitter bakers chocolate and alcohol. Flavor is dark fruit, brown sugar and sweet molasses. I also get some alcohol heat after the swallow. It's starting to get a bit warm in here. This was a fine winter warmer. Lots of tasty sweet dark fruit like sugar plums. A little alcohol heat is the only thing to get in the way but hopefully after some time on it that will fade.
Love this beer, at 11 percent your not going to find many that taste as good as this does. A little sweet but to be expected. This is what beer is all about!
Pours dark red amber with a foamy head that quickly dissipates. Aroma is heavy tart cherry with a touch of honey coming through. Taste is instantly tart cherry that works back to honey and nutmeg. Aftertaste is back to cherries with a smooth finish. An excellent holiday ale.
Copper with light white head. Expected more carbonation for a Belgian style. Banana esters and caramel aroma, same for flavour. Mostly banana. Can't detect honey or cherry. Slight warming booze.
Definitely one of the first and better spiced holiday ale. Deep red color. Nice yeasts, spice, and barley. Thick mouth feel. Lots of residual sugars. Tap... and bottle 3.9 for too strong.
12oz bottle. Deep coppery red. cherry aroma. This beer has a strong alcohol flavor, more than expected, a nice change of pace brew
Clear dark amber, small off-white lacing foam head. Decent aroma, barley, honey and dark fruits. Wanming strong in taste, complex taste. Good. (Houston 201705)
Best thing put out by Troegs. One of my favorite beers. Delicious aroma and taste and well priced for its strength.
pours cherry red with white fluffy head. the aroma is cherry, honey, caramel, sweet smell. and slight tartness. the flavor is cherry, honey, some cloves and spiciness with caramel at the end. the body is thick and malty and very filling, overall this is a nice beer for a cold night, and leaves you wanting to take another sip.
12 oz. bottle pours dark red/ maroon color with some off white head retention. Aroma of plums, cherry skins, honey, and light traces of cinnamon. The flavor is a exact duplicate of the aroma and the alcohol is hidden well but provides a slight warming after the sip. A nice winter warmer.
Bottle into snifter. Pours a nice ruby with minimal head and lacing. Aroma of Belgian yeast, sugary sweetness, and booze. Tastes of medicinal cherry, root beer, cloves, and your typical Belgian yeast notes. The 11% is definitely warming me up. Overall this is good, but my mind isn’t blown