Day 1 of the 5th Annual Advent-ure Calendar

Day 1: Braxton Brewing Company Jubilee Hoppy Holiday Extra IPA

We spend a bit of time making sure the beers are in an order that makes sense. We don’t want to drink 10 stouts in a row, and oftentimes we’ll try and put the boozy bois on a Friday or Saturday. With that being said, there’s generally no special beer we choose to be day one. This year, we just decided we wanted to begin with a hoppy one.

Braxton Brewing Company is based out of Covington, KY and is new to our calendar this year. According to their description: “Jubilee Hoppy Holiday Extra IPA features strong citrus and tropical fruit aromas, flavors including orange, tangerine, mango, and pineapple with subtle fresh pine notes as well as a clean, soft finish.” This does not sounds like your typical holiday beer, but neither are some of our other hoppy holiday favorites, so we’re game!

Reflections

Beard & Broad
Beard: First beer! This one caught me off guard. I figured at 100 IBU it would be more bitter, but it’s actually very drinkable. And at 8% it’s rather balanced. Not my favorite of the hoppy holidays brews, but it’s definitely not an outlier. Our can was dated October 2, so for this hoppy beer being two months old, it tasted quite fresh. Makes me want to try other Braxton beers cause they obviously know what they’re doing in that department. Though not the bitterness I was expecting, if you’re starting to dip your (mistle)toe in the IPA waters, this one should grace your holiday table.

Broad: Yay, first beer! I was a littler nervous to try it because I didn’t know what extra IPA meant. I assumed it would be like a double IPA. Surprisingly, it was not very bitter but also not very malty (usually thats the case if its not super bitter). It’s also not super hoppy. It is very drinkable though. There are other hoppy holiday ales out there I like better, but I wouldn’t kick this one out of bed.

Adam & Alex
Adam: I enjoyed this beer but it’s not exactly a holiday beer. It smells a lot like pine trees but the flavor is a pretty standard lightly hopped IPA. I would certainly drink this casually but it doesn’t make me think “fa la la la la.”

Alex: This beer doesn’t taste like a holiday beer to me. It’s not bad, but it isn’t a beer I will remember having tried, and not one I would actively seek out in the future. I can taste a little bit of pine, but not enough.

Scott & Christa
Scott: This is a decent IPA and pretty easy to drink but I don’t get any holiday vibes except for the can and a little pine in the aftertaste. If this wasn’t a holiday beer Adven-ture, I think I’d be more positive but I don’t plan to include this one in my future holiday rotation.

Christa: I love Braxton beers. I’ve tried a couple and so far have been really impressed with their line up but sadly this one didn’t do much for me. It wasn’t enough IPA or enough holiday flavor. It falls somewhere in the middle of both staples— hoppy and piney but not enough of either to stand out in a crowd. With each sip I found myself forgetting the one prior.

Tony & Megan
Tony: This is gonna be the hop hop hoppiest holiday! Starting off with an extra IPA. Pretty light in color, but you can smell the hops right away. My tastes have changed over the years and I’ve come around to liking IPAs more and more so I liked the taste of this one. That being said, I don’t really get any  of the traditional holiday beer flavors such as the typical spices, caramel, or maltiness that you might expect. But it tastes like a nice, refreshing IPA.

Brad & Heather
Brad: The can seems to hint this will be an extremely hoppy beer, but I didn’t get that on first taste. This IPA certainly smells hoppy but the beer is very smooth. I enjoyed it and could definitely attempt to drink more than 2 of these, however, I don’t understand why it’s labeled as a holiday beer.

Heather: As an IPA-loather (don’t @ me), I was dreading a 100 IBU “Double dry hopped IPA.” I was expecting to get a mouthful of sappy pine cone, but Jubilee only tasted slightly piney to me. A happy surprise, it was even somewhat refreshing. I mean, not enough for me to drink a whole can of it, but I didn’t hate it.