Day 23 of the 7th Annual Holiday Beer Advent-ure Calendar
Day 23: Deschutes Brewery Jubelale Festive Winter Ale
Deschutes! This brewery hails from Oregon and is pretty well known for producing award winning beers. They produce basically any style you can think of, but excel at hoppier fare since the northwest is where most of the US hop crop is grown. Jubelale is a classic winter ale that is almost always on the calendar. It’s also always in our fridge during winter time. Though it’s no stranger to us, it may be a first timer for some. “Cozy up fireside with this festive winter ale full of spice notes and a robust malt character of toffee and dusted cocoa.”
Reflections
Ben: Hmmmmm, I used to like this beer a lot. But this…this is not good. I remember it being much smoother and maltier. This is pretty bitter and I’m getting barely any of the toffee notes that I remember from years past. It’s unfortunate, but at least we’ve found some other solid malty bois to enjoy this year.
Julia: I normally like this beer and look forward to it every Christmas. I usually order it out at bars and have it in our fridge. But this year something is off. I do not like it one bit. It’s super malty and metallic-y. Maybe its old? It tastes super boozy and I know it’s not. I can’t quite pick out any certain Christmas flavors. I’m going to hope it’s a bad bottle and hope it doesn’t taste like this in the future
Scott: Without looking back at prior year reviews, I’m pretty sure I’ve never been a fan of the Deschutes Jubilale. I hope I’m right, because I’m still not enjoy it this year. I taste a burnt caramel, or something else in the flavor that doesn’t sit well. Maybe next year.
Christa: See, I feel like I DID like this beer. There’s something off about this and I’m worried it might be our bottle. It tastes sour to me in a very unintentional way. You know when something’s off with your cookies? And you keep adding stuff to bring them back to life? It never salvages them the way you hope. This beer tastes like that.
Tony: O yeah thats nice…real nice Clark. This one immediately gives me the warm and cozy feelings. Its dark in color and has really nice flavor notes of vanilla, cocoa and spice. The bottle says toffee which, after reading that, I feel like I misinterpreted the flavor as vanilla but to their credit it is much more of a warmer toffee as opposed to just vanilla. They describe this as a “festive winter ale” and I think thats spot on. It makes me feel warm, toasty and festive all at the same time. If you couldn’t tell by now I’m a fan of this one 😁👍.
Megan: A classic in the Christmas beer adventure! A nice dark pour with all the classic malts and spices. I think since we’re towards the end of our calendar, these are starting to blend together but this smells pretty solid but pretty sweet. I like the can design. You feel that calm at night that winter brings each season.
Brad: Very good. Doesn’t surprise me at all since I’m a fan of 99% of Deschutes beers. The beer has a nice toasty smell and taste and the pour looks like a brew I’d drink in front of a fire. I may make Heather run out and buy a 6 pack for tomorrow.
Heather: Woof! 65 IBU. And yet, the cocoa and malt even it out very nicely. I like the Deschutes Jubelale. It tastes like what I want a winter ale to taste like. If I weren’t struggling from too much festivity last night, I’d probably cozy down with a couple of these. Alas, I’ll keep it on the list for another night.