Day 6 of the 7th Annual Holiday Beer Advent-ure Calendar
Day 6: Santa Clausthaler
Surprisingly, for the first time on this calendar we have a non-alcoholic beer! Clausthaler Brewery is based in Germany and brews only non-alcoholic beer. This holiday beer is the first of its kind. It is a 50/50 blend of Clausthaler Original and cranberry-cinnamon drink. No strangers to NA beers, we’re excited to see if this will be a good option for those who want a holiday beverage without the booze.
Reflections
Ben: Ohhhhh, shit I hate this. I have a very specific thing this reminds me of: my aunt’s cranberry spice potpourri she used to buy by the bagful around the holidays. We’ve had some solid non-alcoholic beers, Clausthaler original is decent, but man is this tough to get down. Way too sweet, way too spiced, no tart cranberry character, the balance is completely off. I’d be really curious to try a good non-alcoholic beer, which I hoped this would be, but the hunt is still on.
Julia: It smells exactly like potpourri which is a smell I really don’t like. Guess what? It tastes exactly like potpourri and I really don’t want to ingest potpourri. Honestly, Fireball is 100% better than this. It tastes like syrupy cinnamon. It’s something Buddy the Elf would love. I taste zero cranberry which I love so I’m disappointed in that. The only thing thats good about this are the cute pics we got of Flora.
Adam: An unholy concoction | should’ve been a tea | like carbonated little hugs | remember those? | dump this out | Seriously, stop reading this and just don’t drink it
Alex: Santa Claushaler Holiday Brew is essentially non alcoholic watered down fireball. I would describe it as a cinnamon explosion and it’s definitely not for me.
Scott: This might be the worst beverage that has ever been in our holiday tastings. For those of us that can’t or won’t drink alcohol, I sympathize and love the thought behind this choice, but the Clausthaler holiday ale cannot be recommended. It tastes like cough syrup mixed with carbonated cranberry juice, and if you enjoy how that sounds, we probably aren’t friends.
Christa: A non-alcoholic beer!? Look at us! I don’t have anything nice to say. It tastes like cough syrup. Cinnamon and cranberry sounds like a nice candle…and truly I’d rather eat that then drink anymore of this. Stick to Clausthaler’s original blend (also non-alcoholic) and avoid this at all costs.
Tony: hmmm ok so this is the only other non-alcoholic beer I’ve had outside of an ODouls a long time ago so i have little to compare it to. Lets just be honest, its confusing and strange haha. That being said, it does have a fairly pleasant aroma of cinnamon and apple. The taste is pretty heavy on the cinnamon and to me it tasted like the complimentary flavor was apple but the bottle says its cranberry. Its interesting, to me it tastes much more like a cider than a beer. If you have someone thats lookin for a non-alcoholic option this could be something I suppose haha. I was curious to try it, its interesting, but I think I’ll stick to the alcoholic beers for now.
Megan: Our very first non-alcoholic holiday beer on the list! The bar is automatically set pretty low on anything non-alcoholic, so know that going into it but I’ll say it’s not terrible. It’s fairly transparent when you pour and you get the smell of apple and cinnamon right away. It gets points for a Traditional holiday design and the fact that it’s German but I would go for the alcoholic versions above this, if I could. If you’re like me and can’t, it’s not a bad alternative and still makes you feel festive.
Brad: Strong cinnamon smell. Strong cinnamon taste. I smelled it again and it smells exactly like cider on the stove with cinnamon sticks in it. I actually dig it for a non-alcoholic brew. It’s very sweet also. I’d drink more of these and hang by the fire any day of the week, just not on weekends when I’m looking for alcohol in my beer.
Heather: Holy burn-your-nose cinnamon! Between that and the intense carbonation and the cranberry after taste, it knocks a couple of points off of this one. It’s not awful, but there’s a whole lot going on here. I do appreciate that it’s an alternative to booze and can probably be enjoyed with a side of shortbread or other blandish holiday snacks. It’s really sweet, and definitely festive. I’d say maybe 6/10.
