Every winter, bottle shops and beer distributors get bombarded with festive holiday-themed beers. In most cases, these beers are more malty, sweet and high in alcohol to keep you warm and cheery during these cold months. Often these beers are named after holiday characters such as Santa, Rudolph, gingerbread men or Old Fezziwig.
This year, I decided to try a segment of Christmas beers that I have yet to really explore: beers named after Santa’s elves. I actually hadn’t tried most of these beers, so I was excited to take on this challenge and pit each elf beer against one another to see which beer reigns supreme.
The challengers in this Christmas-themed battle came from three different breweries. Representing Pennsylvania were Tröegs Brewing Company in Hershey and Fegley’s Brew Works in Bethlehem and Allentown, which brew Mad Elf and Rude Elf’s Reserve, respectively. The other five challengers, the Bad Elf Series, all hailed from Ridgeway Brewery of Oxfordshire, England.
Obviously, these beers are ranked based on my taste buds alone, so your preference will most likely differ. I’ve tried to touch on what these beers do best and which type of beer drinker would prefer each so you can find the one that fits you best.
Criminally Bad Elf
Trying to rank these beers was very difficult, so much so that I couldn’t come up with a clear winner for my favorite beer. Criminally Bad Elf Barleywine actually tied for the honors of first place with the 2013 Insanely Bad Elf Imperial Red Ale. Both were big beers with tons of malt-forward dark fruit flavors, and both were very smooth yet complex. Criminally Bad Elf had tons of dark fruit flavor that was sweet, but it was nicely balanced with citrusy hops that give it a bite but do not diminish its smooth drinking demeanor. This beer measures 10.5% abv, but it is hard to tell from the taste. The beer poured from the 16.9-ounce bottle a golden-brown color with a slight amber hue. Aromas of raisin, grape and honey wafted from the glass. After sipping from the glass, the beer revealed flavors of fig, caramel, plum, citrus and honey. This was definitely a great representation of an English-style barleywine and I recommend it for any malt lover.
2013 Insanely Bad Elf
Coming in tied with the Criminally Bad Elf was the year-old 2013 Insanely Bad Elf. This beer has the dark fruit flavors of the Criminally Bad Elf, but packs in even more complexity without creating a convoluted experience. Insanely Bad Elf pours golden orange with low carbonation. The aroma consists of caramel, plum, sherry, apricot and honey. As I sipped from the glass, the initial flavor was heavy on dark fruit and purple grape, but it quickly gave way to flavors of honey and cherry. The finish consisted of a more earthy and spicy character driven by flavors of rye and a little anise. I am a big fan of aging big beers and it was obvious that a year of aging did wonders with this beer. Even though this beer is 11.2% abv it was still very smooth with very little boozy heat present. It’s possible this beer could have even aged for another year or two and still maintained much of the complexity while gaining even more smoothness. I was really wowed by this beer and I will definitely pick up one to add to my cellar. I recommend this for all the malt-forward fans, as well as any rye-beer lover. Definitely a must-try.
Mad Elf
Tröegs Brewery’s Mad Elf, the ever-popular local favorite, came in my third-place spot. This Belgian Strong Dark Ale is brewed with Pennsylvania honey and sweet and sour cherries for a unique experience. Mad Elf is an orange-amber–colored drink that clocks in at 11% abv. This beer has low carbonation and consists of aromas of cherry, prune, lime zest, slight nutmeg and booze. The high alcohol present in the aroma is also present in the taste. This is my major qualm with this beer. Besides the boozy taste you also get flavors of cherry, honey, allspice, cinnamon, fig and assorted dark fruit. This beer is a complex mingling of dark fruit flavor, sweetness, spice, booze and some citrusy, mildly bitter hops to give it balance. This beer has a lot going on and I enjoy the complexity, but I feel this beer is the perfect candidate to age for two years in the cellar. A cellaring would diminish the high presence of booze that can get in the way of the other flavors while mellowing the rest of the flavors so they can work as a marriage instead of battling against each other for taste-bud dominance. All in all, I really enjoyed this beer. But, the next bottle I buy will probably go into my cellar before it’s consumed.
Bad Elf
Ridgeway’s standard Bad Elf comes in my fourth place spot for it’s pronounced toffee flavor, which is nicely balanced with earthy and spicy hops. This beer is a 6% abv English style India Pale Ale. This pale copper-colored brew had mild carbonation and lost its thin head pretty quickly. Bad Elf smelled of caramel, toffee, butterscotch and honey. With a sip I tasted flavors of toffee, caramel and cherry which was followed by a slightly earthy and spicy hop flavor with faint hints of cinnamon. This is definitely a nice holiday beer that has a manageable abv, which is always nice if you want to avoid waking up with a hangover on Christmas. The thing I loved most was how the earthy hops kept the intense toffee characteristics in check while still letting them shine. I recommend this beer for any English-beer lovers.
Seriously Bad Elf
Seriously Bad Elf was a very close fifth place that was nipping on the heels of Bad Elf. Seriously Bad Elf is an English Strong Ale (9% abv) that reminds me of a stronger version of Bad Elf. This beer has the strong toffee presence, the earthy hops and balance of Bad Elf while adding even more complexity. This beer poured a clear caramel color that retained its lacing well. This drink had aromas of honey, dessert apple, apricot, golden raisins and alcohol. The alcohol was also present in the taste, which also contained flavors of caramel, toffee, plum, dessert apple, golden raisins and a hint of cinnamon. Seriously Bad Elf was hoppier than I expected from an English ale, but the extra hops helped to balance out the strong malt flavors in this beer. The hops added an earthy flavor, a slight spice character and a little citrus to the flavor profile. I was really impressed with the complexity of this beer. The more the brew warmed up the more new flavors I kept encountering sip after sip. This beer is for those that enjoy complex malty beers and aren’t scared to be adventurous.
Rude Elf’s Reserve
Rude Elf’s Reserve is another local elf beer brewed by Fegley’s Brew Works located in Bethlehem and Allentown. Rude Elf’s Reserve is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale that weighs in at 10.5% abv. This beer definitely does not shy away from the spice rack. The beer poured an amber red color with low carbonation. When wafting from the glass, this beer smelled of lots of nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and caramel. The aromas from this beer reminded me of freshly baked ginger snap. Nutmeg and allspice dominated t flavor of this beer while also packing in flavors of biscuit and molasses. This is a strong malty beer, but sadly this beer came in sixth place for me because the spices in this beer worked to overpower the rest of the flavors. I must admit I’m not a huge fan of spices in my beer. That being said, I know plenty of people that would cherish this beer more than I. If you don’t shy away from spices in your beer during the festive season, then I definitely recommend you give this brew a try.
Very Bad Elf
Ridgeway’s Very Bad Elf is an English-style Pale Ale that does not shy away from the malt. This beer is 7.5% ABV and pours a gold color with a reddish hue. The aromas from the glass comprised cherry, grape, caramel, maple syrup and a slight raspberry. When tasting this beer, it started fruity and malty followed by peppery and somewhat earthy flavors, and it finished off with a biscuity flavor. This beer packs in the cherry and caramel flavors from the malt as a backbone to the spice-heavy hops. All in all this wasn’t a bad beer, it just wasn’t as nice as some of the other elf-beer offerings. I would definitely recommend it to an English Pale Ale or English IPA fan, as it definitely has the spicy and earthy hop characteristics prominent in those styles.
Coming into this battle of the elf beers, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from these beers. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of these brews and the strong flavors and abv that kept me warm this December. Even though some of these beers shined more in my eyes then others, I would absolutely have each one of these beers again in the future. Not one beer of the lot was bad! I suggest you run out to the bottle shop now to see if the one that appeals to you is still available before they are all gone. Cheers and a belated happy holidays!
- Photography: Arne Morin
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