Mad Elf: The Holiday Beer

It's the holiday season and as long as it's cold and or snowing, we all consider it Christmas Time. This is a time for good food, good friends, and of course good beer. One of the greatest seasonal beers is Mad Elf.

Mad Elf is brewed in my home state of Pennsylvania by Troegs Brewing Company and is identified as a Belgian Strong Dark Ale. Mad Elf is said to be released in the months of November and December, however there are many beer distributors that still have it in stock going into the February month. You can't miss the beer; its bottle is decorated in the appropriate red and green colors and has a picture of an elf on the bottle, an elf that well, looks like he is going 'mad' so to speak.

Alcohol by volume is 11%, pretty high for a beer... one Mad Elf makes you feel like you have had two regular beers. When you crack open this beer you are automatically attracted to the sweet and fruity scent that is not overpowering, but quite just about right to grab you and draw you into the beer. Mad Elf is made of a combination of cherries, honey and chocolate malts which clearly describes the perfect scent of cherries and chocolate that pours from the freshly opened bottle. If you do decide to drink this beer from a glass, you'll notice that it's almost a cherry red in color, perfectly fitting.

The taste of the beer is a combination of cherries and what I define as toffee like. Many others would define it as caramel, you can be the judge. In any case, it has that warm and fuzzy feeling that helps to bring in and keep the spirit of the Holiday's going. As for the actual alcohol taste, its there, you can definitely taste it, but it is not overpowering.

I personally could only bear to drink one, to me it feels like it has a very heavy warming feeling that lies on my stomach, but many of my friends say that it is very easy to drink more than one.