10 Beers to Christmas

Watch out, it's collaboration time, as it's the joint effort of three west coast breweries: The Bruery, Elysian & Stone.  Admittedly, I was pretty excited about La Citrueille Celeste de Citracado…which, translated, means The Heavenly Pumpkin of Citracado.  Citracado happens to be the name of the road Stone Brewing Company is located on in Escondido, CA.  I only know that because I still have it pinned on my iPhone and long to return sometime very soon, preferably when Anne is driving us and it's Beer & Cigar Dinner Night!

Anyway, wow, what a crazy beer.  It poured a dark mahogany color with a head that disappeared about as fast as it appeared…kind of like in a "whack a mole" game.  The nose was fairly malty.  My first taste immediately reminded me of fresh bread, which then yielded to a spicy lemony hit which faded to a maple/spice note that hung on my lips.  It was good, but completely not what I was expecting.  I'm not really sure where the pumpkin and yams were, perhaps it was the bready/dough like taste.  Wherever it was, it certainly wasn't that typical pumpkin spice hit I think of with pumpkin beers.