Tonight's holiday beer selection from the Ohio holiday beer box is Three Hos Christmas Ale from Saucy Brew Works. They describe it as a "red ale brewed with ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon ... medium-bodied with a soft malt backbone," and it's 7.5% ABV.

The color is a rich red-copper, and you can just barely see through it a bit. Not a lot of head on this one -- I poured pretty aggressively at the end to see what I could make happen and it dissipated pretty quickly.

The aroma isn't quite what I was expecting given the description. There's definitely some Allspice or something else from the "mulling spices" family -- definitely don't detect any clove or orange though -- and I'll be honest and say that whole arena of spices is not my favorite in beer. I love a good spiced cider or mulled wine but to me that whole flavor scene just doesn't work super well in beer. Your tastebuds and preferences may disagree.

Taking a taste, it has a full mouthfeel but for me is pretty malty-sweet, has a bit of a "tang" to it in the interplay of the malt and the spices, and the flavor profile is definitely in the mulled arena minus the clove or orange flavors you might expect from mulling spices.

It's not unpleasant. I've had some beers along these lines -- including one I made recently -- that are undrinkable, and this is definitely an OK sipper. If you're into beers on the sweeter side and enjoy mulling flavors you'll probably really like it, but not sure I'd have this one again.

A decently made beer that's maybe a bit out of balance between the malt and the spices. I also don't detect any hop profile at all, either aroma or bitterness, and I think that would have really helped and given it another dimension to balance things out better. Some nice piney notes and maybe just a hint of citrus aroma from hops, as opposed to doing something like adding orange peel in the beer itself, would have made this a better beer for me.

But hey, I didn't dump it out or anything!