Troegs Naked Elf

I ordered a glass of Troegs Naked Elf at a recent trip to the brewery. This beer has graduated from Scratch Beer to brewery-only seasonal, and I look forward to it every year. The beer pours a red-tinted amber color with a frothy off-white colored head. The aroma is sweet and consists of Belgian yeast, spice, and earth. The taste is sweet and yeasty with a Belgian spice, pepper, and a biscuity base. The alcohol content is 7.8% ABV. While it’s hard not to make comparisons of this beer to Mad Elf, it does a nice job of standing by itself with solid earthy flavors and a great Belgian yeast taste.

Troegs Mad Elf Randallized with Brandied Cherries

The beer that I most anticipated at TJ's 7th Anniversary Party was Troegs Mad Elf Randallized with brandied cherries. For those of you not familiar with a Randall, Dogfish Head created a vessel that bars can add ingredients to run the beer though, changing the complexity of the beer. Some people have thought of this as a gimmick and an insult to the original intent of the brewer. My take: it allows for beer bars to do some interesting things with the beer that you wouldn't get from the brewery. If you don't like the idea, simply order the original beer that is not Randallized.

Anyways, the Mad Elf pours a bright red color (it seemed brighter than normal Mad Elf, but is that possible?) with a foamy white head. The aroma is big on the cherry with a sugary sweetness, most of the alcohol being covered up by the cherries. The taste is sweet and smooth with no alcohol bite at all which was completely surprising. There is bit of a brandy accent but definitely was not overwhelming nor did it change the beer much. The alcohol content of Mad Elf is 11.0% ABV, so I would assume this to be similar, even thought it is possible that the brandy could have added some alcohol content. From the Randall, the Mad Elf had so much cherry flavors that made it amazingly delicious and allowed the chocolate to come back on the finish with brandy.

Troegs Mad Elf

I stopped by Troegs and they had freshly bottled 22-ounce pounders of Mad Elf available, so naturally I picked one up for myself. This is the most anticipated beer of the year for me. The beer is reddish amber in color with a creamy frothy head. It smells sweet of alcohol and cherries. The taste is slightly bitter chocolate with cherry hints. It finishes a little sweet with a honey undertone. The alcohol content is 11% ABV. This is the freshest I have ever tasted Mad Elf, and it was excellent. Letting the beer warm up a little too helps release all of the flavors on your tongue. The crispness of the hops hitting with the slight sourness of the cherries and sweetness of the chocolate and honey will make your tongue dance like the “visions of sugar plums.”

Breaking News: Troegs Mad Elf

Troegs Mad Elf is available at the brewery in 22-ounce bottles. If you can't get to the brewery, look for it soon on store shelves.