Oh, Mad Elf, you devilish fiend. Poets like Joe Sixpack sing paeans in your honor (by naming you the world’s best Christmas beer) and beer lovers line up by the dozens to lubricate their year-long thirst for you each winter. Every year, it seems the legend of Mad Elf grows, making its attainment more of a quest. But is it worth the hype?

This reporter says unequivocally yes. Though the Belgian Strong Dark Ale lies still in the glass with nary a sliver of head when poured from a bottle into a sample-size tulip glass, its rich and shining dark copper hue is worth a hundred million pennies.  The aroma is redolent of cherries, light clove and bread loaf – a combination that evokes the scene of a pie cooling on a window sill. On first sip, a young Mad Elf bites with the tart taste of Atlantic-grown berries then immediately mellows as it gets washed in the sweet nectar of West Coast honey. Faintly spicy alcohol is detected on the finish; it greets a throat that has perked up in anticipation of the piquant tingle. Then a warm relief settles over the drinker’s  body as it releases the day’s stress in response to the beer’s 11% ABV.  Yes, Mad Elf lives up to its reputation.

Top photo via Flickr user Another Pint Please
Bottom photo: John Trogner samples the first batch of Mad Elf brewed in the new location, by Tara Nurin