I had caught word that my local gym was going to be open for about a half day on Christmas. Generally, I’m of the opinion that businesses should be closed for Christmas, but because we were pitched a 24/365 gym, I was somewhat disheartened to hear that it was only open part day. Nothing like falling short of the expectations one sets. Oh well.

Having heard the gym closed early, I decided to head over there in the morning. No luck. The gym was closed. In reality, this is probably a good thing. Employees shouldn’t have to work Christmas - although some stores ask for volunteers and pay double time, which is a nice option. Still, the cheap side of me wants to march in there tomorrow and ask for a one day refund.

For lack of a 10k, I opted to open one of my few remaining bottles of Jubelale.

We can get the obvious out of the way - this is a great choice for many occasions. Although, the Deschutes’ website lists “Cheese Plate” as a good food pairing, which I would disagree with. If you have an expansive and rich grouping of cheese, it can mess with the taste of the ale. The website also lists meatballs, and this I agree with completely.

The taste of hops is immediately noticeable - but it is not overpowering, or as strong as in other Deschutes’ brews like Hop Trip. There is a small note of brown sugar, which complements the hops. I’ve noticed a handful of reviews proclaim tastes of citrus - I don’t pick up on that so much as I notice the taste of apples. Maybe there is some orange in there, though. There’s also some type of syrup taste that I can’t put a name too. Almost like one of those woeful flavored syrups at IHOP. Although the impact is anything but woeful for this beer.

Everything is pretty mellow, which is nice as there is also little to no bitter taste. I can see why this is viewed as a food beer - the taste is not so one-sided as to make it a meal in itself, although it does stand alone as something you could enjoy while enduring the 9th running of a Christmas Story. Eh, who am I kidding… everyone loves that movie.