Quick Sips: Troegs Mad Elf

Some beers are born of cults. I swear it.

I don’t know if Satanists or Pagans or something are getting together in the woods each winter to bust cherries, but I DO know that each winter they – and everyone else – are scrambling to get Troegs’ The Mad Elf ale, which is the sort of beer you’d get if a bunch of drunk Pagans brewed the most cherry-poppin’ beer they could imagine. That, and the devil himself would have to have thought of adding honey to the mix, because the most evil things are also the most sweet, right?

So, yeah. There is that.

Okay, I rammed the analogies into the ground. Fine. So just taste the beer. You’ll find yourself struggling with the insane 11% ABV, even as you revel in the sweet sin of this beer’s sweet, fruity nectar. Those nutty Troegs people, they know how to do it, don’t they? How on Earth is a beer this big so devoid of alcohol burn?

Oh, and here’s a secret not many people know since folks scoop this up every winter and drink it ASAP: this beer ages pretty well. If you have a few bottles, don’t be shy about stashing them away for a few year, because it holds up well and mellows into a nice beer to have with a cigar on a cold night. Cheers!

Portions of this first appeared in the Philadelphia Weekly and are reused here with permission.