Surrey, British Columbia’s Central City Brewing Company has built a reputation in the Canadian craft beer community for making great and unique brews. Most well known for the Red Racer IPA which is consistently voted the best IPA in Canada. For the 2014 Christmas season Central City has brewed Gingerhead, a 6% ABV stout with natural ginger used in the brewing process.
Opening the bottle and pouring a completely opaque black body fills the glass. Sitting atop is a puffy, bubbly beige head that dies almost instantly leaving but a few splotchy rings on the glass. The aroma is laden with tantalizing notes of gingerbread cookies and ginger spice. Notes of roasted malt including subtle hints of espresso and vanilla are also found on the aroma. My first sip of Gingerhead has a moderate ginger spice and a sweet, rich malt composed of roasted barley, chocolate and subtle vanilla. The finish is smooth, light and slightly creamy with a lingering aftertaste of roasted malt and ginerbread. The body is a bit watery and mild mannered. Overall I commend Central’s City choice in making a Gingerbread Stout instead of a spiced strong ale that most breweries make for the holidays. I can’t say I’ll try this one again as I found it monotone and a bit boring.
Grade: 83/100
The Alberta BeerSmith 
This sounds better than I expected actually. Might actually have to try it.