Follow me:

    Samuel Adams Winter Lager

    November 30, 2009
    / Beer Review /
    Leave a comment

    Name – Samuel Adams Winter Lager
    Country – United States
    Type – Bock

    Appearance – Poured a clear red color with a good sized white head that disappeared quickly.

    Smell – Toasted malts with spices that can be picked up.

    Taste – You get the spices right away; cinnamon and cloves I can pick out.  There is a caramel like sweetness as well as a bit of a toasted malt flavor.

    I think this is a really good winter beer.  It has the spices and warming feeling like they should but isn’t overboard on those spices.  I also found a recipe to use this as a glaze for a ham that I might try for Christmas this year.

    Overall Grade – B

    Share
    Leave a comment

    Bière De Mars

    November 27, 2009
    / Beer Review /
    3 Comments

    Name – Bière De Mars
    Country – United States
    Type – Bière De Garde

    Appearance – Pours a very cloudy orange color with a big, bubbly head that disappears very quickly right in front of your eyes.

    Smell – You pick up the brett immediately along with some sour apple notes.

    Taste – Brett, yeast, sour apple, cherries and little bit of hops.

    I had never heard of the style Bière De Garde before but when I saw that it uses brett in it that it must be a sour beer.  I noticed that the bottle said it was bottled in October 2008 so it is already a year old for me.  I’m thinking that may be why the sour notes were not as powerful as say Bam Bière.  I enjoyed it as I do with everything Ommegang does but I think unless the sour notes died down because of the aging that I’ll stick with Jolly Pumpkin if I want a straight up sour ale.

    Overall Grade – B-

    Share
    Leave a comment

    Tis the Season?

    November 25, 2009
    / Random /
    1 Comment

    So over the weekend my friend Lane and I got into a discussion on what are favorite season for seasonal beers is.  This was intriguing as I have never really thought about this question before.  Each season pretty much has their own styles that get associated with them and can make one person like a certain season over another.  Spring time tends to be filled with different varieties of bocks.  Summer brings us lots of freshing hefes and white ales.  The fall sheds pumpkin ales and marzens upon us and then the winter time brings us spiced up ales and winter warmers.  This was a tough call for me and found myself going back and forth with summer, fall and winter.

    There are not many things in this world that are better than a nice hefeweizen after a hot summer day in the sun.  While wheat beers aren’t really my go to there is no denying the light and freshing qualities they bring when one wants their thirst quenched.

    But as summer starts winding down my brain can’t stop thinking about Oktoberfest and with that comes the marzen lagers associated with it.  Light and flavorful session beers for those little celebrations with brauts and schnitzel a plenty.  Spaten is still my favorite but I have to say that Sam Adams makes a pretty damn good American version.

    But then when winter starts rolling around, or the closest thing to winter we can get in South Florida, just so many amazing beers make their way out.  Sierra Nevada’s Celebration is probably my favorite seasonal beer let alone favorite winter beer.  A slightly spiced up version of an IPA is something that I just love having in mass to try to last me as long as I can.  But add in Rogue’s Santa’s Private Reserve, St. Bernardus Christmas, Dogfish Head Chicory Stout along with many others and I think it becomes more clear.

    To me the winter is my favorite time for seasonal brews.  The spices used just warm me up and remind me of being back in Pennsylvania, where I will be for a few days in early December.  So tell me, what is your favorite season for seasonal brews?  And what are your favorites?

    Share
    Leave a comment