That said, Delirium Tremens is not just a vicious medical condition, it’s also an incredibly awesome name for a beer. A beer we’re reviewing here today at The BeerFathers. A beer we’re happy to report led to none of those symptoms, though it did lead to us writing a very bad adage.

Delirium Tremens comes from the Brouwerij Huyghe in Belgium, which makes a variety of other beers in the Delirium series including Delirium Nocturnum and Delirium Noel (aka Delirium Christmas), both of which are darker than their brother.

Delirium Tremens weighs in at 8.5% ABV in an 11.2 oz bottle (it also comes in a 750 ml bottle as well). It’s a great looking bottle – speckled white glass with a light blue foil over the cap and neck and little pink elephants all over the bottle (seeing pink elephants is a euphemism for a drunken hallucination cause by, you guessed it, Delirium Tremens). You can’t miss it on the shelf.

For this review dad and I used a snifter glass and got a starting beer temperature of 55.2 F. Opening the bottle got us a foaming cascade of beer so we quickly got our initial pour into our glass resulting in a large 2″ frothy white head that left no lacing as it dissipated quickly. The color is a hazy straw yellow and there is a lively amount of carbonation in the beer. There’s a good bit of flotsam and jetsam in the beer as well – enough sediment actually that it reminds us of the Brasserie Des Rocs that went a little overboard in that department. We’re more okay with it now than we were then though.

For our aromas we got biscuit, honey, citrus (both lemon and orange), yeast, light bubble gum, coriander, light ginger, peach, pear, light pepper, light apricot, spices and a hint of white wine. It smells a lot like a Duvel and that’s not a bad thing at all.

For our initial flavors we got a moderate to heavy sweet followed in the finish by a heavy sweet, very light bitter and light tart. For our tastes we stayed pretty true to the smells – biscuit, honey, citrus (lemon and orange), yeast, light alcohol, ginger, peach, pear, light pepper, light apricot, spices and a light white wine. There’s lots of light fruits in this bad boy with lots of nice light notes combined with a good heavy sweetness. It’s tremendous.

The finish length is average, the mouthfeel is creamy, the tongue hit is in the very back and there’s not much body lacing to speak of. On our patented malt to hop scale it comes in 3 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side. Very sweet indeed.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance, harmony, memorable and buy again. The only no was to wow factor. Repeatable is a questionable yes too – nothing taste-wise would keep us from repeating it, but the alcohol content might.

Do we recommend it? An emphatic, drunken, falling down yes. It’s perfect as it warms and a very enjoyable beer experience. We’d like to say there were no reportable symptoms of the alcohol but we were feeling pretty good after this one, perhaps because we consumed it rather quickly due to the extremely pleasant taste. That said the alcohol did yield one side effect – a little adage parody we wrote: Delirium at night, malt lover’s delight. Delirium in the morning, malt lovers take warning.

We apologize for the adage. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked.

Jerry: Yeah. He’s been off the wagon for two years.

George: “Off the wagon”?

Jerry: I think it’s off the wagon.

George: I think it’s on the wagon.

Later…

Elaine: One drink like that and he could fall right off the wagon.

George: Told you.

Then…

Jerry: Oh, wait a second, I believe we have a heckler ladies and gentlemen. Hey Dick I don’t know what your problem is. It’s not my fault you’re back on the wagon.

Dick: It’s off the wagon.

Jerry: In the old days how do you think they got the alcohol from town to town?

Dick: I don’t know.

Jerry: On the wagon. Don’t you think they broke into a couple of those bottles along the way?

Dick: You can’t drink on a wagon it would be too bumpy.

Jerry: They had smooth trails. What about the Cumberland Gap?

Dick: What the hell do you know about wagons?

Jerry: I know enough not to get on them.

For the record and for your edification, “On the wagon” means abstaining from alcohol, something your BeerFathers have most definitely not done. This whole thing was a just segue to distract from the fact that our last written beer review was over 5 months ago. Consider yourself distracted and off the wagon.

So the Mother Earth Weeping Willow Wit, huh? Actually it is quite a good beer. It’s the first Mother Earth Brewing product we’ve tried and we were very impressed. It’s made here in Son Beer Love’s own backyard, so to speak – Eastern North Carolina.

The Weeping Willow Wit comes in a 12 oz bottle and costs $1.79/each. It weighs in at 5% ABV, though that number is not listed on their bottle or web site. We’re basing that off what we see at Beer Advocate. Interesting that they don’t list it as most American craft beers go overboard in giving ABVs, IBUs, Platos, specific gravity, etc. Our bottled on date was 8/10 (we actually reviewed this on 5/12/2011). For our review we used a weizen glass and on our initial pour we got an average 1 1/2″ foamy white head that dissipated quickly and left no head lacing in the process. There was a soft amount of carbonation and a good hazy straw/yellow body. Looks really good. Our initial temperature was 45.4 F.

Our initial aromas came in with a light biscuit, straw, wheat, lemon, lavender, mint, orange zest, yeast, light bubble gum, clove, light ginger, coriander, and pepper. A great witbier formula. We noticed some distinct aroma differences when we got a good swirl going that produced more orange notes compared to sitting still where we got more lemon notes.

For our initial flavors we got a light sweet and a very light bitter followed in the finish by a very light sweet, light bitter and very light tart. Our initial tastes ran pretty true to the aromas – a light biscuit, straw, wheat, lemon, light mint, orange zest, light yeast, light bubble gum, clove, ginger, coriander and pepper. Very refreshing.

The finish length is short, the mouthfeel is oily, and the tongue hit is in the front. The body lacing is fair and on our patented malt to hop scale it comes in one click to the left of balanced on the malty side. Not too sweet – just about right.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance, harmony, value, and buy again. We got a no for memorable and wow factor. It’s good – just not the best we’ve done.

Overall the Weeping Willow Wit is a very interesting beer. We found it intriguing that swirling it almost made it more hefeweizen like. Swirled and unswirled it smells like two different beers. Must be something with mixing up the yeast. It reminds us of our beloved Celis White, though not quite as refined. Is it as good as a Hoegaarden? No. Is it better than a Blue Moon? Yes. We definitely recommend it. Serve it around 50 to 55 F and you should really like what you get.

It’s the apple version though, first created in 2002, that is their most popular. So popular, in fact, it has transcended the word “ephmere” by being distributed year round. It’s also the only version they sell in the United States. At the time of this posting black currant was the only other version on the market and it’s only sold in Canada.

Unibroue Ephemere Apple is described on their site as a white ale brewed with apple must. Apple must, in case you didn’t know, is a German variant of cider (don’t feel bad, we didn’t know that either). The bottle actually states “ale brewed with apple juice, coriander and curacao.” Ephemere weighs in at 12 oz with a 5.5% ABV. For our review we used a tulip glass (as recommended) and got a starting beer temperature of 43.9 F.

Our initial pour gave us an average 1 1/4″ fizzy white head the left no head lacing as it dissipated quickly. There was a tremendous amount of carbonation – quite fizzy actually – and the body was fairly clear at first, but clouded up once we got the whole bottle in the glass. The yeast is in there. The color was a very light straw.

For our aromas we got caramel, wheat, floral, light orange, green apple, light banana, light pear and a light vanilla. The green apple dominates and it’s a lot like the smell of opening a green apple Jolly Rancher. Once you get over the Jolly Rancher it starts to resemble a caramel covered apple. It’s one of the most interesting smells we’ve found on a beer.

For our initial flavors we got a moderate sweet and light tart, followed in the finish by a light sweet, very light bitter and moderate tart. For our tastes we got light caramel, light wheat, orange, green apple, coriander, light pepper and light vanilla. The orange notes are in the background but come in similar to what you’d find in a witbier (more of the zest/rind).

The finish length is short, the mouthfeel is oily, the tongue hit is front and middle and there’s no body lacing to speak of. On the malt to hop scale it’s fairly well balanced right in the middle – it’s not really malty or hoppy in the traditional sense of the word, thus it’s balanced.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance, harmony, memorable and buy again. Our only no was to wow factor. It’s not a wow, per se, but it’s unique.

Ephemere definitely seems to have more of a granny smith apple base than any other kind of apple and that’s okay with us. Very tart. It’s not an everyday beer by any means, but it could be a rare treat from time to time. It would work quite well in the hot summer months and the ladies might enjoy it year round. It’s quite refreshing.

You might be wondering why we gave it a 5 out of 10 when our bottom line notes and the review in general read so favorably. Well, there wasn’t enough depth and flavor in it for us to give it a higher rating. It’s well-crafted, but just a little too light for our tastes. It would compare quite favorably to a pomme lambic.

Overall it has the textbook Unibroue uniqueness that makes all their beers so great, but we’ll stick with some of their headier offerings.

Great back story for the Jockamo – the name comes from the tribes of Mardi Gras Indians who have marched in New Orleans since the 1800s. The word Jockamo is referenced in the popular New Orleans Mardi Gras song we know as “Iko Iko” that was originally titled “Jock-a-mo.” It’s a wordplay on the lyrics “Jock-a-mo fee-na-ne” that are repeated multiple times during the song. The song has been covered by countless artists, most famously by the Dixie Cups, but also by New Orleans artists like the Neville Brothers and Dr. John, as well as more mainstream artists like Cyndi Lauper, the Grateful Dead and the Dave Matthews Band.

The 12 oz Jockamo IPA bottle weighs in with a solid 6.5% ABV and sports a weighty 52 IBUs. It’s also got 190 calories in it, but we know you don’t care about that. For our review we used a British pint glass and got a starting beer temperature of 50.4 F.

Our initial pour gave us a large 2 1/2″ foamy off-white head that left a good amount of head lacing as it dissipated. There’s a soft amount of carbonation and the beer itself is a sparkling clear – a very clear amber/orange color.

For our aromas we got a light caramel, nutty, citrus, floral, grapefruit, pine, light yeast and a light pineapple. Not overly complex by any means and the aromas are what you’d expect from the Pacific Northwest hops they use (Willamette and Columbus hops).

For our initial flavors we got a light sweet and a light to moderate bitter that evolved in the finish to a very light sweet and a moderate to heavy bitter. You’d expect this in an IPA – a ramp up in the bitterness and a drop in the sweetness as the malt backbone gives way to the hoppy hoppers. For our tastes we got caramel, a light nutty, citrus, floral, grapefruit, pine and light yeast. Again, not overly complex, but clean and simple.

The finish length is average, the mouthfeel is watery and the tongue hit is in the middle. There’s no body lacing to speak of and on the malt to hop scale it comes in 2 clicks to the right of balanced on the hoppy side.

For our bottom line notes we got yes to drinkable, repeatable and balance. We got no for harmony, memorable and wow factor. We’ve done too many IPAs for this one to really pop at us. For buy again we put maybe – it’s a solid beer for sure – but we’re just not hopheads who seek out IPAs.

Overall, the Abita Jockamo IPA is a very well crafted beer. It stays true to where it starts as it warms, easily passing the 60 degree test and not “nastying out” like some beers as they lose their cold. The mark of a quality crafted beer is the ability to survive temperature swings, and this one’s got it. If you’re a hophead you should seek it out – it’s a good IPA with a good ABV that borders on being sessionable. Along with our other Abita favorite Turbodog it’s a part of their year-round lineup, so you know it’s a solid performer.

Of course all Sam Adams beers come from the Boston Beer Company located in Los Angeles, CA. Kidding. Of course they’re in Boston. And in terms of the craft beer battle the Boston Beer Company is winning about as much as the Patriots (that’s a lot).

For our review of the Honey Porter we used a British pint glass and our 12 oz bottle yielded a 47.1 F starting temperature. The ABV has changed over time on this bad boy – for our review we were at 5.25% ABV, but on the Sam Adams web site it’s now officially listed at 5.5%. RateBeer and BeerAdvocate vary as well, coming in at 5.25% and 5.45%, respectively. Either way, it’s at the top end of a sessionable beer, but it still classifies as sessionable.

For our initial pour we got a large 2″ frothy light brown head that left a good amount of head lacing as it dissipated quickly. There’s a little bit of carbonation and the color comes in kind of a ruby brown that’s dark and translucent.

For our aromas we got a light chocolate, honey, roasted malts, alcohol, black licorice, light raisin and a light smokiness.

For our initial flavors we got a moderate sweet and a light bitter followed in the finish by a light sweet, light to moderate bitter and a light saltiness. For our tastes we got chocolate, honey, roasted malts, black licorice, soy sauce and a light smokiness. The smokey flavor rolls in at the end and adds just a little bit of that salty hint. Very nice.

The finish length is long, the mouthfeel is creamy, the tongue hit is front and middle. There’s not really any body lacing to note and on the malt to hop scale it comes in 1.5 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side.

Bottom line notes shape up pretty well: yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance and buy again. No to memorable and wow factor and a so-so to harmony. “So-so” is a highly quantitative scientific term so don’t bother looking that one up.

It’s very good as it warms, passing our 60 degree test with no issues. The finish is very interesting as well – there’s really two distinct finishes to it – an immediate finish that’s more sweet and less bitter, followed by a late finish where the sweetness wanes, the bitterness creeps up and the smokey notes roll in.

Overall, the Sam Adams Honey Porter is just a solid, nicely done beer. It would go great with BBQ – think more along the lines of brisket than pork though. It’s not a traditional porter by any means, as referenced in the beginning, but that’s what makes it unique. It’s actually quite understated as Sam Adams beers go, but it’s a treat nonetheless.

Highland Brewing Company is well-known and respected for their craft beers, and the city of Asheville itself is known for it’s respectable and quirky beer community. Today we’re hitting up the Highland Oatmeal Porter, one of our favorite brews from Highland.

The Oatmeal Porter comes in with a 5.8% ABV and 32 IBUs. It’s packaged up in a 12 oz bottle which we poured into a British pint glass for our review and got a starting beer temperature of 54.5 F.

Our initial pour gave us an average 1 1/2″ frothy light brown head that dissipated quickly and left a decent trail of head lacing. There was a little bit of carbonation to the almost black body. Upon closer inspection though it’s actually a dark ruby brown color that, though dark, is clear.

For our aromas we got chocolate, oatmeal, coffee, roasted malts, light toffee, black licorice, and smoke. A vigorous swirl gave us a new smell – some nondescript dark fruits hiding deep in the depths of the head.

For our initial flavors we got a moderate sweet, light bitter and light salty that evolve in the finish to a moderate sweet, moderate bitter and very light salty. The tastes come in with coffee, oatmeal, roasted malts, black licorice, smoke and some more of those dark fruits (still unidentifiable).

The finish length is average, the mouthfeel is creamy, the tongue hit is middle to back and there’s a fair amount of body lacing. On our patented malt to hop scale it comes in one click to the left of balanced on the malty side.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance, harmony and buy again. We got a no for memorable and wow factor – it’s very good but it’s not revolutionary.

Overall, the Highland Oatmeal Porter is well-crafted and a nice treat. Not the most complex beer we’ve had by any means, but very good. It’s got a rich mouthfeel to it – nice and creamy – a bit of a lip smacker. The oatmeal really complements the porter style well and gives it a wonderful texture. It gets really good as it warms too – even at room temperature – it enhances the character of the beer really well. In that regard it totally passes our 60 degree test.

If you can find it, it’s totally worth picking up a 6 pack. If you like the dark meat you won’t be disappointed!

Our pale ale for this review comes from New Yorker Brewing, the East Coast spawning ground for the Kirkland beers. Our best by date was January 3, 2011, and the review commenced and finished on December 30, 2010, right before the New Year was rocked in by an early bed time.

The 12 oz bottle came in at 5.4% ABV and 35 IBUs – the most bitter of the bunch from the Kirkland series. For our review we used a British pint glass and got a starting beer temperature of 43.7 F.

For our initial pour we got an average 1 1/2″ frothy white head the left no head lacing as it dissipated quickly. There was a lively amount of carbonation and the clear body presented with a golden amber color. Quite nice.

For our aromas we got light caramel, light honey, generic citrus, light floral, grapefruit, light orange, pine, yeast, light butterscotch and some general spices. Not a bad bouquet – heavy on the hop aromas as you’d imagine given that it is a pale ale, specifically an American pale ale (put “American” in front of just about any beer and add 20% more hops, as a rule of thumb).

For our initial flavors we got a light sweet and a moderate bitter that shifts in the finish to a very light sweet, light acidic and a heavy bitter. The tastes came in fairly true to the aromas – light caramel, light honey, generic citrus, light floral, grapefruit, orange, pine, yeast and light spices. The orange and pine are the predominant tastes.

The finish length is long, the mouthfeel is oily, the tongue hit is in the front (surprisingly) and there’s virtually no body lacing. On our patented malt to hop scale it came in two clicks to the right of balanced on the hoppy side.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable and value. We got a no to balance, harmony, memorable, wow factor and buy again (which is tricky – more details below). We got a maybe for repeatable.

Ultimately, the Kirkland Pale Ale is a little like green eggs and ham to us. We just don’t like it. It’s less about the beer and more about the style though – we’re not big American pale ale guys. It does get some good sweetness to it as it warms, but not enough for our tastes.

As for the buy again factor – it’s a paradox. You have to buy it again to get any of the other Kirkland beers. We’d love to see Costco take it a step further and start offering the beers individually as 6 packs, or single style 24 packs. That would really hit the spot for us.

Overall though, you just can’t go wrong with the whole Kirkland box set. It’s 4 pretty sessionable beers and it’s a wonderful way to get people trying new stuff. The four 6 packs concept is really nice. For us though, the Kirkland Pale Ale just doesn’t quite ring true. Remember though that the 24 pack comes in at $18.99, or 79 cents a bottle, and you’d be hard pressed to find a better pale ale at the price. If you like pale ales, give it a try. If you don’t buy the box set anyway and surprise a hophead friend with a surprise 6 pack of the stuff.

Our amber ale for this review comes from New Yorker Brewing, the East Coast home for the Kirkland beers. Our best by date was January 3, 2011, and we did this actual review on December 23, 2010, right before Santa Claus came to visit our houses and drop off even more beer.

The 12 oz bottle came in at 5.7% ABV and 25 IBUs. For our review we used a shaker glass and got a starting beer temperature of 44.4 F.

For our initial pour we got an average 1″ creamy off-white head that dissipated quickly and left virtually no head lacing. There was a soft amount of carbonation and a clear body that’s copper in color – like a 1994 penny.

For our aromas we got caramel, dark amber honey, toasted malts, grapefruit, light orange, light resin, dough, light clove and a light metallic. The metallic wasn’t off-putting, but it was there.

For our initial flavors we got a light to moderate sweet and a very light bitter that evolved in the finish to a light sweet and a light bitter. For our tastes we pulled out caramel, dark amber honey, toasted malts, light grapefruit, light orange, light resin and clove. There’s a slight metallic taste to the finish as well.

The finish length is average, the mouthfeel is oily, the tongue hit is in the front and there’s no noticeable body lacing. On The BeerFathers’ malt to hop scale it comes in one click to the left of balanced on the malty side – a good sweet spot.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance, value and buy again. We got a no to harmony, memorable and wow factor.

Overall, it’s a solid, well done beer. The dark amber honey is a very nice touch and gives a really great backbone to the brew. It definitely gets better as it warms though – the malts get stronger and it smooths out a bit. We’d recommend drinking it closer to 55 F than 45 F. It does pass our 60 degree test as well if you let it get that warm – our last taste came in at 65.5 F and it was delicious.

Overall, the Kirkland Amber Ale is one of the best in the bunch for us in the 24 pack. As with most of the Kirkland beers, the price is absolutely unbeatable for the quality of the beer you get. The most resounding “yes” we’ve ever put to value, based on the 79 cents a bottle you spend for the case. Even if you only like half the beers, it’s still a good value. We think you’ll be like us and really like two of them, and be okay with the other two. It really depends on what you like in a beer (hophead or malt madman?) to determine which of the two you’ll like. For us (malt madmen through and through), the Amber Ale and the German Lager are the best in the bunch.

Our hefeweizen for this review comes from New Yorker Brewing, the East Coast hub for the Kirkland beers. Our best by date was January 3, 2011, and this review was done on December 9, 2010, so we beat the clock. Of course drinking it after the best by date is okay too – these are well crafted beers (in case you were wondering).

Our 12 oz bottle of hefeliciousness came in at 5.5% ABV and 26 IBUs. For our review we used a Weizen glass (because that’s how you do hefes, our friends). Our starting beer temperature was 43.7 F.

For our initial pour we got a large 2″ rocky white head that left no head lacing as it dissipated slowly back into the glass. There was a lively amount of carbonation to the brew and the body was slightly hazy and a nice golden color. Good start.

For our aromas we got wheat, light floral, lemon, yeast, light bubble gum, banana, clove, light pepper and also a light metallic.

For our initial flavors we got a light sweet and very light bitter, followed in the finish by a very light sweet and a light bitter. For our tastes we got wheat, lemon, yeast, light bubble gum, banana, clove, light pepper and a touch of metallic on the finish. The predominant tastes in the profile are yeast, lemon and metallic.

The finish length is average, the mouthfeel is oily, the tongue hit is in the front and there’s no body lacing to speak of. On our malt to hop scale it comes in almost balanced – a half click to the right of balanced on the hoppy side.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance and value. We got a no to harmony, memorable, wow factor and buy again.

The beer is much better colder than it is warm – the metallic edge ramps up quite a bit as it warms up. Alas, it did not pass the 60 degree test. We’d recommend drinking it around the lower 40′s rather than the upper 50′s in terms of temperature. We’d also recommend drinking it fast to ensure it doesn’t warm up.

The Kirkland Hefeweizen is a deceptive beer – the cooler profile in the 40′s is drastically different from the warmer profile. For grins we did a second one quickly that stayed cold (we didn’t spend 45 minutes analyzing it to death like we did the first beer) and it was a much better experience. We actually got some floral notes in the taste we didn’t get when it was warmer. If you kept it cold it could almost turn our rating up a notch or two to a 4 or even a 5. Alas, we rate the beers going from cold to warm as a test to see how well they are crafted. Good hefeweizens can hold in there around 60 F.

All the elements of a hefeweizen are in this – yeast, lemon, banana, pepper – but they just don’t sing to us. Overall it’s a bit thin and just not that refined. Of course, for the price it’s still a heck of a value – the Kirkland 24 pack comes in at $18.99, or 79 cents a bottle. You’ll likely spend $7 to $8 for a 6 pack of Pyramid or Widmer hefeweizen, and this is just as good as those. Bottom line – you can do better, but this really isn’t that bad.

The Drifter Pale Ale comes from Widmer Brothers Brewing out in Oregon, the land of the Pacific Northwest hops. The 12 oz bottle sports a 5.7% ABV and 32 IBUs. We used a British pint glass for our test and got a starting beer temperature of 45.9 F.

For our pour we got a large 2 1/4″ foamy off-white head that left a fair amount of lacing as it dissipated slowly. There is a soft amount of carbonation to the clear amber body.

On the nose we pulled caramel, honey, floral, grapefruit, tangerine and ginger. A really strong nose dominated by the grapefruit that we’ve come to associate with Summit hops.

The initial flavors come in with a moderate sweet and a light bitter that evolve in the finish to a light sweet and a moderate to heavy bitter, along with a light tart. The taste comes in fairly true to the aroma with caramel, honey, grapefruit, tangerine and ginger. The floral notes don’t pop through in the taste for us – probably too delicate to overcome the grapefruit and tangerine flavors from those Summit hops. The grapefruit in the taste is strong, but not overpowering. Overall the taste is more subdued than the smell.

The finish length is average to long, the mouthfeel is oily and the tongue hit is in the middle, but also works up to the roof of the mouth. There’s a fair amount of body lacing and on our patented malt to hop scale it comes in 1.5 clicks to the right of balanced on the hoppy side.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance and memorable. We got a no to harmony, wow factor and buy again. We say we wouldn’t buy it again for ourselves because we don’t normally seek out pale ales, but we definitely would recommend it to someone who did like that style.

The Summit hops really jazz things up with this one. The press release that came with the beer reads “Most pale ales are brewed with Cascade hops. Ours is truly an original, made with Summit hops known for their delicate flavor and undertones of tangerine, mandarin orange and grapefruit.”

As unique as it is we fully expect others in the marketplace to try to copy the style. The hops don’t bite too hard, but they do hang around for a while on your cheeks and the roof of your mouth. For us, two well known malt madmen, we can say this – it’s a very good summer beer. As American pale ales go the Drifter Pale Ale is pretty unique. For a Widmer beer – we’re very impressed (we weren’t very keen on their hefeweizen). It should run around $9 or $10 for a 6-pack, so the price point is pretty spot on. If you’re a hophead you should feel right at home.

The Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA comes to us from the fine folks at Dogfish Head Craft Brewery up in Deleware. It was sent to us as a gift from one of the fine vendors Son Beer Love does business with in his day job. It’s got a completely unassuming front label – just a picture of a hop leaf, the name of the beer and a statement that it “Ages Well.” The last part remains to be seen as we’ve cellared a bottle to have in a decade or so. The back of the label reads “What you have here is the holy grail for hopheads. This beer is continuously hopped over a 120-minute boil and then dry-hopped every day for a month. Enjoy now or age for a decade or so.”

The ABV comes in at a hearty 18% and the IBUs come in at an impossible (literally) 120. It’s a 12 oz bottle of mouth wallop for sure. Though not noted on the bottle, we feel like our batch is likely from 2009.

We thought about live blogging this as we reviewed it, but at 18% we thought our review might go something like this:

First sip: Sweet edge, strong alcohol presence.

Second sip: Nice notes of floral, caramel, etc.

Thir3d sip. Toff3e notez, aromza, sippy sip.

444444444444thhhf stepppp…… Glarfneck spoo.

After thinking through what a 12 oz bottle of 18% ABV beer might do to us we decided that splitting the bottle was the intellectual choice. Just so happened that Father Beer Love was in Charlotte visiting Son Beer Love (that’s a lie, he was in Charlotte visiting Granddaughter Beer Love).

For a little primer into the beer, check out this quick video of Sam Calagione talking about the Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA:

For our review we used a snifter glass which wound up being perfect for tight swirls and catching lots of aromas. Also for feeling all fancy like. We got a starting beer temperature of 51.3 F. We used some sandwich thins and water to cleanse our palates in between sips.

Our initial pour yielded a small 1/4″ creamy off-white head that left a fair amount of lacing as it dissipated quickly. There was no discernible carbonation and the body clarity was a bit hazy. The color was a brilliant amber/orange.

For our aromas we grabbed caramel, toasted malts, citrus, grapefruit, grass, orange, pine, resin, yeast, alcohol, apricot, fresh ginger, dry sherry and some general spices. Of all the smells grapefruit comes out the strongest. It smells super hoppy and may literally have the biggest nose on a beer we’ve done or can recall. The strength of the smell is outrageous and is only further concentrated by our snifter glasses. We’re notoriously not hopheads, so we’re not sure we’re going to like what comes next.

What comes next is the taste. We hold our snifter glasses like we’re 14th century aristocrats and take a sip. Initial flavors are a heavy sweet and a light bitter. The finish flavors are a moderate sweet, moderate bitter, very light salty and a very light tart. Our heads turn sideways like a dog that has just seen you juggle. Where’s the mouth punch? The tongue burning? The taste buds dissolving? It’s not there.

What is there is caramel, honey, toasted malts, toffee, floral, grapefruit, pine, resin, apricot, brown sugar, butterscotch, fresh ginger, dry sherry, spices and a touch of vanilla. It’s quite the taste profile and it has a surprising amount of sweetness to it. It’s a great sweetness for two malt madmen like ourselves. Wow. The alcohol, also surprisingly, isn’t around in the taste.

The finish length is long, the mouthfeel is buttery and the tongue hit is in the front. There’s a fair amount of body lacing as we drink it down and on our patented malt to hop scale it comes in 1.5 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side. It may be an Imperial IPA, but that malt backbone is so strong that it brings it to the malty side of balanced. You can’t possibly fathom how odd that is to us.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, balance, harmony, memorable, wow factor, value and buy again. Our only no was to repeatable, which most 18% ABV beers aren’t going to score well on.

By the end of the review our beer was up to 67.1 F and it tasted even better than it did when we started. This one passes the 60 degree test with flying colors. Start out around 55 degrees or so and you’ll be in good shape as you sip it throughout the evening.

The Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA just blew our minds, in a good way. It’s nothing like we expected. Well, the smell was, but the taste so wasn’t. The smell is completely dominated by hops and the taste is completely dominated by the malts. The hop shock is smell-based only. We wound up calling it “A Malt Lover’s IPA” and we think that is the perfect description of it. We struggled with whether or not it was a 10 and in the end we decided to settle on a 9. When we try the bottle we’re aging we may come back and change our minds.

Thanks to our friend Dave for sending us this treat. We look forward to more!

Also – for comparison – check out our review of the Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA.

It’s brewed by the Carolina Beer Company, located about 30 minutes north of Charlotte in Mooresville, NC. They’re probably best known for their Carolina branded brews like Carolina Blonde and Carolina Strawberry Ale, but for our money their Cottonwood line of ales and seasonals is where the magic happens.

The Cottonwood Pumpkin Spice is a fall seasonal for them and comes in a 12 oz bottle. You’ll find varying reports on the ABV with BeerAdvocate listing it at 4.5%, RateBeer listing it at 5.1% and Carolina Beer’s own Pumpkin Spiced Ale page listing it at 6%. The likely scenario is that the ABV has changed over the years and has probably gradually crept up into that craft beer sweet spot of around 6% to 8% that a lot of the craft beers you find these days tend to have. More ABV rarely presents a problem for the craft beer segment, who we dare say tend to be a bit more responsible than the rank American domestic segment. Ever wonder what percentage of DUIs are a result of craft beer versus domestic beer? That should probably be a line on the police report, but we digress.

Our starting beer temperature came in at 48.6 F and our initial pour gave us a slightly larger than average 2″ fizzy off-white head that left no head lacing at it dissipated quickly. It’s got a nice lively amount of carbonation and the body clarity comes in fairly clear while the color is pure amber orange.

For the smell we pull some great aromas – light caramel, brown sugar, cinnamon, clove, ginger, maple syrup, nutmeg and some other fanciful spices. There’s no real pumpkin that pops out in the smell – it’s just all spices that dominate the nose. Just a wonderful aroma.

For our initial flavor notes we get a light sweet and a light tart that ramps up to a light to moderate sweet and light to moderate tart in the finish. The tastes come in with brown sugar, cinnamon, clove, ginger, maple syrup, nutmeg, pumpkin and some more spices. Though the pumpkin wasn’t prominent in the nose it’s definitely there in the taste, but it’s not overdone like so many of the other pumpkin beers we’ve had.

The finish length is average, the mouthfeel is oily and the tongue hit is front to middle. There’s not really much in the way of body lacing and on the patented malt to hop scale it comes in 3 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side – one click away from a malt explosion.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, balance, harmony, memorable, wow factor and buy again. Our only no was to to repeatable (more on that later).

We really like the spice dominance in this one. It’s like a pumpkin pie in a glass. The best pumpkin beers we’ve done hedge more towards pumpkin pie smells than jack-o-lantern smells and though that may be a personal preference, we think it’s the right path to go down.

With the Cottonwood, it’s another case of a beer really hitting the season it’s made for – it’s truly a great fall/winter seasonal beer. Thought it’s not a great session beer (the spices could be a bit much to do multiples of in a sitting), it’s a tremendous first beer. It’s extremely pleasant and a lot of fun to drink. The spices make the beer, they’re not just innocent bystanders like so many other pumpkin beers. If you’re in an area where you can get Cottonwood beer and it happens to be fall, the Pumpkin Spice Ale is definitely worth a 6 pack or two.

The Noel Des Geants is brewed by Brasserie des Geants (formerly Brasserie des Legendes) in south Belgium. The brewery is actually located in a medieval castle in the town of Irchonwelz. The town is famous for its annual giants parade so the brewery has a gate that stands high to allow an occasional giant to pass through. How awesome is that?

The beer is unpasteurized, unfiltered, bottle-refermented, weighs in at 8.5% ABV and comes in an 11.2 oz bottle.

For our review we used a snifter glass and got a starting beer temperature of 49.1 F. Our initial pour yielded a small 1″ frothy light brown head that left no head lacing as it dissipated quickly. It’s a dark gem of a beer – a nice opaque ruby brown color that sports a soft amount of carbonation in it.

For our aromas we got biscuit, honey, earth, yeast, cinnamon, clove, dark cherry, date, nutmeg, sugar plum, raisin, vanilla and some other nondescript spices. The dark fruits really pop in the smell.

For our initial flavors we got a heavy sweet, light bitter and moderate sour. Our finish flavors came in with a moderate sweet, moderate bitter and moderate sour. Sweetness drops and bitterness increases as you go through your sipping motion. For our tastes we got honey, clove, coriander, dark cherry, pepper, sugar plum, raisin and some more nondescript spices. Not all the aromas come out in the taste, but it’s a great taste nonetheless.

The finish length is long, the mouthfeel is creamy and the tongue hit is on the front and sides. There’s no body lacing left on the glass as you quaff it down and on the malt to hop scale it comes in 2.5 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side. That’s a really nice malty sweet edge.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, balance, harmony, memorable, wow factor and buy again. The only no was to repeatable as one was enough.

The Noel Des Geants is loaded to the gills with dark fruits, so if you like beers like Chimay Blue or Trappistes Rochefort 10 you’ll like this one. It brings something new to the table though – a prominent sourness. Along with that there’s a very pronounced sugariness to it that hits the spot and adds to the complexity of the beer. It is an absolutely perfect Winter/Christmas seasonal beer – you want to cozy up to it and take your time enjoying it, because it’s a treat. Highly recommended.

For those not in the know – the “butt” reference speaks to the style of porter you may not be familiar with – the Entire Butt Porter. We write more about it in our review of the Entire Butt English Porter but so you know in 18th century Britain the porter was a blend of three beers – a stale or soured old ale, a brown or pale new ale and a mild to weak ale – resulting in a beer commonly referred to as the “Entire Butt.”

Back to the Santa’s Butt – it’s not cheap, coming in around $5 to $6 a bottle depending on where you find it, but at least you get more than a normal bottle – it’s 1 pint 0.9 oz (500 ml). It sports a 6% ABV and for our review we got a starting temperature of 51.1 F.

Our initial pour into our English pint glass gave us an average 1 1/2″ foamy light brown head that left a good amount of head lacing as it dissipated quickly. It’s a dark beer, but clear, with the color coming in somewhere between brown and black. It has very little carbonation to speak of.

The aromas come in with light toasted malts, soap, alcohol, light brown sugar and some nondescript spices. Not the greatest nose, but a lot of the aromas are muted so it’s not too off-putting.

The initial flavors come in with a moderate sweet followed up in the finish by a light sweet, very light bitter and a very light salty. The tastes come in with a light chocolate, light coffee, light roasted malts, light butterscotch, light sherry and finally some vanilla. As with the aromas, the tastes run light on this one.

The finish length is short to average, the mouthful is full on creamy, almost buttery, and the tongue hit is in the middle. There was a fair amount of body lacing on the glass during our review and on the patented malt to hop scale it comes in 2 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side. A good sweet malty edge on it.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable and balance. We got a no to harmony, memorable, wow factor and buy again (although to be honest the no to buy again is based purely on the price and not the taste).

Santa’s Butt is a good bittersweet beer. The tastes and aromas come in much lighter than a traditional porter so it shouldn’t scare anyone off. It could be a great conversion beer for someone wanting to get into porters. Yeah – a perfect conversion porter. It could be a good session beer as well for a seasoned beer drinker (though technically 6% doesn’t fit the definition of a session beer), if not for the stifling price tag.

The hops are very mild and it almost strikes us more like an American bock style of beer. It’s wildly clean and could be a good porter for the ladies (make that the ladies who don’t know good porters, so not The Beer Wench or The Beer Babe). It’s wildly clean and the mouthfeel is just superb – it hits the middle of the tongue and coats the inside of the cheeks. It’s kind of an anti-porter porter, if that makes sense. Maybe a Porter Bock. Either way it’s unlike most porters you’ve tried so it’s worth picking up.

The Lump of Coal comes in at 8% ABV in its 1 pint, 0.9 oz (500 ml) bottle. For our initial pour into our tulip glass we got an average 1 1/2″ light brown creamy head and a starting beer temperature of 48.6 F. There was a fair to good amount of head lacing left towards the top of the glass as it dissipated slowly into the depths below. It’s almost solid black with some occasional hints of ruby and there was a soft amount of carbonation.

For the aroma profile we got burnt malts, coffee, dark chocolate, molasses, black licorice, light brown sugar, soy sauce and vanilla. Not a hop to be had that we could detect.

Our initial flavors came in with a moderate sweet and a very light bitter, followed by a light sweet, light bitter and light salty in the finish. Our tastes came in with regular chocolate (not dark chocolate like the smell), coffee, molasses, roasted malts (not burnt like the smell), black licorice and dark brown sugar (not light brown sugar like the smell). It’s got a nice bittersweet chocolate taste to it. Initially the coffee taste is in the background and the chocolate taste is in the foreground, but the coffee gets stronger in the finish.

The finish length is short, the mouthfeel is creamy and the tongue hit is all in the back. There was no body lacing to speak of as the beer levels went down and on the malt to hop scale it comes in 2.5 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side. Very nicely malted – right where we like it.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance, harmony and buy again. We got a no to memorable and wow factor.

Is it a Christmas beer? Not really. There was none of the spicy, warming notes we tend to think of in Christmas beers, but it is a good solid stout. It’s actually a highly drinkable stout – if not for the 8% ABV it could be a good session beer. The finish fades pretty fast for a dark stout, which is surprising, but means it’s not too overpowering. It might be a good conversion stout for someone really wanting to get into stouts. Not bad at all and definitely worth picking up and trying, especially if your tastes run more to the dark side.

Interesting story on Celis – it was developed by Pierre Celis, a brewmaster from Hoegaarden, Belgium. He opened Celis Brewery in Austin, TX in 1992 to brew his decades-old Belgian beer recipes (Celis White had an almost cult-like following). He moved back to Belgium in the late 90′s and the story almost ended. The brewery got into the hands of Miller and was closed in 2000. However, the Celis brewing equipment was purchased by Michigan Brewing in 2002 and they revived the Celis line of beers which you can continue to enjoy to this very day. Hats off to Michigan Brewing for saving Celis.

Back to the Celis White – it’s a witbier (Belgian white) and the ABV comes in a little on the low side at 3.9%. We were able to find an IBU of 15 from the Malt of the Earth newsletter.

The Celis White explained from the Michigan Brewing web site:

Celis White is seasoned with Curacao orange peel and coriander, and is brewed from a unique recipe first brewed in Belgium in 1453. It is top fermented and brewed from 50% raw winter wheat and 50% 2-Row malt, hopped with Willamette and EKG hops. Its sweetness balances many spicy foods and is especially good with fruits, salads, delicate sauces, fish and poultry, or as an aperitif.

For those not in the know, an aperitif is an alcoholic drink served before a meal. Feel free to use that knowledge at your next dinner party. For our review we served this 12 oz bad boy up in a weizen glass and got a starting temperature of 45.7 F. Our initial pour gave us an average 1 1/2″ white foamy head that left no lacing as it dissipated quickly. There was a medium amount of carbonation and there was a light haziness in the very light straw colored body.

For our aromas we got sweet biscuit, wheat, light lemon, orange zest, light banana, bubble gum, coriander and clove. It’s got a really great nose to it – it smells a lot like our beloved Franziskaner Hefeweizen and let us tell you that’s okay in our books.

Our initial flavor impressions were a light sweet followed by a moderate sweet, light bitter and light tart on the finish. For our tastes we held pretty true to the nose – sweet biscuit, wheat, light lemon, orange zest, light banana, bubble gum, coriander and spices. The tastes in this thing work wonderfully together and it’s just a complete gem. It’s like a cross between the aforementioned Franziskaner and a Hoegaarden and that, our friends, is a beautiful thing.

It’s got a short finish to it, a nice oily mouthfeel and the tongue hit comes in somewhere middle to back. There’s no body lacing left on the glass as we gulp it down and on the patented malt to hop scale it comes in one click to the left of balanced on the malty side. Right where we like it.

For our bottom line notes we got all yeses – drinkable, repeatable, balance, harmony, memorable, wow factor and buy again. It actually got a write-in “hell yes” to drinkable – it’s that good.

It perfectly bridges the gap between a hefeweizen and a witbier, with a skew towards the witbier. Hefeweizen notes lie in the background while witbier notes lie in the foreground. It’s pretty tame so that makes for a great session beer. It’s just a real treat – if you see it buy as many as you possibly can. No need to send us a thank you letter, we’ll be too busy drinking Celis White to read it.

Technically, the bottle reads Widmer Brothers Brrr Seasonal Ale. It obviously comes to us from Widmer Brothers Brewing, which is located up in Portland, Oregon – one of the two most highly regarded craft beer states in the U.S. (along with Colorado). We used a pint glass for our review of this 12 oz bottle of free beery goodness. The IBU comes in at 50, the ABV comes in at 7.2% and our starting beer temperature was 55.4 F.

Our pour yielded a good sized 2″ frothy off-white head that left a good amount of lacing as it dissipated slowly. A really good start! There is a soft amount of carbonation in the sparkling clear perfectly amber colored body. It looks well crafted.

Giving the beer the old sniffy sniff test got us a good amount of citrus, including grapefruit and pine. We also got a note of spices and a possible aroma of toasted malts. That’s it. It almost smells like a cleaner you’d find under your sink to mop the floor (some people are into that!). The lack of aroma complexity follows suit in the taste – grapefruit, pine and orange are the predominant tastes we pulled out. A little disappointing to be honest – our heart was set on a good spicy, caramely winter warmer of a beer and it didn’t really deliver on that front.

The initial flavor notes are a light sweet and heavy bitter that stay the course through the finish but add a slight metallic taste. The finish hangs in there for a good amount of time and the mouthfeel is dry. The tongue hit is in the back, where all your bittererers are. There’s a fair amount of body lacing and on the patented BeerFathers malt to hop scale it comes in 3 clicks to the right of balanced on the hoppy side. One click away from as hoppy as you can get.

For our bottom line notes we got a no to drinkable, no to repeatable, no to harmony, no to memorable, no to wow factor and no to buy again. The only thing we could say was there was “some” balance in the taste with the elements, but not much. We even put a no to “receive for free again.”

Of course you know The BeerFathers are not hopheads – we love the malts. This beer comes in almost IPA-like, but not in a good way for us. We can get into some hoppy beers and have rated some IPAs as high as a 7/10 on this very site (see Dogfish Head, 90). But even those highly rated beers had some good malt backbone to balance out the hop shock. This one just doesn’t do that. The press release states that it “embodies the notable ‘Pacific Northwest style’ citrus hop aromas and flavor.” Makes us somewhat glad we don’t live in the Pacific Northwest, though we’d love to visit someday. As long as our hotel isn’t on a cascade hop farm, we should be in good shape.

If you’re a hophead get it and try it – you’ll probably love it. Don’t expect complexity though because it’s just not there. It does have a good alcohol content at 7.2% – what we’d call the low side of high, so there’s that going for it. The press release also states that “caramel and chocolate malts provide flavor complexity” but we just couldn’t find them. If they had ramped those up a good bit it could have balanced it out and made an ultimately much more interesting and enjoyable beer for us.

It would probably be much better with food, perhaps some holiday meals with lots of ham and various other accoutrement. By itself, which is how we rate all our beers, it’s just too hoppy for The BeerFathers. We think maybe a beer needs vowels to be good and the Brrr falls just a little short there.

The actual name of the beer on the bottle is Panil Barriquee Oak Aged Sour Red Ale, which will be the last time we write that out completely. It’s brewed by Birrificio Torrechiara, which makes about 9 different beers with the name Panil attached to all of them. Our bottle is from 2005 and at $15.99 per bottle, it’s probably one of the most expensive beers you’ll buy that doesn’t have the word “Utopia” attached to it. For our 1 pint, 9.4 oz bottle you get a per ounce price of about 63 cents per ounce. Worth it? Yep.

Panil Barriquee is 8% ABV, triple fermented, matured in cognac barrels from Bordeaux and ours was bottled in 2005. We used a tulip glass for our review and got an initial beer temperature of 60 F. It’s worth noting that Panil Barriquee, though technically a beer, doesn’t drink like any beer you’ve ever had.

Our initial pour yielded no head whatsoever, just bubbles. This means there’s no rating for head appearance, color, lacing or duration. This brings up the bigger, more probing question – is it really a beer if it doesn’t have a head?

There is no carbonation in the body at all that we could find. The body itself is a hazy, translucent red with deep amber tones to it. For our aromas we picked up caramel, floral, earth (an earthy musky smell), alcohol, brown sugar, sour cherry, oak, plum, raisin, white wine and chardonnay. There’s loads of dark fruits in the smell and it smells suspiciously wine-like. Did they mislabel a bottle of wine as beer?

For our tastes we got brown sugar, sour cherry, oak, plum, raisin, white wine and chardonnay. Much like the smell there’s loads of dark fruits in the taste – sour cherry really jumping to the top of the pile. Again it reminds you of wine with the taste. The initial flavor notes are a moderate to heavy sweet and light sour. The finish flavor notes are a light sweet and moderate sour. Is it really a beer if it tastes like wine?

The finish length is short, the mouthfeel is dry and the tongue hit is in the front. The dry mouthfeel really works with this beer – it’s quite nice and the dryness is really reminiscent of a good dry red wine. Towards the bottom of bottle we got a lot of cloudiness and a darker color – more towards ruby brown than the earlier red amber tones we were getting.

There’s no body lacing as you drink it and it’s just impossible to rate on our patented malt to hop scale – it feels balanced but there’s really no malts and no hops to judge balance on. It’s so very totally different from a normal beer. Is it really a beer if it doesn’t have readily discernible malts and hops?

For our bottom line notes we got Yes to everything we rate – drinkable, repeatable, balance, harmony, memorable, wow factor and buy again. Wow.

This is just an amazingly unbelievable beer that you’ve got to try. Get a big fistful of money to go buy it, nay, invest in it. Even at $16 a bottle you’ll be glad you did. It’s hard to believe it’s a beer, it’s absolutely remarkable and one of the most unique beer experiences you’ll ever have. Share it with a loved one who also enjoys good beer and you’ll have a great beer adventure together.

The Sam Adams seasonal lineup goes like this, starting in the spring: Sam Adams White Ale, Sam Adams Summer Ale, Sam Adams Octoberfest and Sam Adams Winter Lager. All Sam Adams beers are brewed by the Boston Beer Company, which makes lots of good craft beers – seemingly a new beer every few months now – that cover a broad range of styles, alcohol contents and price points.

For our review we used a British pint glass and got a starting beer temperature of 44 F. The White Ale weighs in with a 5.2% ABV and our traditional brown 12 oz bottle yielded a generous initial pour where we got a large 2 inch creamy white head that dissipated slowly and left virtually no head lacing. There was a lively amount of carbonation in the gold colored, hazy body of our delicious looking brew.

For the aromas we got honey, wheat, floral, orange, coriander, spices, light grapefruit and a light ginger. There’s enough spices in it that they muddle together a bit and make it hard to pull out the individual notes.

For the tastes we got wheat, floral, grapefruit, orange, clove, coriander, pepper, spices and a light ginger. Our initial flavor notes were a moderate sweet and very light bitter that evolve in the finish to a light sweet, light bitter and light tart. You’d expect a little bit more hop presence, but even at the end it’s a subdued bitterness that is very light by Sam Adams standards (I’ve heard Sam Adams has a wall of tongues at their headquarters that have fallen directly out of people’s mouths from bitter hop shock caused by some of their other brews).

The finish length is short to average, the mouthfeel is dry and the tongue hit is in the back. There was no body lacing to speak of as we gulped it down. On the malt to hop scale it comes in one click to the right of balanced on the hoppy side – slightly hoppy, but not in the danger zone.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance and buy again. We got a no for harmony, memorable and wow factor.

Overall it’s good for the season – it would probably be better for slightly cooler temperatures – think a New England spring season more so than a Louisiana spring season. But as a seasonal it hits the mark. Beer temperature-wise, cold is good – probably around 45 to 50 F. We wouldn’t let it get up to or past 60 F, as it does hop up a little bit more as it warms. We don’t think that will be much of a problem though as it’s a good, drinkable, sessionable beer that you could easily have a few of, especially at a restaurant with a good meal. Our hat’s off to Sam Adams for their excellence of execution in their seasonal lineup.

2010 Update: The Sam Adams Noble Pils has now replaced the Sam Adams White Ale as the spring seasonal beer. The White Ale is now a part of their Brewmaster’s Collection.

Holiday Cheer weighs in at 5.4% ABV in it’s 12 oz glory. It comes in with an IBU of 22, very mild on the bitterness scale. We got a starting beer temperature of 43.9 F.

Our initial pour gave us an average 2″ frothy light brown head that left no head lacing as it dissipated quickly in our English pint glass. There was a  soft amount of carbonation to the clear amber red body.

For the aromas we got a bouquet of peach, nutty, toffee, grapefruit, dough, vanilla and what we could only call a general melon smell. The peach smell dominates, almost overpowers, the beer. There’s also a bitter tinge reminiscent of a pecan not quite shelled all the way. Not that this is bad by any means, it is an interestingly nice smelling beer.

For the tastes we got peach, nutty (specifically pecan), toffee, grapefruit and again with the general melon. There is a nice pecan action to the taste that we dig. The initial flavor notes are moderately sweet, light bitter and a light to moderate tart. The finish flavor notes are a light sweet, moderate bitter and light tart.

The finish length is average, the mouthfeel is oily and the tongue hit is in the middle. There’s really no body lacing to speak of. It comes in perfectly balanced on our patented malt to hop scale.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance, harmony and buy again. No to memorable and wow factor.

We feel like this one is positioned all wrong. It would be a good late summer beer, in the same vain as the Dogfish Head Aprihop, but it isn’t a great “Christmas” beer for us. It would be great for when it’s cool to warm out, not when it’s 30 degrees. It’s a good seasonal stuck in the wrong season.

Of course, in Shiner, TX it may be 65 degrees at Christmas, so touche.