Mixed Media - Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

The Eighth Beer of Christmas 2018 is Mixed Media from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Delaware.

Summary

• Appearance: Clear, pale straw gold. One finger of white head that quickly dissipates.
• Aroma: Sweet, a little spice, grapes, peach, pear. Wine-like.
• Taste: Citrus zest, spicy on the finish. Wine-like.
• Feel: Light to medium body. Slick. Warming from the alcohol.

Stats

• Brewer: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
• Location: Milton, Deleware
• Website: https://www.dogfish.com/
• Fruit: Grapes
• Style: Beer/Wine Hybrid
• Alcohol Content: 7.5%

Big Bend Brewing - Big Bend Hefeweizen

For the Fifth Beer of Christmas, I drank a new favorite.

Big Bend Brewing
Big Bend Hefeweizen

I drank my first Big Bend beer (22 Porter) just over a year ago. Shortly thereafter I tried the rest of the lineup and then made the four hour drive to Alpine to visit the brewery. Given the complete lack of a craft beer brewer (other than brew pubs) in Lubbock, I now think of Big Bend as my hometown brewery.

The Big Big Hefeweizen is my favorite beer of theirs and my all-time favorite hefeweizen.

A pale straw color, the beer pours with a large, quickly forming head. So quick, in fact, that I had to take a drink just before I took the picture to keep it from overflowing. The head is a clean white with the normal hazy hefeweizen appearance of the beer itself. Small trails of bubbles continue to emerge all the way to the final drink leaving a small cap of foam even at the bottom of the glass.

The rich aromas of bananas, lemons and cloves fill the nose. A bit of black pepper and yeast ride the edges on a big sniff .

The taste follows the aroma with sweet bananas (almost fried,) cloves, and tart lemon. A lot of people will place a lemon in their hefeweizen. This one doesn't need a lemon. However, I have had it with a lemon wedge before and that is great, too.

A medium-weight body with a sharp carbonation, the beer is absolutely revitalizing and refreshing. Perfect on a hot summer day or next to a fire in the winter.

Big Bend recommends it with a number of foods including Mexican. I'll definitely be giving this a try on our next taco night.

With it's somewhat limited distribution (Western Texas and New Mexico,) you'll have to look hard or travel to find it. And it's worth the effort.


Stats
Brewer: Big Bend Brewing
Location: Alpine, Texas
Website: http://www.BigBendBrewing.com/
Style: Hefeweizen
Alcohol Content: 5.60% ABV
Interesting Note: Well, this is an epic bummer. Last January, I met Steve Anderson, Big Bend's brew master and the living legend who grew Live Oak (in Austin) to prominence. I Googled him just now to get a few facts about him because he's an interesting guy. I mean, he was the first brew master in the first brew pub in Texas.

I found this out 5 minutes before I typed these words: prostate cancer took Steve's life on November 25, 2015.

I feel abnormally sad at the passing of a man I hardly even know. In our brief encounter (just the two of us visiting for maybe 5 minutes during my private tour which was cut short by a freak snow storm,) I got the sense of a soft spoken, passionate, and giving man.

The brewery suggests that a donation to Pints for Prostates would be a good tribute to Steve.

Steve Anderson
January 13, 1962 - November 25, 2015
Photo from Big Bend's Website

Southern Star Brewing - Walloon

For the Eleventh Beer of Christmas, we got our hands on an extinct species that has recently been brought back to life. Think Jurassic Park, but tasty and available in six-packs.

Southern Star Brewing
Walloon (a fabled grisette!)

I've had the good fortune of visiting Southern Star in Conroe, Texas, several times, but this is the first time I've had their Walloon. If you're ever there and they have Black Crack on tap, order a glass immediately. Well, call me first so I can head that way. Then order your drink.

Hazy and apricot in color, like sunset on a foggy day, the beer has lots of little floaties in it. Given the style (see more below in the interesting note,) this isn't a surprise. Brewed with wheat, floaties are expected. After filling the glass, the beer foams up with a half inch thick head of off-white bubbles which dissipate fairly quickly into random a random scattering of bubble islands atop the brew.

The aroma is both sweet and spicy, enough of the latter that it reminds be a bit of the White Rascal witbier we drank on the as the First Beer of Christmas. There's also a little yeast and long, uncut lawn in there.

The flavor it interesting. A bit of a grape juice & coriander start with bananas & cloves in the middle or the drink, The just lighter than medium bodied beer finishes with a sweet & yeasty taste that doesn't linger.

It's incredibly drinkable and thirst quenching. Although not too thirst quenching because I am wanting another one right now. I mean now. This very instant.

Psssst.

Ah, fresh glass. That's better.

Stats
Brewer: Southern Star Brewing Company
Location: Conroe, Texas
Website: http://www.southernstarbrewing.com
Style: Saison
Alcohol Content: 5.50% ABV
Interesting Note: The style is listed as "Farmhouse-Style Ale," which typically means saison. However, down the side of the can is a word that was new to me: grisette. According to Southern Star's website, this beer is not actually a saison, although saison is the closest style of beer that is currently in production. The style is actually a "grisette" which was brewed in the French region of Belgium where the Walloons live. It's nearly extinct at this point and doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry. I'd type that in, but I'm too busy getting ready to open another can.

Ska Brewing - Autumnal Molé Stout

For the Ninth Beer of Christmas, we picked a drink that was nearly as black as the can in came in.

Ska Brewing Company
Autumnal Molé Stout

Brewed in Durango, Colorado, just across the border from New Mexico, the Molé Stout was inspired by Mexican and New Mexican cuisine. Along with cocoa nibs and spices, Ska Brewing uses three types of chili peppers (ancho, guajillo and New Mexico's own Hatch green chiles) when brewing this one.

A few people have suggested that on occasion I drink tar. Or, at the very least, motor oil. Pouring this beer into a glass, I can see their confusion. The Molé Stout pours up an opaque black with dark tan head almost half an inch thick. However, the head quickly fades to nothing, not even a ring around the glass. There's no lacing to speak of while drinking it.

Despite being a chili beer, the chili peppers take the background in the aroma. Which is nice. Some chili beers, such as Billy's Chilies from Twisted Pines Brewing in Boulder, Colorado, overwhelm you with the chilies, thereby making it a novelty beer and not one you want on a regular basis. However, the Molé Stout brings toasted dark malts, chocolate, vanilla and a little cinnamon to the forefront while letting the spiciness seep through in the background. It's very pleasant.

The peppers are a little more prevalent in the taste than in the nose. They're well balanced with dark chocolate, toasted malts, and a touch of nutmeg (not the cinnamon that I expected from the aroma.) The body is heavy and rich feeling. There's very little carbonation, which I think adds to the full body feel.

The beer was not only inspired by Mexican/New Mexican cuisine, but also designed to compliment them. I guess I'm going to have to see if I can find some Santa Fe style enchiladas here in Lubbock and try them with this stout.

Stats
Brewer: Ska Brewing Co.
Location: Durango, Colorado
Website: http://www.skabrewing.com
Style: Part Chile Beer and part Stout
Alcohol Content: 5.50% ABV
Interesting Note: Dedicated to their community (along with craft beer,) Ska is happy to donate beer to charitable causes in Southwest Colorado. There are a number of rules (read here) that outline the requirements, but if you're a 501(c)(3) in Southwestern Colorado and you aren't a children's or motor sporting event, you just might score some free Ska beer.

Brouwerij St. Bernardus – Christmas Ale

For the First Beer of Christmas, we pulled the cork on a big bottle of beer from Belgium.

My introduction to Brouwerij St. Bernardus came two years ago during our first Twelve Beers of Christmas.  Until this Christmas, I had not seen another style from St. Bernardus, so I was excited to pick up a bottle of their Christmas Ale.

The cork popped free of the bottle with a resounding thump and a strong aroma of malt and mulling spices filled my nose.  As the beer poured, a fuller aroma became apparent as sweet spice cake, dates, and cloves joined the bouquet along with a warm scent of alcohol.

During the pour, the head rose quickly with a thick mesh of tiny bubbles and stayed long into the drink.  The thickness of the malt and high carbonation led to a heavy lacing on the side of the glass.

The mouth feel is dryer than I expected due to the maltiness of the aroma.  There is an underlying sweetness of dark fruit and caramel that accompanies floral hops.  The spices come through with flavors of pumpkin pie and cloves.  The alcohol taste was less harsh than I thought it would be given the 10% ABV, but the warming effect was present in full.

This was a great beer to start The Twelve Beers of Christmas.  And a great beer to share. This year my beer loving friends Aaron, Brandon, and Wyatt joined me.  Aaron and Brandon commented that it was fruity with spicy notes at the end.  In addition, we decided to give the beers a rating.  We'll go from 1 to 12 (since it's The Twelve Beers and not The Ten Beers).  Note: it's not a ranking, just a rating.

Ratings

Aaron: 9
Brandon: 9
Wyatt: 8
Tracy: 8

Stats
Brewer: Brouwerij St. Bernardus (Brewery St. Bernardus)
Location: Watou, Belgium
Website: http://www.SintBernardus.be/
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Alcohol Content: 10.0% ABV
Interesting Note: St. Bernardus creates their beer using their own specialized strains of yeast as well as hops grown in their very own hop fields which are adjacent to the brewery.

Boston Beer Company – Sam Adams Winter Lager

For the Eleventh Beer of Christmas, we warmed up this winter night with another seasonal brew.

Boston Beer, more commonly called Sam Adams, is undoubtedly the most famous of the craft brewers. They do a great job of managing volume with quality.

The Winter Lager, their winter seasonal beer, fills a glass with a deep, rich copper brew that forms a think head which slowly tapers off to a light skimming of foam. While the lacing is minimal, the aroma is strong and inviting. A moderate hoppy scent combines with spicy undertones of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.

The spices come out in the taste along with sweet malt in the medium-full bodied beer. The malt leaves a slightly sticky film behind, almost like after eating cotton candy. Of course, it tastes nothing like cotton candy.

Sam Adams is a long time favorite of mine. I’ve had nearly every one of their brews except for a few hard to find ones such as the Utopias. But I’ll keep looking for those.

Stats
Brewer: Boston Beer Company (aka, Samuel Adams)
Location: Boston, MA
Website: http://www.SamuelAdams.com
Style: Bock
Alcohol Content: 5.5% ABV
Interesting Note: Last night’s beer came from the 2nd largest craft brewer and 6th largest brewer in the United States. Tonight’s comes from #1 & #5, respectively. Boston Lager, their flagship brew, is the first craft beer that many people drink. Including yours truly.