This Week in Hiatus... (TWIB 7)

As some of you know, I've not posted a beer review or anything in a while. First of all, that's due to the fact that I've had a lot of company coming in and out and haven't been able to afford the extra good beer on the side. Mere and I've been splitting Sam Adams Holiday/Winter 12 packs as good stand-by beers. If this beer club thing ever gets off the ground, I'll review Victory Storm King, another one of my old stand-by beers, and Rochefort 10, which is allegedly one of the top contenders for best beer in the world. I'm trying to avoid the hype, but at the same time wanted something for our club to be able to cultivate some opinions on why people might think this beer is so good, or what makes it stand out from other beers. When we get right down to it, I'm not very knowledgeable about beers. Sure, I know lots of brands, styles, and glassware and stuff, but I don't know a whole ton about the specifics of tasting and whatnot that I have been trying to read and improve on all the time. So, I'm hoping our club will give me the opportunity to continue taking beer seriously, and spread the good word about a lot of the beers I love! Just recently, I was able to introduce Storm King to one of my friends, and they loved the malt complexity and bitterness of this top-notch RIS. I'm hoping others will like it as much as I do.

In other news, I still am as impressed with Sam Adams' Holiday Porter and Old Fezziwig... and am only disappointed insofar as they're not released in their own six packs, 22 0z bombers, or 1 pt 9.4 wine bottle style. Who knows. Anyways, kudos Sam Adams!

Also, I'm hoping to hunt down a sixer of Troegs Nugget Nectar next week just based on its reputation. Many people are saying that it's a wonderful amber ale/pale ale that just must be experienced. Well, rumor has it they'll have some in stock by the end of next week at Publick House Provisions.

One final thing... I was able to try a few interesting beers over at my friend's place the other night. He had a bottle of aged Anchor Steam holiday beer from 2007 and a bottle of Smuttynose's Really Old Brown Dog Ale. I remember the Anchor Steam well enough to review it, so here goes nothing... The ROBDA I remember being very fruity, but this beer followed in the footsteps of the Anchor Steam beer, so my palate was way ruined (unbeknownst to me before my friend opened this other bottle.)

Reviews

The Anchor Steam's Our Special Ale circa 2007 we opened first, and it poured a muddy reddish into pint glasses with a little bit of light tan head. The smell was holiday spices, and what my buddy described as "fruit cake." Indeed, there was a slight smell of holiday fruit cakes and fruit displays. First sip gets a hint of the spices, but your tastebuds are instantly overrun by dark fruits and molasses. From there on out, pure dark fruit. It's a very interesting beer, reminding me of the Aventinus Eisbock and Dogfish Head's Raison D'Extra but toned down a whole lot with a bit of Christmas spices added to it. That being said, I didn't enjoy either of the other two because I felt like the raisins were overwhelming. This is a lot more subdued and contained within the character of the beer. It probably doesn't hurt that this beer doesn't even come close on ABV at ~6.5% to those other two (~11% for the Eisbock and 18% for the DFH) As it warmed up, the more vivid the fruit became. I honestly was suprised that I liked this beer considering just how fruity it was. This was a beer that, as a result of being aged, had lost all traces of hop spices that would have complimented and supported the other clove/nutmeg/etc. Christmas spices and dwindled down to the malt sweetness, which didn't even taste of malt! What I'm saying is I was wholly unprepared to drink this beer, but it was very interesting. Ultimately, if you have a bottle of this laying around, you're in for quite an experience. Despite the "holiday" label, this doesn't taste like any holiday beer you've ever had, or ever will.

My rating: 8/10

Poured: American Tumbler/Pint Glass

BeerAdvocate: Link

In the meantime, you can check out our provisional site at Boston Beer Club (for a group that's largely provisional.) I hope you all know that, in all likelyhood, this club will simply be four friends sitting around trying and writing about new beers and beer experiences... and I'm totally fine about that. It also means that I'll be blogging twice as much about beer! (yeah, I can hear the groans out there... what is this guy, obsessed? Well, what can I say, I enjoy reading about the industry, trying new beers, and the like... so get ready to listen... or ignore.) Even though I said I had nothing to write about... look, I proved myself wrong! Have a good week, I'll check back in when I can.