Fireside Chat is what 21st Amendment Brewery is calling a “Spiced Winter Ale”  The head doesn’t stick around long, but there’s a lot to taste, so I don’t miss it much.   It has a slightly smokey nose with cinnamon and licorice notes.   The middle is spicy, chewy, and sweet.   The finish is roasty, with a bit of coffee and some molasses.  This is a nice, full winter warmer that isn’t overly sweet, and had a bit of flavor for every palate.  This is a really nice beer.

Belgian beer and baseball and the two things you can find in Cooperstown, NY, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and Brewery Ommegang.  Adoration is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale, which is my favorite style.  The nose has strong cherry notes, to the exclusion of nearly anything else.   The middle is sweet, with cherry and plum flavors, with just a hint of the Belgian tartness behind the sugary overtones.  There’s a bit of heat in the finish, but subdued considering that this is a 10% ABV beer.  The finish is also where you get a taste of the spices added to this brew, which include coriander, cumin, mace, cardamom, and grains of paradise.  The sweetness makes this an excellent dessert beer, and it’s weight and strength make it a fine fortification on a cold winter’s night.

Another local beer for me tonight, and this one’s a bit of an area institution.  The Milk Stout is probably the most common local beer I see from The Duck Rabbit Craft Brewery in Farmville, North Carolina.  It’s a fairly mild milk stout, not as heavy and sweet as some, but with all of the right characteristics.  The nose is smokey, with hints of coffee and chocolate.  It’s a medium bodied beer, which is a little bit lighter than I was expecting, but that’s ok.  It gives the middle a skim milk texture, rather than the 2% of another milk stout.  The middle is sweet, as expected, with chocolate and orange flavors, and there’s molasses and a hint of espresso in the finish.  It doesn’t knock my socks off, but it’s a good beer.

It’s been awhile since I last reviewed any local brews, so today I’m drinking High Roller, an IPA from Big Boss Brewing Company of Raleigh, NC, about three hours up the road from me.   The head is a firm foam that last quite awhile and has good body.  The nose is lemony and grassy, with a hint of pine.  The middle is super hoppy, with lots of citrus and pine bite.  The bitterness fades in the finish, with a tiny undercurrent of caramel sweetness from the malt, but this is a hop-centric beer through and through.  This is a good solid American IPA, but without a lot of notable characteristics.  A pleasant every day beer for the hophead.

As any student of the American Civil War knows, chicory is a poor substitute for coffee.   Dogfish Head has ameliorated this deficiency by adding real, organic Mexican coffee to Chicory Stout as well as good old fashioned chicory root.  The result is a coffee stout without the traditional bitterness one expects to find in the style.  The nose is earthy and a bit roasty with a hint of licorice.  The middle has subtle coffee, cocoa, and licorice flavors all intermingled, and the finish is slightly astringent with some winter fruit, raisins and figs.   This is another one of a kind ale from the folks at Dogfish Head.  A nice beer, but I would have liked it if the flavors weren’t quite so subtle, and stood out a bit more from the background.

Happy New Year!  It’s New’s Year’s Day, and as I work my way through the holiday seasonals, today I’m having a white ale called Samuel Adams White Christmas, brewed by the Boston Beer Company.  There are a couple of holiday white ales around, and while it’s a lighter style than the normal winter seasonals, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it’s a refreshing break from big, heavy stouts and ales.   The head on this is nice and full, though it has a bit of a harsh foamy texture.   The nose grain and malt.   There’s a bit of orange and coriander in the middle, and wheat and honey, and a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg in the finish.  This is a fairly straight-forward wheat ale, with a little spice to give it that holiday character.  If that’s  you thing, this is a fine beer.

Samuel Adams Merry Mischief Gingerbread Stout is a holiday treat for this holiday week.  It starts with a creamy head that hangs around for a bit.  The nose is full of holiday spices like ginger and cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.  It’s not a sweet beer as I was halfway expecting, but roasty and spicy instead, with coffee and heavy spices in the middle, and a bit of molasses and oak and booze in the finish.   It has a heavy, silky mouthfeel that’s buttery at the finish.  It’s a twist on the usual holiday brews, and though this was batch number one, and I think there’s some refining yet to be done to the recipe  I think the folks at Boston Beer Company have come up with a promising new holiday option.

Merry Christmas!  La Fin Du Monde is a golden Belgian Tripel from Unibroue, the Belgian specialists from Quebec.   It’s got a beautiful head that’s reminiscent of champagne but lasts much longer.  The nose has loads of sour Belgian yeast and some grassiness.  The middle is carbonated with a punch of tart apples and pears, and bit of honey gives it some sweetness.  The finish is bitter and earthy.  This is not a small beer by any measure at 9.0% ABV, but the carbonation and lighter flavors make it more refreshing and festive than the complex and captivating brews Unibroue produces.  In this holiday season, this would be a fine alternative to champagne for the beer aficionado.

Tonight I’m trying thee 2012 version of Sierra Nevada’s Narwhal Imperial Stout.  It’s described as “midnight black and bold – with notes of baker’s cocoa and dark roasted coffee.”  It’s definitely dark and bold.  There’s a large head that dissipates quickly, and the nose has cocoa and lots of earthy notes.  The middle is dry and dusty, and bitter with that heavily roasted coffee.  The finish is actually kind of hoppy, with citrus and some spices, but there’s still some malty molasses flavor to balance it out.  It has a bit more carbonation that I expect in a stout of this this style and alcoholic content. (10.2% ABV)  All in all a good, but not great imperial stout.

Another classic craft brew in a bottle is Breakfast Stout by Founders Brewing of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I can’t bring myself to drink in the morning, but if I were to have beer for breakfast, this would be the one.   It pours without a lot of head, and there isn’t a lot of carbonation, but the head that is there is creamy and heavy.  The scent is heavily laced with espresso and a hint of chocolate, and the middle is chocolaty, milky, and smooth, with just a hint of pine.  The finish is a bit spicy, with more coffee, and the warmth of the alcohol.  This is an exceptional beer, and one of my all time favorites.