St. Bernardus Christmas Ale

As January comes to a close and the weather outside slowly gets warmer (I definitely rocked shorts the other day), it brings us to a close of the winter beers. Now I know that there are plenty of more winter brews in the world and I only scratched the surface with my selection but I tried to cover some of the more likely beers that you will find in your local liquor stores. For our last winter beer session I'm going to go a little out of the box and go with a smaller brewery that you may or may not be able to find in your local store. The brewery in question is the St. Bernadus Brewery located in Belgium and produces a wide range of different beers and the one that we'll be looking at is the St. Bernardus Christmas Ale. First off, the beer is not cheap costing around 11 dollars for a 750 ml bottle (about the size of your average wine bottle). The upside to the beer, before actually tasting the beer, is that the ABV of the beer is 10%, which is almost double that of a normal beer. The beer is a dark beer with a very strong and distinct flavor which leaves a lingering aftertaste in your palate. The beer has a strong fruit flavor to it which is dominated by the orange in it but at the same time the beer is very smooth and does not have a bitter taste that comes from beers with a lot of hops. The only downside to the beer is the lingering aftertaste that it leaves that sits on in the back of your throat. All in all, the beer is an above average winter beer that would definitely go really nice after hours while hanging out with a couple friends around the fireside. It is a beer I think beer lovers should definitely try and should get a chance to please but will not be every body's favorite.

Overall Score - 6.0

The next category of beers is up for grabs. I'm looking to do IPA's or maybe wheat beers, not sure yet, if you have any suggestions let me know.

BG

Magic Hat Winter Brews

The 25th of December marked the beginning of the end of another year, and a perfect day to have a couple of beers while visiting family and friends. On this Christmas ,the choice of brews was Magic Hat's winter seasonal Howl and the Odd Notion Series' Winter 09. The two beers bring two completely different types of styles and tastes to the table so first we will look at the Howl. The first thing that comes to mind when you see the beer is how funky the label looks (this is true for all Magic Hat beers). After you get past the eye popping label and get down to drinking the dark brew, you get the typical tastes expected when drinking a winter lager with a few exceptions. First of all the beer has a pretty average ABV of 4.6%. As I said before, the taste of the beer is in line with other winter brews but with a few exceptions. In my opinion these exceptions make the beer much better than other heavy winter beers. While there is nice subtle chocolate taste the beer does not sit too heavy in your stomach. I feel like this is a nice beer that would be great to have late night while eating some desert, maybe replacing coffee for a few of us.

The second winter beer of Magic Hat that I had was one of the Odd Notion Series, Winter 09. Magic Hat puts out a new Odd Notion beer for each season every year and this year for the Winter 09 beer they decided to make it a sour beer. Now this was the first sour beer that I have ever had and the experience was not a good one for me. The first couple of sips of the beer caught my attention and I thought that I might enjoy it but by the time the beer was gone I decided that this was not a favorie of mine. There are subtle tastes of fruit in the beer (mostly lemon) but the beer is really kind of sour and leaves a not so pleasant aftertaste that lingers for a while. While this is completely different from any of the winter beers that we have seen so far, in my opinion, it is not a welcome change.

Magic Hat Howl

Overall Score - 7.0

Magic Hat Odd Notion Winter 09

Overall Score - 4.5

Keep posted because there are some micro brews on the horizon.

BG

Full Moon Winter Ale: Part of the Blue Moon Seasonal Collection

With almost two feet of snow lying outside on the ground with more continuing to fall, it just happens to be a perfect setting for watching a couple of movies, relaxing, and enjoying some good beer. Today on the menu is Blue Moon's Seasonal Selection, Full Moon. Full Moon sits at the average price of around $8 dollars for a six pack and has a nice ABV of 5.6% which will keep you warm on a night like this. The label on the beer describes the beer as a full-bodied ale that is brewed with roasted malts and a hint of Dark Belgian sugar for a perfectly balanced taste. Now while drinking the beer I have no idea if I was tasting the sweet Belgian sugar or not but what I can tell you is that beer does have an interesting taste. Compared with the last winter brew that I reviewed, the Sierra Nevada, there is only a slight hint of bitterness in the beer. There is also a slight hint of sweetness that you can pick up on in the after taste. In truth it is not to heavy and is definitely a beer that deserves more than one in a sitting. One of the best things about the beer is that it doesn't have a significantly bold taste which makes it more enjoyable to people who do not necessarily like a really strong "beerish" flavor. (My mom is a huge fan of the entire Blue Moon Collection and her favorite beer is Coors Light) Overall I think that this an enjoyable beer for everybody but if your looking for a beer with a more bold flavor than look elsewhere.


Overall Score - 6.8

Tune back next time for the newest beer review

BG

Sierra Nevada - Celebration Ale

The first beer of the winter season that's on the chopping block is the ever popular, Sierra Nevada's winter special- Celebration Ale. Since this is a full review of the beer I'll cover everything from price to taste including all of the niceness in between.

The Celebration Ale is average costing beer (I paid around $8 dollars for a six pack) that has an ABV of 6.8 which will do the job of getting you on the road to feeling good. But forget about where the beer leads you and lets focus on the taste and see if this is a winter ale that beer lovers will enjoy while hanging out with friends on a cold winter night. The beer has a strong bitter taste to it which I rather enjoy in the ale variety of beers but a female friend of mine and my brother really did not enjoy the Celebration Ale because of how bitter the taste was. The thing that really struck me about the beer was how easy it was to drink and that it was not a heavy beer that sits in your stomach like a ton of bricks. After having the first couple the beers I enjoyed a couple of slices of pizza and the beer really paired well with the pepperoni pizza that I had. Overall, I think that the Celebration Ale is a little over-hyped for how expensive it is but is not a bad beer. If you're not a fan of a bitter tasting beer than I would stay away from this particular brand of Sierra Nevada's but, in two words, not bad.

Overall Score - 6.2 out of 10

Stay posted for future winter specialities.