Holiday drinks

I had a fantastic thanksgiving weekend, highlighted by a small shindig with a few friends. Sort of a post-thanksgiving get together, we ate, we drank, we played card games, and had a good time. Also, The Irish made his signature bread pudding, which is basically diabetes in pure form. Stark came with some gross cherry wine, and The Culinator helped cook the whole thing. It rocked.

It also gave me a chance to try several Sam Adams beers I've been wanting to get my hands on, but had to wait a whole year since I forgot about them last year.

Sam Adams is far and away one of my favorite breweries, with palatable yet interesting beers in almost every possible variety. I especially enjoy their cream stout, scotch ale, and white ale, but more on those later.

This particular evening, I got to try Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic, Holiday Porter, and Old Fezziwig.

The Cranberry Lambic tasted (shockingly) of cranberries, and was interesting. Sadly, it is a wheat beer, which I'm just not a huge fan of. The cranberry kept getting washed out by the wheat, and it just didn't sit with me that well. I'm not sure I'd have this again, just because the wheat flavor was so uninteresting, and the cranberry wasn't strong enough.

The Holiday Porter was excellent, on the other hand. It tasted of caramel and dark chocolate, but rather than being thick like a stout it was surprisingly light. A delicious dark beer, it provided a nice sipping beer, but I can see it pairing well with a desert.(didn't get to try it with one, as it ran out almost immediately). Definitely something I'd like to have more of, so I wish it didn't only come in the winter mix pack.

Old Fezziwig is the toughest to decide on. It's a winter warmer, a style of ale that I've never had before. It's spiced like a wit beer or a Belgian ale, with lots of cinnamon and nutmeg. The end result is something like a Christmas spice cake, which is tasty, but was kind of odd. Can't really imagine doing anything other than drinking it by itself due to it's flavor profile, but I really feel like it was begging a complimentary flavor of some sort to complete it. Interesting, and I'd drink it again, but not too often.

I also got to have some Woodchuck 802. Woodchuck, as I've mentioned before, makes delicious cider. Their 802, named for the area code where they harvest the apples, is their best variety. Smokey and crisp, it's a deliciously dry cider, that is pleasantly sweet and a little tart. It is probably my favorite cider over all, and always something I enjoy having. Definitely try this if you like cider.

Also, I picked up a 10-pack of Ommegang beers, and am so very excited to give them a whirl. Hooray incredibly expensive craft beer!

-The Unabashed Ungourmet

P.S. - Also appearing at the shindig were Sparrow, Hooah, Mrs. Satan, Napoleon, and The Girlfriend. Not so much important, as convenient for me to write down all their nicknames now and just have them for my reference.