Founder's Breakfast Stout

My second try with the new kid in town, Founder's Brewery. According to their website it is brewed with flaked oats, imported bitter chocolate and Sumatra & Kona coffee. 60 IBU's give it a nice hop hit and the 8.3% ABV makes it a wee bit dangerous. It poured a tarry black, with a beige 1/2 finger head. Pretty strong aroma of coffee right off the bat, as well as some sweet chocolate. As the brew warms up I can detect a bit of cinnamon and some dark fruits as well. A fine sippin' beer for frigid nights.

Jack Stout by Wild Onion Brewing

An ale as dark as night for the year's longest night, Jack Stout by Wild Onion Brewing is a great example of the style. Somewhat sweet, but not as much so as a milk stout, assertive, but not annoying in the hop department. Low ABV makes it sessionable and great for Christmas parties where you have to drive home afterward! Semi-sweet chocolate and dark roast coffee are flavors that come to the fore, but there's a tiny bit of vanilla and even some dark fruit (raisins, figs, black cherries) on the back end. Wish I'd have bought more than one!

Sam Adams Old Fezziwig Ale

Another fine brew from the Winter Classics set, Old Fezziwig Ale is a light brown ale, medium hoppiness, spiced with some cinnamon, ginger and orange peel. Very drinkable, dark colored, but not heavy, a good choice for holiday parties.
:::from a 2009 review:::

Old Fezziwig seems to get better every year. It poured a ruby brown (yeah...what?) with a pinky-width head. There's a lot of malty sweetness, with overtones of chocolate and caramel. As it warms up I'm catching some raisins and figs and black cherries. Very complex, but also very approachable. As always, a great addition to any holiday get together.

Budweiser Project 12 North Pacific Style Lager

Like the rest of the gang, North Pacific Style Lager is okay, but not really more than okay. Hoppier than your standard lager, but not enough to make a hop-head happy. Citrus notes round it out and make it drinkable - if you're a beer geek, you'll be disappointed, but a mere mortal could stand more than one.

Founder's Porter

Founder's is another one of those breweries whose arrival the cognoscenti of the beer world have been talking about for months - and finally it's here. The first one that I've tried is the porter. Pours a tarry dark brown with ruby highlights and a frothy tan head. Roasted chocolate and coffee tickle the nose and some hop bitterness, from the 45 IBU's. Some caramel in the aftertaste as well as a whiff of vanilla. Brown sugar and molasses round it all out. Overall a fine porter for the cold weeks ahead and a welcome addition to a holiday table.

Sam Adams Cherry Chocolate Bock

Oh, I agonized over whether to review this one or the last of the three Project Twelves from Budweiser...it's fairly late for a weekday evening and I don't have to work tomorrow, so Cherry Chocolate Bock it is!

This beauty pours as dark as a stout as a porter, and has the heaviness of those styles as well, but the label says it's a lager, so Bock it is! It seems like Bocks, once a common Spring seasonal, have been making more and more appearances in the Winter Beer Season (Samhain - Imbolc [Oct 31 - Feb 1]) and not so much at the tail end of the dark or in early Spring. Maybe it's a marketing thing, maybe the golden Bocks do better  in the warmer weather and the darker ones in the darker months. But I'm not a marketing guy (as Scott Adams says, marketing is just liquor and guessing).

The chocolate and the cherries do dominate the flavors, but there's a little molasses and brown sugar as well. As the brew starts to warm up figs, raisins and dates start to show up as well. This is, if there is such a thing, the perfect Yule beer.

Budweiser Project 12 Beechwood Bock

Not bad. Pours a coppery amber with a two-finger tannish head. the aroma reminds me of some of the European beers like Lowenbrau or Heineken, but without the skunkiness. Lots of maltiness, and more hops than I expected, with a faint, faint hint of chocolate. Not overly complex, but a good example of a bock; this one I'd drink more than one of.

Goose Island Ten Hills Pale Ale

Pretty good pale ale. Pours a light copper with a three-finger head. Good balance between maltiness and hoppiness. Similar in taste to their IPA, but without the astringent hops, but plenty of citrus and pine notes. Very sessionable.

Budweiser Project 12 Vanilla Bourbon Cask

If this was the first bourbon barrel aged beer that I ever had, I might say that it was pretty good, and taken on its own terms, it is pretty good. Solid lager, vanilla cream soda taste, kind of fun. But here's the kicker: it's not bourbon barrel aged, it's aged on "bourbon staves" and vanilla beans. Sounds like a training wheel version of the good stuff. As I get closer to the bottom of the glass I'm picking up a whiff, a hint of the bourbon, but no more. If trying this gets you to try to really good stuff, the fine, but otherwise fairly unremarkable. They missed an opportunity.

Sam Adams Juniper IPA

I'm pretty sure juniper berries are what gin is made from and I'm not much of a gin fan...but then again, I'm not really sure what juniper is supposed to taste like. This IPA poured a honey gold hue with a scanty head, immediate aroma and taste of piney hops with a kind of oily finish. Little bit of a floral flourish after it warms up a bit, but otherwise a pretty standard mild Sam Adams-style IPA - kind of tastes like a Latitude 48 with some flavoring added. Overall not bad, but not earth-shaking either.

Breckenridge Christmas Ale

7.4% ABV...that should say it all...but it does not! Cream-soda-ey flavor, some caramel, some coffee, even a little fig and fruit cake: perfect for the holidays. It's a dark 'un, not as dark as the picture suggests, but a deep coppery amber, with a weak head. The 7.4% ABV sure packs a punch. A sippin' ale for sure. This is a beer that stands on its own merits without any foo-foo additions to it.  Nice sippin' brew that'll go nicely with those carolers who are even now standing on your steps.

Some additions for 2012: black cherry, apricot and some brandy sneaking in, and hoppier than when I first tried it. 

Breckenridge Vanilla Porter

Sometimes I surprise myself. I'm certain that I've reviewed a specific beer, remember drinking it, but I can't find a review anywhere. Breckenridge Vanilla Porter is one of those. Like everything that Breckenridge brews, it's a fine example of the style, low in ABV (under 5%), creamy, with very forward notes of chocolate and coffee on top of the vanilla that derives from the vanilla beans. A little thin, but heavy on the flavor. One of the perfect beers for a holiday party.