Editor’s note: The following is not a rebuke to the Schlafly family members engaged in a “conservative” re-writer of the Bible. I'll save my bile for America's anti-intellectual movement for another time.)
Despite some misgivings from last year’s sample, I thought Schlafly excelled at Pumpkin Ale. The fall seasonal hit all the marks between its spices and rich pumpkin flavor. I don’t mean just pumpkin-pie-from-a-can flavoring, but actual pumpkin. They hit the mark.
After anxiously awaiting its Christmas offering, it came with a quick conclusion: they took the pumpkin out of the Pumpkin Ale, then brewed it up as Christmas Ale.
I get the same batch of Halloween spices with orange peel added, then nothing.
Schlafly flees in the opposite direction, spitting out a hastily assembled beer with a Christmas ale label slapped onto it.
Failure of the highest degree, mainly for trying to pull a fast one on dedicated beer palettes.
Rating: 3/10
Thankfully, I can't say the same for Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig Ale and Holiday Porter. Now, as this looks like a Christmas that will go without my hallowed Great Lakes Christmas Ale, I had to find refuge elsewhere. Schlafly failed spectacularly.
So I returned to an old favorite, the first Christmas ale I ever tasted. Sam Adams only bottles Old Fezziwig for its Holiday Classics 12-pack, so I only get 2 samplings wedged among Winter Lager, Cranberry Lambic, Boston Lager, and Coastal Wheat (another new one, look for the review next week).
From the first whiff, Fezziwig is heavy on plums; lovely Christmas plums with an orange glaze, if case you wondered. Taking its name from the old benefactor of Ebenezer Scrooge, Old Fezziwig is dark but not overbearing, replete with a solid season spicing of cinnamon, orange, and ginger.
Jim Koch apparently gets the idea behind holiday/Christmas ales – they should be rich but drinkable, spiced with ingredients of the season. Toss in a little honey and ginger, then Sam Adams could give
As it sits, Old Fezziwig’s limited bottling makes it well worth having two bottles of Boston Lager sit in the fridge for the next eight months (face it, they won’t go anywhere).
With Holiday Porter, Sam Adams strives for something retro - 19th century retro. The nose projects sweetness on top of roasted malt, usually the territory of high-alcohol sweet stouts. This smoother porter does not suffer for its lighter body. It drinks remarkably smooth, finishing neatly with only trace amounts of bitterness.
This porter could easily leap from the Holiday Classics 12-pack, but keeping it there preserved its uniqueness. It seems Jim Koch aimed to deliver on the label’s promise, when a Victorian-style Christmas image with a reveler hauling a firkin of ale.
Give Sam Adams points for only releasing these beers in such a limited fashion. I might want more, but know the small samples somehow makes it better.
Ratings (Old Fezziwig and
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