It's never too late for Christmas Beer!

Local (well, Philadelphia) beer reporter & blogger, Don Russell's book, Christmas Beer: The Cheeriest, Tastiest, and Most Unusual Holiday Brews, is a terrific read. In it, he reviews over 50 holiday ales and lagers, with some of my favorites for the season, a quick history of Santa, and the history of the Christmas beer style; and I am happy to report that Maryland is well represented on his list! Don's been around the block once or twice, and he certainly knows his way with the pen; the book is very well written and edited.

The actual construction of the book is solid and impressive. I loved the color photos and the paper stock was one of the most beautiful, heavy-weight that I have seen in a long time: I wish more books were published this way.

All in all, this is a timeless book. I believe that if you enjoy the occasional beery night cap, then this book deserves to be on your shelf. It would make a great gift for a beer lover you know, too.

10/10.

Here's a link to Don's website: Joe Sixpack

Happy President's Day

To celebrate the holiday, I found a bottle of Thomas Jefferson's Tavern Ale, brewed by Yards Brewing Company of Philadelphia, PA.

Call me a romantic, but it's been a long time since I've seen anything so pretty. It sits amber in the glass with a short off-white head.

The first sip of this historic ale delivers a charming spiciness and monumental malt backbone. As it warms up, the beer kind of exposed a slight toffee flavor that really goes well with what this beer, I think, is going for. My guess, if it was intentional, was that it comes from some caramelization.

I am really enjoying this beer and think you would too.

7/10
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Perfection, by New Glarus

Two Women is my first beer from New Glarus, and I think this bottle delivered to me (by a coworker from that part of the country) is a flawless example of a classic German dark lager. Perfect.

10/10

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And now for something weird

So, on a small whim I bought some beer from Austria, and let me state the following: the Austrians aren't known for their brewing prowess.



This is Zipfer Helles. It is dark - too dark for a Helles. Also, it is surprisingly cloudy for the style.

As for aroma, there was none. As for flavor, it was like drinking melted butter (diacetyl). As for me buying it again, no.

3/10



May I present MacQueen's Nessie, imported all the way from, what the hell, Austria?

This is a "whisky malt red beer", peeking through the loch with 5% ABV.

Let's cut to the chase- she needs to remain an enigma.

Nessie has a very interesting aroma, like a sour mash with a sugary tang. It tastes like nothing. But it retains a very nice mouthfeel. I detect no whisky (where I thought there'd be some peated malt), so I have no clue what "whisky" means to Schloss Eggenberg, other than malted barley.

The color was pretty brown before it was red.

Eggenberg's Samiclaus is a classic beer. Schloss Eggenberg MacQueen's Nessie is not.

Overall, I'll give it 4/10.

Don warned me about Austrian beer, saying they are more miss than hit. Heed the advise.


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