Beer Review: Samuel Adams Winter Favorites

We used to do beer reviews a while back by beer connoisseurs, well they are gone now so you are stuck with me. Every year around the holiday season I look forward to Sam Adam’s winter favorites; a collection of seasonal beers that vary from ales to porters to IPAs.

Since I’m no beer expert, I’m going to tell you which beer I liked and then I’m going to try my best to describe each beer at a “high level” (New term I learned in management meetings).

The first beer I had was the Winter Lager. Nice crisp beer with a little bitter aftertaste. I wasn’t really impressed with the flavor nor the aroma so I would rate this one a 6 out of 10 on the Buzz meter.

Second beer I tried was the White Christmas. This beer I liked since I’m a fan of wheat beers, the flavor reminded me a lot of Blue Moon, but it didn’t have that weird bitter aftertaste of Blue Moon. Definitely a beer that I would buy in 12 packs; 9 out of 10 on the Buzz Meter.

“Cinnamon, ginger and orange peel”, that is what the Old Fezziwig Ale bottle read at the bottom. I thought that this beer was going to smell a lot like cinnamon, but one whiff of this beer and I picked up the orange peel smell. This beer tasted quite good, a little on the exotic side and the orange peel aftertaste was quite palatable. 9 out of 10 on the Buzz meter.

Stouts, bocks and porters are my favorite beers of this season, I was quite disappointed that this sampler did not include any porters but the inclusion of a Cherry Chocolate Bock really caught my attention. I’ve tasted cherry beers from Sam Adams before and they were not my style, so I proceeded with caution. One quick smell of this beer and I was able to smell the cherry, the chocolate and hints of coffee… I had a drink of this beer and I was very pleasantly surprised that the cherry flavor was not over powering. If you are a fan of cherry fountain drinks, this beer is for you. I really enjoyed the chocolate taste of this Bock, not as bitter as a stout and the bitter-sweet aftertaste left me yearning for more. 10 out 10 on the buzz meter!

The last beer of the winter pack was the Juniper IPA. I’m not an IPA person, I just don’t like their bitterness but I approached this IPA with an open mind. First thing I did was do the smell test, eh.. not bad, then I took a swig out of the glass; great “fizzy” and refreshing taste… until the bitter aftertaste hit my taste buds and annihilated them and I was quickly reminded why I don’t like IPAs. So what did I do with the rest of the beer? I chugged it of course! I wasn’t going to let it go to waste! Kind of hard to rate this beer on the buzz meter since I don’t like IPAs but since I had worse, I would rate it a 6 out of 10 on the buzz meter.

So what happened to the Boston Lager review? Well, the Boston Lager is not really a select “Winter beer”, it is readily available and I think it is a great beer on tap.

If you happen to be the type of person who enjoys most types of beer, you should give this winter pack a try, you won’t be disappointed.