Oh Boy! Glögg!

I thought it would be fun to try a mulled wine inspired beer. I mean, tis the season for mulling. A little ginger never hurts. Figs? Fun! Then you get the spices: cinnamon, cardamom, cloves. It’s getting Christmassy in here! Add a little orange peel to round things off, and you got 2XMAS from Southern Tier. 

And now I remember what mulled wine tastes like. It’s not good. 

Sarah and I bought a bottle like five years ago. We heated it up on the stove and everything, but it tasted terrible like a health tonic. It tastes like some sort of weight loss aid. It tastes like a maple syrup and cayenne pepper juice fast.

2XMAS has all that fun in a twelve ounce bottle! It smells like gingerbread. It tastes like cherry flavored cough syrup. It’s bitter, which all good medicine is, and it’s sweet. 

December 18th, 2015

Beercember Review and Haiku #18

2XMAS Southern Tier Brewing Company Lakewood, NY

Winter Warmer Bliss. One of my Favorites This Year. Great Mix of Spices!

This was our second beer we reviewed from Southern Tier Brewing based out of Lakewood, NY and this was by far the better of the two. This is one of the true winter warmer’s that can compete with some of the better local breweries here in Northeast Ohio and that’s no easy task. This beer is close but needs a little help with a brown sugar and cinnamon rim for that extra kick of spices.

This beer has been brewed since 2012, so it’s a rather new beer in the Christmas Beer market. They call this a Double Spice Beer, but I think they are way off on that description. The spice is weak in comparison to what I am accustomed to. The good thing is that it is brewed to about 8.0% alcohol content. The first and only spice I really smell and taste is the cinnamon, I was hoping to get some other flavors, but it was minimal. Orange peel became noticeable later. The hops (2) and malts (4) chosen made this an enjoyable Ale.

My Rating: 8.5 out of 10