seasonal beer update

well, i finally began seeing schlafly winter ESB on store shelves here in the last couple of weeks--first at wine center (snatched up the two shelved 6 packs), then at the brown derby central (campus) location. this year's batch is good as ever, and i'll be buying a lot more of it before february hits. if you don't already have a particular beer picked out for your afternoon, and you see schlafly winter ESB on the shelf, i would highly, strongly, passionately, encourage you to pick that up.

when i was at the central derb, i also spotted two seasonals from NBB that had slipped my mind completely: frambozen (raspberry brown ale) and 2 below (ESB!).

i picked up the 2 below out of love for ESB style ales (and allegiance to New Belgium), and i do enjoy it, but the thing that limits it compared to schlafly's ESB is it has that one NBB note pervading it, that 'fat tire' note that has started to end up in all their beers. I love fat tire! but not in my ESB; though its still just fine, it gets a minus for tasting like everything else NBB is making.

part of my christmas schwag haul this year was a sampler box of beer from arcadia ales; the lineup within consists of their amber ale, starboard stout, IPA, and "angler's ale", a british-style pale. so far its been pretty good drinking although i do suspect the box was a little less than fresh, but what can you do? right now the IPA is my favorite, with a neat fruity finish (i think i even tasted a pear note?). i read a review that complained of lack of head on the stout, so i poured mine with extra agitation in mind... which was a bad idea as this particular bottle produced a TON of head. very satisfying outside of my blunder though, with a great stout smell in particular.

haven't tried this year's batch of the previously mentioned NBB frambozen, but i read elsewhere in the blogosphere that its on the dry side this year, as opposed to the sweet side. i never thought this frambozen was very sweet, but it seems like if a fruit beer tastes anything at all like that fruit (outside of a puckering bitterness), that it gets bashed all over the place by people who won't accept it as real beer. i thought that schlafly's raspberry hefeweisen was excellently balanced, but ive heard people bash it for being too sweet. oh well.

we're on the eve of a great supposed drinker's holiday, new years, and i'd like to say that, as a veteran drinker and established hermit, i don't do shit for new years. i usually go to sleep extra early. but all the same, good luck with your plans this evening. prost!