Holiday Gift 12-Pack - Old Fezziwig

Noel's dad is a huge Sam Adams fan - basically that is all he drinks anymore when it comes to beer. So after seeing that Sam Adams had a holiday gift 12-pack of "winter classics" for sale, we bought him one as an improptu christmas gift idea. Of course then we found out that he had also seen the gift 12-pack and bought himself one. So not wanting to let the beers go to waste - I decided to not only drink them, but share them here as well.

There are 6 different beers in the 12-pack and 5 weeks till christmas. Since everyone should know what regular Sam Adams tastes like I am going to skip it and describe one of the remaining "winter classics" each week. Feel free to buy your own 12-pack and add your comments.

OLD FEZZIWIG ALE

Starting off dark, which I am guessing is going to be the start of a trend. This beer verges on a porter but is not quite that dark. Good body - roughish mouthfeel - sits somewhere between a traditional brown and porter for my palate - but with a creamy aftertaste. The beer toutes having orange peel, cinnamon, and ginger spices, which are just barely noticible. I think I tasted a little cinnamon. I maybe would have liked a little more spice flavor to settle my own curiosity, but would be wary of too much more. This beer has a little higher alcohol content at 5.8abv, however I would never have guessed it. A nice and filling beer that would be good for the holidays.

On a side note - I kinda wish I would have waited till later on this beer. From the description on the bottle, this beer should be very similar to the holiday ale I am currently making. Would have been curious to try them side by side (I had to drink both bottles to properly assess the Fezziwig ale), which means I may have to buy another holiday 12-pack.