And… yet another deep doff of the cap. What… a… beer. I finally spotted a Sam Adams Holiday Pack the other day and leapt onto it, shattering every bottle and injuring a small Navajo boy. I wept at the lost beer for several hours and then, assured the young lad was resting soundly, went out for another Holiday Pack. And this baby packs a punch. Of great beer. We’re talking 2 Boston Lagers, 2 Winter Ales (oh man), 2 Cranberry Lambics (aw yeah), 2 Old Fezziwig Ales (ooh spelling… I really should check that…), 2 Holiday Porters (hell yeah) and 2 of these babies. Or, in latin effin beerum bliss, man. Um.

Where to begin? With the pour? Good thinking. I used a room temperature spherical glass, of course. The beer is a deep, rich mahogany brown. The head is a rich tan color and pour carefully: if you do, you have a thick foam friend for most of the brau!* If you don’t… I hope you have some time on your hands to let it dissipate. Maybe try to get some weeding done? ANYWAY! The aroma of this lovely stout is rich bread—almost sweet enough to have a coffee cake scent—and hints of hops and spice.

Ah and then you drink it. Happy day. Rich, thick and smooth (just like so many corpulent, balding hedge fund managers). The thick, cream body is provided by the use of unmalted barley in the brewing process. This is barley that has not been allowed to germinate and convert its starches to fermentable sugars, for those of you who didn’t know (you should likely caaaaaaalllll someone. Maybe your local homebrew store). The unmalted barley contributes a thickness to the beer because its starches don’t break down into alcohol and CO2. We lazy homebrewers use dry malt extract for the same effect.

Moving along—the good brewers at Samuel Adams saw fit to use chocolate and caramel malts. The beer is a mouth-party** of malt: toasted bread, coffee, dark chocolate, amazing. A generous addition of English hops balance but do not interfere with the malt backbone. The beer has just enough spice to keep it deftly balanced but still big. And beautiful. 

* from the German for “barley sac”

** just go with it…