Southern Tier 2XMAS

Brewed By: Southern Tier Brewing Company in Lakewood, New York
Purchased: Single 12oz bottle bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 2012

Style/ABV: Christmas/Winter Spiced Beer, 8.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

From the fine folks who brought us Pumking...here comes another seasonal beer from Southern Tier.

Southern Tier Brewing Company is based out of Lakewood, New York. The brewery was founded in 2002 by Phineas DeMink and Allen "Skip" Yahn. Using equipment purchased from the old Saddleback Brewing Co., the company began production with the vision of reviving traditional small batch brewing to the region. By 2003, the brewery was distributing their small batch ales, and by 2005 their sales covered New York and Pennsylvania. Before the brewery had any seasonal beers, it produced a Pilsner, Mild Ale, and IPA. Due to popularity, in 2009 a 20,000 square foot facility was built to allow for the brewing of large-scale beers. Since then, Southern Tier has continued to expand, and continued to invest in better equipment to keep up with the increasing demand for their beer. You can read more about Southern Tier's history on their history page.

Tonight's beer is a winter seasonal, and if you roll over to the 2XMAS page you can get the scoop on this beer. The website says that this is a ”double spiced ale brewed in the tradition of Swedish Glögg.” Swedish Glögg (or Mulled wine) is a beverage made with red wine, along with a bunch of spices and raisins. The beverage is served warm, and is typically consumed during winter. The 2XMAS ale is brewed with figs, orange peels, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and ginger root. This beer also utilizes two varieties of hops, and four varieties of malts. The nose is supposed to feature aromas of spice cake, dried fruit, and mulled wine; the flavor is supposed to be spicy, malty-sweet, with slight hop bitterness. Suggested food pairings are: sausages, korv, fish, pickled herring (yum), rich cheeses, and holiday cookies & cake. Let's glass this up, and see how it stacks up.

This is a fairly dark beer...pouring a dark, crimson red color in low light, with one finger of bready, red/amber-colored head. When held to bright light, the beer is a reddish/orange color, appears to be filtered/transparent, and has a ton of carbonation in the form of mid-sized bubbles. Head retention is nice, and I get some lacing and legs when I swirl the beer around. Considering how spiced up this beer is, I'm impressed with the head retention.

Speaking of spices, this shit is SPICED UP. I'm getting giant blasts of cinnamon, allspice, gingerbread, and ginger. I'm getting some earthy mint (the cardamom?), and some earthy tannins. There's a tannic thing going on in here. There's some fruitcake-raisin malt sweetness as well.

This is thicker in the body/mouth than the aroma leads on, with a pretty hefty raisin-fruitcake-gingerbread thickness. The spices -- or something -- give this beer a tannic edge. It does taste a bit like a red wine that has had cinnamon sticks and orange peel sitting in it. I'm getting a lot of orange peel and cinnamon in the taste, along with hints of ginger, and brief mint/herbal spice. It's quite lively on the tongue, and there's a boozy thing throughout. Overall though; spice tannins, orange peel, cinnamon/nutmeg, and a sticky fruitcake/gingerbread base. 

This is fairly drinkable at 8.0% ABV; but works as a sipping beer. This is slightly sticky, and has a medium-full mouthfeel that goes down fairly smooth thanks to the lively spices and zesty carbonation. Palate depth is okay, and complexity is moderate to high. Like Glögg, I almost think the spices in this are a touch overpowering in the long haul, and you will probably only want one or two of these. Up front is some sweet malts and big spice; this rolls into spices, oranges, tannins; the back end is lingering tannins, malts, and sticky. The finish is sticky and not very dry. Booze is well-masked, but still shows itself.

Rating: Average

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. This works well for what it is, which is a beer interpretation of Glögg. The spices are nice, but I don't know if I would want more than one or two of these. Having said that...this is SUPER Christmas-y. If you want to find Christmas in a bottle, look no further. I could see myself splitting a 6-pack of this among family and friends. I could also see myself just making some actual Glögg...nevertheless, this is a respectable Christmas beer. I would pair this with pickled herring, Christmas lunch (typically bagels and lox in my family), lobster and steak (traditional New Year's meal in my family), any Christmas dinner dish (ham, stuffing, duck), or Christmas cookies and dessert. This is definitely a festive beer with that big orange peel and cinnamon/ginger profile. And the 8.0% doesn't hurt...

Random Thought: ...unless you are driving. I find that I enjoy having a designated driver when I go to family events. This way I can drown out awkwardness and boring stories with alcohol. Oh, cynic that I am. Unfortunately, no one drinks craft beer in my family, so I'm stuck drinking boring shit like Sam Adams, or if I'm lucky, Goose Island. Oh well...