Southern Tier Krampus

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: European Strong Lager
Lakewood, New York USA

22 Oz bomber, from Jimbo, I think. This was not what I expected. Make no mistakes, this is a hop bomb. Nice, light amber color. Nose of citrus, flowers and spices. Flavor is a tad sweet, smooth, with lots of citrusy hops. A little more earthy than a IIPA, but If I didn’t know this was a lager, I would swear this is Pure Hoppiness or something similar. Reminds me of SA Imperial Pils. This stuff rules. Good Job Southern Tier.

Draught at Rustico. Orange-amber with a fine white head leaving a bit of lace. Sweet grapefruit, orange, mint, and light spices in the aroma. Bitter flavor with sweetness, piney and citrucy (grapefruit) hops, some doughy caramel and cream. Finishes with an almost tart citrus quality in the hops. Sweet, but with enough bitterness to balance pretty well. Full bodied and a bit chewy. Feels like it has just a bit too much caramel and minty citrus. Sort of intriguing flavors actually, but worlds away from an imperial helles. Don’t expect anything near say a Sam Adams Imperial Pils

22 oz bottle from Binnys (Orland Park, Il) from around the holidays. Oh, the cellar is mighty backed up. Pours a dark amber hue, very slightly hazed, with big khaki head that is a little cakey and begins to dissipate. Very aromatic from the first pour: heavy on carmel sweet malts, light toffee, aromatic grassy hops with a twinge of citrus fruit. Strong on the nose for sure. Initial is very quaffable, lighter sweetness than expexted. Carmel malt, toffee, light bready malts with pleasant bitterness to balance. Light fruit (apple?) With some spice faintly in the body. Finishes bitter with some decent hoppiness. The hops finish it off, but the maltiness is what the aftertaste consists of. Yummy. Smooth. A nice effort by Southern Tier. Cheers!

Drank this beer a couple weeks ago. Remember it being very strong and good. A heavy winter beer with a smooth mouth feel and pleasant finish. Will have another one, hopefully before next Christmas.

Bottle. Nose-light skunk, twigs, body odor. Taste-light cigarette smoke, sharp, spiky bull weed that I used to smell in the field, green leaf, cigar, straw, quite herbaceous.

Bottle (650ml). Pours a nice, very bubbly, clear orange-amber with an average size mostly lasting frothy off-white head. The aroma, which is also nice, is sweet, hoppy and floral along with some fruit, caramel malt, a hint of spice and some yeast even -- I really like it! Flavour of pale malt is a bit grainy, fruity and floral and has a good amount of resiny hops. The flavour has more of a kick to it then the aroma suggests and the long lasting finish is quite bitter and somewhat boozy. It gets smoother the more you drink it but the alcohol is always somewhat prominent. Medium bodied. This started off fantastic, it looked and smelt great, but the flavour was a tad disappointing, just too boozy for the style. Overall though this is still a damn good beer.

THOUGHTS: I’m so far behind rating. I’m just now getting to the Christmas beers I tried two months ago. Nice beer. I’ve had better European strong lagers, but not much better. This was near the top. Hid alcohol incredibly well. A little sweeter than the others and a little more balanced. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a flat, light copper with a large, off-white head that kept a thick sheet and left good to excellent lacing. The aroma was light to moderate caramel malt, heavy flowery, perfume and resin hops, lighter grapefruit hops, a little fruit, slight tea and ever so slight Band-aid. The flavor started sweet and bitter, and finished a little sweet and more bitter with a long duration. There was lots of malt, almost candy sugar, then tons of pine, grapefruit, perfume and floral hops. Well balanced and a little spicy too. The medium body was oily, then a little dry with fizzy carbonation and a light astringent and slightly dry finish.

Bomber. Pours clear orange with a thick and lacy pale yellow head. Spicy aroma with bits of resin and dash of grapefruit. Full body and moderate carbonation. Sweet toffee taste with a pine bark finish. A tasty way to stretch the European Strong Lager style well beyond its intended parameters.