Southern Tier Krampus

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

Bottle courtesy of Gillard. Poured a clear amber color with a thick rocky white head. Earthy pine, floral aroma with notes of citrus. Medium bodied with lively carbonation. Lots of malt sweetness up front with toffee and brown sugar. Also present are notes of juniper berries, pine, and spice. Slightly bitter finish.

22 oz’er. Poured straight into my glass, this came up almost entirely gigantic foam. Eventually an amber beer emerges from the mountain range of foam, mysteriously still. The aroma is discernible from 2 feet away, strong and syrupy, even before it touches my lips. So little surprise that this drinks with an almost medicinal value, strong and sweet, full of kick-butt-ishness. Good. (#3610, 15 July 2009)

22oz bottle from By The Bottle. Light gold pour with a large foamy head. Aroma was yeast and light hop. Flavor was earthy, yeast, a little anise maybe. Interesting beer, much better than I expected.

Original review date 12/3/2008... 22 oz. into Duvel tulip... Beautiful, ginger-colored, 2-finger head that’s very chewy and bready. Beautiful bonze/copper body with moderate carbonation and nice lacing. head has moderate staying power. Awesome oily, floral hops...the dry-hopping yielded great results. Excellent grapefruit citrus tones backed by light-roasted malt backbone with good raw grain character. Light but full nose. Straight-ahead citrus up front with lightly-stewed malt...a little light spice, too (ginger, cinnamon). Roast of various malts emerges with warmth. Not as forceful as on the nose but still extremely pleasant. Definitely a citrus hop bomb with a creamy/oily malt backbone. A little biting but finish is full and bright...oily, oily, oily... Methinks the excess citrus/rind bite precludes extreme drinkability but make no mistake...this is extremely well-done.

Light golden, clear color. Smells mostly of hops with some citrus undertones. Has kind of a skunked scent as well. Taste is full of hops but has a very bitter flavor. Not the typical hop flavor, something different. It just doesn’t work for me.

Bottle and served in standard pint glass; Amberish hue wt a nice frothy head but the lacing was a bit disappointing. The aroma has notes of caramel and toffee, walnuts, white pepper, wheat husk and red rye, and some tangerine esters. The taste is really boozy and medicinal which overpowers the sweet malt and the hops also seem a tad muted, it is bitter but not bright nor crisp. The fruity bubble gum character does help but it is not very helles/dortmunder like either. The mouth feel is aggressive and sharp but like I said already it is hardly clean nor refreshing. Once again, another attempt to "imperialize" a style of beer that simply does work. Imperial bocks can work... Imperial weizens, helles, and Alts often will not.

a strange one here, but very good... then why do they call me dork .. . pretty nice hop presence .. . cereal and golden syrup flavours .. . tasty and a surprise.. .

Creepy looking label and an interesting story. Light copper bronze colored body with a fluffy light khaki head. Rich nose of sweet caramel and peanuts. There is also some orange cream hops goodness behind the malt. The taste has very apparent booze with some almonds behind that. There is also tripel sec and bread. Very strong and over the top. I get that it is an imperial but it in no way resembles any helles I have tried. It is like a malty malt liquor with a little more hops. Interesting, but a little hard to drink. Overall, this is too sweet with some unpleasant medicinal hints. Not sure what others are tasting.