Sweetwater Festive Ale

Brewed by Sweetwater Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Atlanta, Georgia USA

2007 bottle. Rec’vd as promo from Sweetwater. Poured into standard pint glass. No head whatsoever. Rather thin-bodied. Alcohol is the dominant flavor, although I expected more cinnamon, nutmeg, or treacle in there. Sweetwater hops some of their beer to death, but they kept it reigned in this time. Thankfully. A decent beer, but not really worth seeking out.

Huge thanks to Matt for this one, drink it up mate. Aroma is licorice, sweat, sugar/cinnamon, &,crystal. Dark burgundy color with a small fully diminishing off-white head. Flavor is sweet and smoky with a little prick. Medium bodied and smooth. Interesting and different and I like it.

12oz bottle from thebeercellar. Aroma of cinnamon and lightly toasted malt. Nice balance between spice and malt. The spices are there, but don’t totally overpower the aroma. Pours dark brown with rich amber highlights and a creamy khaki head. Again, as on the nose the flavor is a nice balance of spice and malt. Some cinnamon at first but the roasted malt kicks in to tone back the spice. Medium bodied. Fairly creamy. Finishes with a zing of cinnamon and nutmeg. Good, but not my favorite style.

33.8 fl oz swing top bottle with red wax coating (No. 217). Obtained in a trade with TheBeerCellar. Pours dark brown with ruby edges and a tan, medium microbubble head that leaves spotty rings of lace. The aroma is of spices, roasted nutty and grainy malts, cocoa and vanilla. The flavour has a sharp spice complementing the malty sweetness, which I’m guessing is from the Mace. Nice roasty, cocoa in the finish, with notes of wood, cola, nuts and grassy hops. Mid palate, there are coffee-like flavours accompanied by sweet grain. This was definitely a hard beer to pick apart! The mouthfeel has a medium viscosity and a slightly watery, yet slick finish that leaves an oily residue on the back of the tongue. Good palate duration that leaves traces of spice in the aftertaste.

This is #217 which i shared with Drink4satan and it pours a nice dark brown color with a thick head which fades rather quick. There is also some nice spotted laceing along the sides of the glass. It has a nice earbal and sweet aroma to it. As you drink it the beer has a similar tast like a dr pepper it is full of sweet flavors and has that nice vanilla warming flavor along the sides of your mouth. the palate duration is very short and has some nice hints of cinnamon and other fall and winter spices.

2007, draft. Pours dark with red hints, clear white 1/2 inch head. Aroma of spices, slight cocoa, sweet. Somewhat thin on the palate, unusually tart, moves towards a cocoa-like sweetness some roastiness, mild grassy hops towards the finish. One of the best sweetwater beers, but that’s not saying a whole lot.

The color was a deep amber. The head was creamy, thin, and off-white. The aroma was spices and sweet malt. The flavor was yeast, sweet malt, some alcohol, and some spice. The palate was average. The finish was clean.

Color- dark brown/black in the glass, the head is about one finger light tan and fizzy 3 Aroma- sweet spice, caramel, meaty, malty, nice 6-7 Flavor- sweet spice, sweet overall, meaty, no hops apparent 6-7 Palate- no carbonation, fairly full mouthfeel 3