Sam Adams Old Fezziwig: live tasting
In my very first video review, feast your eyes on the heady winter warmer, Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig Ale.
Old Fezziwig is a fictional character from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. He is the jovial bar manager with a robust waistline and a disdain for Ebenezer Scrooge’s frugal and melancholy nature. His character is used to represent old English value systems that were being threatened by urbanization and globalization:
“It’s not just for money alone that one spends a lifetime building up a business…. It’s to preserve a way of life that one knew and loved. No, I can’t see my way to selling out to the new vested interests, Mr. Jorkin. I’ll have to be loyal to the old ways and die out with them if needs must.” – Fezziwig
Frankly, I find the characters point to be somewhat ironic, when you look at the progress and trajectory of Samuel Adams and Jim Koch. Alas, I digress.
Listen along as I taste and give a few brief notes. This is Skype-quality video, folks, so turn down that volume. …And take your glasses off, now that I think about it.
Well…not bad for my first go at it.
Malts: Toased bread and toffee dominate with some chocolate in the nose and immediately on the palate. Caramel notes throughout.
Hops: Nondescript earthy, bitter undertones. Nothing complex or distracting.
Pros: Robust malt body and balanced sweetness. Widely appealing. No appreciable off-flavors
Cons: The level of spice is fairly disappointing. It tastes closer to an American brown ale or sweet porter than a holiday ale.
I will miss the days of the former winter samplers which offered a variety of beers more appropriate to winter (whether in Boston or Minneapolis). Why they have changed to two lagers, a wheat, and this beer for these cold months, I really do not understand.
Chocolate bock, where are you?