Day 14 of the 2nd Annual Advent-ure Calendar
Day 14: 21st Amendment Brewery Fireside Chat
Here is a brewery we are all familiar with, but most of us haven’t had a lot of their beers. 21st Amendment was founded in 2001 in San Francisco, CA and were one of the first and most well known craft breweries to package their beers in cans rather than bottles. Their reasoning: cans keep the beer fresher by protecting it from light (and better protecting it from oxygen), you’re able to take cans places that bottles aren’t allowed, and they’re better for the environment. Back to the beer! From the website: “Like FDR’s Depression-era radio addresses, which were like a kick in the butt and a hug at the same time, our Fireside Chat is a subtle twist on the traditional seasonal brew. We begin with a rich, dark, English-style ale and then we improvise with spices until we know we have a beer worth sharing with the nation.” From this description, this sounds like a boozy, heavy, malty beer.
REFLECTIONS
Beard & Broad
Beard: This is another holiday favorite of mine. The spices, high-ish alcohol, and English maltiness all strike a really nice balance. Not to mention the can design and name are both stellar. It has just the right amount of warming, boozy comfort that I look for in my beers around wintertime.
Broad: I always think I love 21st Amendment, mainly because I love that they distribute in cans and their cans have amazing designs. Anyways, this beer smells boozy. I’m normally not into english style ales but this is good. Its rich, boozy and I taste delicious holiday spices. I would want to drink this on a cold, dark night, actually, like we’re doing right now. I’m a fan and could add this to our rotation.
Adam & Alex
Adam: few notes about this beer. It gets the award for my favorite named holiday beer. I also like the irony of an English Ale being named after an American hero.I get a nice smell of cocoa and spices and the first taste is malty and a little molasses-y and warming but for me it ends with an unfortunate coppery after taste. I feel like I would definitely drink this again. Maybe our cans were old or something.
Alex: At first I didn’t like this at all, but as I drank it I started to like it more. It smells woodsy to me, which if it’s going for its namesake, nailed it. It tastes malty, and I can taste the spices as well. All in all I wouldn’t refuse to drink one of these, but it’s not my favorite.
Scott & CT
Scott: First off, love this can! The beer is fantastic but staring at the graphic of the old man with what looks like brandy, or maybe whiskey just makes me crave hard liquor. Back to the beer. Really nice flavor and I definitely get the winter ale spices. Please join me in pulling up a chair to the nearest fireplace and let’s shotgun these bad boys.
CT: Fireside Chat is aptly named in that I could see myself having one of these with my friends by a fire. I get a nose of vanilla and brown sugar. Taste is very pleasant, with all the regular holiday flavors we’ve seen so far. It’s warming and smooth just like I like my beers. Thinking back to the fireside chats though, I think I’d remember the conversation and not the flavor but I guess that’s what you hope for? Good beer, nothing super memorable.
Lou & Jen
Lou: I love the history behind this beer’s name, fire side chat. FDR comforting the masses with his short and sweet chats to calm a nation during the great depression. I’m trying to imagine president elect Trump doing something similar in the next four years, which made me turn my attention to drinking. This beer has essentially no distinguishible smell, but it pours a deep brown color. I enjoy the faint flavors of cocoa, malt, and winter spices. I do get a slight metallic after taste, but that wire off the more I drank. Overall I enjoyed our first holiday beer in a can!
Jen: It’s a fine holiday beer. I’m so happy to be done with exams that it went down too fast to remember a lot of the flavors. It’s malty, cinnamon and hoppy. There’s a bit of a chocolate flare and maybe even a hint of coffee. Not too bad, but not amazing either