Field Trip

Over the weekend we took a little road trip to Kirkland, a suburb of St Louis, and stumbled upon the Highlands Brewing Company. They are one of the many little brewpubs that make beer just for their own bar, and dont sell in bottles. There are probably many near you, too, and they're worth a look.  In the photo here you can see the number of brews they have fresh on tap, and the bartender informed us that there were a number of others not on the board.

First up is the Winter Ale, a spiced seasonal brew that I was told is very popular. It arrived with a heavy aroma of spices, primarily cloves, and a deep cloudy amber color. The first sip tells you why brewpubs are so popular. This beer is fresh and lively. No sitting around in bottles on a store shelf, this probably came out of the fermenter just a couple weeks ago. It has lots of body, a good steady malty sweetness, and plenty of spice. I get flavors of clove, cinnamon, apple cider, and nuts. The spices arent overpowering like some winter beers, and the alcohol content is not high enough to taste, which in this case works well. The secret to a good spiced beer is to start with a good beer in the first place, and not let the spices overwhelm it.

Scoring:

Look: 4 - cloudy amber

Aroma: 5 - smells like the holidays

Taste: 4 - good balance of beer and spice

Feel: 3 - good body

Total: 4

But wait, theres more! Seeing as we were staying for lunch (I recommend the rueben sandwich), I had to have another beer. This is the blackberry wheat, which is not really winter beer, but was highly recommended. Its a cloudy unfiltered wheat, with an aroma of berries, citrus, and floral hops. The flavor is light and crisp and refreshing. The blackberry flavor is a good undertone to the beer, a good compliment to the sweet wheat maltiness, without taking over or tasting perfumy. This is what Sam Adams Blackberry wishes it could taste like. You also get the dry tannic flavors associated with real berries. My only complaint is the yeast flavors started to come through near the end of the beer, possibly because it had been brewed over the summer. But overall an excellent choice.
Look: 4 - cloudy gold
Aroma: 4 - wheat and berry
Taste: 3 - lost points for dead yeast flavors
Feel: 4 - light and refreshing
Total: 3.75