Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.
I like winter ales and warmers. I really, really like SweetWater. So when SweetWater offered up a sample of their Festive Ale, I was pretty excited.
After all, the landscape of Christmas ales and spiced cold weather beers is fairly barren. Great Lakes probably does it the best. Breckenridge has a popular offering, though I admit I’ve never pulled the trigger on those CostCo mini-kegs (as someone who grew up with incurable poor-brain, I perpetually wait to see if they’ll get marked down after the holiday, only to find beer is not sold like candy). St. Arnold and Shiner each have notable entries as well.
But SweetWater was a new development from a brewery I’d always associated with pale ales. SweetWater Blue remains a solid foray into fruit beers that showcases the brand’s versatility. It stands to reason a winter’s beer would be another win for the one-time microbrewer.
However…
SweetWater Festive Ale: C+
The first sip follows the pour pretty closely. Thick beer, some crisp bubbles, a minor burn that suggests you’re dealing with more than a regular brew’s booze weight and not much by way of spices. The taste isn’t clove or cinnamon or other December-y flavors but molasses and raisin.
This feels like SweetWater got halfway to making a barrel-aged series, then got impatient. It’s in-between a Christmas ale and something stronger, landing in kind of a no-man’s land. It’s not bad, but it’s not up to the high standard I’ve got for more SweetWater offerings. It’s a little boring, trying to hit a bunch of different notes but not really getting anywhere. It’s sort of the Michelob Ultra of festive ales.
Well, bummer. SweetWater’s winter beer lacks the warmth and complexity of a good Christmas-y ale. This tastes like something different. It’s not bad — it’s just not what I want from a winter warmer.
