Why We Picked It: Essentially, I made them. For those who haven't been bored by this info already, Southern Tier is essentially from my hometown of Jamestown, NY. (technically it the tiny little town of Lakewood, adjacent to While I generally like to slag on J-town a bit, it still amazes me that an early(ish) pioneer in craft brewing decided to set up camp there, and I have visited the awesome brewery several times (one of the few things to do there, to be honest). I also love this brew as it is a true reflection of the area (very Swedish), plus my Swedish wife makes the referenced holiday Glögg (I had some earlier this week). Oh, as a bonus, this historically drives Bill nuts.
What Southern Tier Says About It: Swedish flags are a fairly common sight in our part of the country. Holiday parties often have warm concoctions of spices and booze at the ready to knock the ice off of toes while raising spirits. We were inspired by a “Glögg” party, deciding on the spot to brew a beer that pays tribute to this Nordic tradition. 2XMAS ale combines traditional brewing ingredients with figs, orange peels, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and ginger root. It’s a holiday addition to the 2X line and another reason to toast to the season, but unlike Glögg, we recommend serving this one chilled.
Style: Winter Warmer
ABV: 8%
IBU: 40
Website: https://stbcbeer.com/
To Better Know A Brewery: Since our humble beginnings, Southern Tier Brewing Company has grown into an industry leader and world-class brewery. As demand has grown over the years, Southern Tier has expanded to a 110 BBL Steinecker brewhouse. Surrounding the brewhouse is the packaging hall with keg, bottle, and can production lines as well as our ever-growing farm of fermenters and state-of-the-art brewing quality lab. From our wildly innovative founder, Phin DeMink, who’s still a daily inspiration, to the new generation of brewers who share our pursuit of what’s next, we keep honing the creative edge of brewing discovery. Our brewing team utilizes a 2BBL and 25 BBL system for smaller batches to test new and cutting-edge ideas. Many of these beers are available in our taprooms.
As a victim of Sheps painful ranting about upstate craptown USA suffering PTSD from working with him and hearing him go on and on and on and on about Buffalo and J-town, I feel for and stand by Bill.
ReplyDeleteAfter research, I discovered that there are other things to do in that area, like:
-Get electrocuted is the birth place of the electric chair,
-Listen to Super freak, Rick James is from Buffalo
-Non-dairy creamer, whipped topping, and instant coffee came from Buffalo.
-Not sure how but, The air conditioner was invented in Buffalo.
-Grain Elevators started in Buffalo.
-How would anyone hate the Brits, they burned down our city.
It gets better:
-The Turkey Trot is the oldest continually run race in America (1896).
AND: (drum roll)
-Largest Dyngus Day celebration in the U.S. (Not Swedish).
OK, Just wanted to harp on Shep for old time sake since I will no longer go on business travel with him where the odds of him running into a fellow Buffalonian and ranting for hours obnoxiously.
...was certain, does anyone from that region stay in that region?
DeleteTheodore, careful not to confuse my pro-Buffalo rant with my pro-Southern Tier rant and my anti-Jamestown rant.
DeleteOf course, there is also my anti-DH rant, my pro-Joe Strummer rant, my anti-Phil Collins rant, my pro-snow rant, my anti-Def Leppard rant (Ro still hasn't forgiven me), etc.
Anyway, the point is that Western New York is a rich and diverse region (Jamestown - Swedish, Buffalo - Polish). I mean it's not like Greece where everyone is exactly the same background and have no variation whatsoever.
If you didn't rant, I wouldn't love you Shep. You've heard my say I don't like people with no opinion.
DeleteWell, Scott has already established much of the background. He's been pushing this Southern Tier swill since I met him. He feels obligated to defend it just like he defends the 10,000 Maniacs, Dominick Hasek, Willie Stargell, and Dirk Nowitzki. Just like I feel obligated to defend Mark Rypien, Adam Morrison, and the Father's Day holiday. These are the prices we pay for being from small shitty cities. And I use that word "city" loosely.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wonder if my hatred for Southern Tier is solely due to Scott. And then I drink this beer. I mean the bottle pretty much sums it up. Brewed with orange peels, ginger root, cardamom, cinnamon, fig paste, and cloves. Guess how many of those I went in my beer? It rhymes with hero. Anyway, this is the spiced bomb as advertised. I'm getting some nutmeg. Could they not fit that on the bottle? I'll suck this down since it's 8% and it's in front of me, but I could not imagine drinking two of these in one sitting. Or one week. Or one year. Which makes it good that Scott only makes us drink it once a year. 1 out of 5 St. Bonaventure Bonnies. For my father-in-law.
I decided to do some digging on whether I really dislike Southern Tier. My beer bible (untappd) has me consuming 24 different Southern Tier beers in the last 7 1/2 years. Some real winners on here. Mango Crush, Orange Grove, Lemon Drop Sun, Pumking, Thick Mint. I sense a theme. I gave some session IPA a 4.5 but let's face it, I was probably drunk. The thick mint actually got a 4.25. 7 at 4.0. And one at 3.75. I usually give a beer a 3.5 for being in liquid form. So 14 out of 24 didn't cross that threshold. In last place on the Southern Tier list? The 2XMAS checked in on December 17, 2013. Apparently at an office party, not the 24 days of beer. Shocking. Looks like I accidentally bought a sixer in 2014 and struggled to finish it but somehow did. Still trying to drink this. How can it be spicey and mediciny at the same time? This is dismal. Luckily my brother-in-law's birthday present arrived today. Twelve lovely IPAs from Chicago. And thanks to Don I also have 7 Foam Brewers in my fridge. Going to need a chaser. Is it wrong that the best part of this beer is the anticipation of my next non-2XMAS beer?
OH GOD NO, 10K looneys?! you've been through that torcher too? Poor man, I feel your pain.
DeleteBTW: Buffalo (not J-Town) is the second largest city in NY State. With NYC being the first, that doesn't say much. LOVE YOU SHEP.
Not sure how hard I've defended 10,000 Maniacs, but I could imagine it if I had enought Southern Tier 2XIPAs (fantastic brew). Jamestown is a often sad little town in many ways, so you cling to what you can.
DeleteI've always been a fan of Southern Tier. I didn't know it was from J-Town. glad I didn't as it would have biased my opinion and I would have missed out. If you've been following my posts (what? how dare you), The IPA group from them is where I lean and they are solid. Nu Juice IPA, 8 days a week are the dailies, IPA and 2X IPA are solid creations but higher on the ABV scale.
ReplyDeleteThe other side of ST are these concoctions. Not a fan overall of overcomplicated, oh look how cool we are, ou-la-la fancy stuff.
This is right up there in the "I made it because I can, I hope you drink it" category.
With that said, it isn't the worst I have had in this space. Maybe because I actually think cardamom actually works in beers, or that I am a HUGE consumer of Ginger Beer (ask me why 😁, it's not that exciting). But I am not a fan of the cloves, figs etc. (the glug stuff).
Memory: I was on business in Vienna the week before X-Mass, the customer took me to an out door Christmas fair where we had glug, yes, it was cold and it hit did warm me up. We drank this stuff for a couple hours (I had to respect the host) and by the time I got back to my room I was in bad shape. After a quick purge and a shower, I slept in late and missed my flight.
So you can see why I'm not a fan 😜.
2.5/5 Vienna sausages (i would be dead if it wasn't for those).
I love ginger beer as well (as part of a great mule of course!) and actually Aldi Summit brand in a glass bottle 4 pack is only available this time of year and our favorite. It has a wonderful strong ginger flavor ... not the medicinal one I thought this had.
DeleteAldi's ginger beer is good? Need to try. To date, my fav is Fever tree. It has a great spicy tang to it.
DeleteLooked back at the last time we had this. 2013. Scott was a participant but not the organizer. Scroll down to the comments from both Shep and me. The year 2020 may have changed a lot of things, but both his comment and mine could have been written today. Except that I made some weird reference to something called an "office holiday party." What the hell was that?
ReplyDeletehttps://24daysofbeer.blogspot.com/2013/12/december-22-southern-tier-2xmas.html#comment-form
If it was 2013, you were at EIA so I assume you were referring to (one of) our office party(ies)? I wonder who brought this. And why? Yikes, I'm with you on not wanting these flavors in my beer. I can deal with this one but do not want a second.
DeleteGot to like the consistency, I guess.
DeleteOh man. This beer was sooooo close to being good. I read the label and instead of reading the (what felt like) 30 tasting notes and rolling my eyes I thought ok let’s give this a try. It was sooooo close to me liking it and i am a little sad I did not. I went into my first sip and got a nice malt, a little fig, even that cardamon. Ok these are working I’m shocked....then...got hit with some medicinal ginger. I love ginger, in my egg nog, on my raw bar seafood, give me some fake wasabi that is really green horseradish. But this just didn’t sit with that spicey ginger I wanted. Ugh. I took a few more sips and it just got less balanced and more medicine.
ReplyDelete3.5 out of 5 I’m now a sad boy. 😞
Yeah, it is definitely close but quite. It needs more fig!
DeleteSo we haven't had this in a while as it has been increasingly difficult to find. Even this year, Maple Lawn had run out and had to call the other store to hold their last case (and last 24 at all) for me.
ReplyDeleteSo I was very excited to have this included in 24DOB. That being said, this year's interpretation is not as good as past iterations. The cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and orange peel are actually a bit too strong this year. My past memories is that it is strong but balanced and with a cleaner finish. I still like but - as I look back on my annual reviews - not nearly as much as years past. I would have another, but just don't love it as much as past years.
3.35 out of 5 Lucille Balls (only truly famous native of Jamestown).
I love southern tier and also love all things holiday spice (ginger cookies, pumpkin pie etc) but man I have to say I did not like this beer. Like drinking my spice cabinet.
ReplyDeleteI looked back at Untappd and I had this in 2017 and I had it rated a 4. That’s too high so I’m going to downgrade it. The spices are just too aggressive for me - they hit my nose before I’m even close to taking a sip. There are a lot of ST beers I’ve had more recently that I liked but this isn’t one. (Pumking was disappointing too).
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot going on with this beer spice wise - and that isn't a good thing in this case. Trying a little to hard - might be the musical equivalent of a mediocre singer who just discovered auto-tune...
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't agree, thumbs up on the analogy.
DeleteGreg -- I have really enjoyed reading the above thread, and it makes me enviousness for not having a rich Untappd diary to consult. However, in this case I'm already sure I've never had this one before. I am very glad to have had it, because it was different than most beers I've consumed before, and because it wasn't terrible or anything. I happily finished my half and most of my wife's (because, well, she seems to have sided with the clear majority here). In my mind, I rationalize this as "not beer," and then it's easier to ponder and appreciate---it's not beer, just an interesting, curious beverage that delivers new taste combinations and sensations. I really love many sour beers, and my sense is that those who don't like them or get them could make it through more of them by treating them as "not beer"... you know, serve them in a champagne flute or something. Think about being served a goblet from the new, chic "mixologist" who now works Thursday evenings at your favorite pre-COVID bar and is trying too hard and still experimenting with his elixirs.
ReplyDeleteIn short, I'm happy to have tried this. I mean, "fig paste"? come on!? I will not be buying another sixer myself, but such is one of the beauties of this esteemed Advent calendar tradition :-) Thanks again!
This one really reminded me of past Christmases. That being said, you have to like Xmas spice to like this. Good thing I do.
ReplyDeleteGood uses of "Fig Paste"
ReplyDelete1. Emergency repairs of figs.
2. As a substitute for pomade when styling hair.
3. Filling in cracks in cement or plaster.
4. Muscle relaxer
5. Holiday arts and crafts projects.
Bad uses of "Fig Paste"
1. Substitute for Cortizone 10
2. Beer ingredient
3. Emergency repairs of fig newtows
4. Pizza topping
5. Removing bad smells of old shoes
I have become a big fan of Southern Tier, but as a Anonymous noted, it's hard to get past the whole fig paste thing. 2.5/5.00 "I think Fig Paste is a made up thing or at least I hope it is"'s.