6/100) Winter in July!

I have set myself the goal to review three beers or ciders every week for 100 weeks. I will be learning about beer and ciders more as I do this, and if I am successful in this venture, I will have tried about 300 unique drinks. If you're curious how I'm doing, the number in the post's title tells you which week I am in now.

Old Fezziwig, Frost Line, Mardis Gras

I decided I would have a little Christmas is July, and appropriately this week's temp has been unusually cold for summer. Somehow the descending cold front caused it to drop down to 60 even. This week's Sam Adam's ale is a nice reference to the fictitious world of Dicken's Christmas Carol; we all know that Old Fezziwig's character really liked his parties. Summit, a brewery based in Minnesota, advertises Frost Line as a beer to span the transition from winter into spring. The last one is by Abita, a company based in LA (Louisiana that is), and the beer is themed for Fat Tuesday

Old Fezziwig Ale) Old Fezziwig is dark amber in color. The taste's middle was a complex mix of malt and caramel, and though it ended more like a generic ale, I detected an almost ginger like flavor in the finish. What really impressed me about this beer was that the spices didn't overwhelm but married well to the ale attributes. ☆☆☆☆

Frost Line Rye) I could do without ever having this one again. The smell was full of hops with a light edge that was probably from the rye. However, the taste was primarily bitter hops that just dragged along into the finish. In other words, by the time I was done with it, all I could taste was hops. ☆☆

Mardis Gras Bock) This beer is an homage to the German Maibock style. A maibock is a bock that has more hops than usual and that is procured in the spring. The flavor had a good malty full-bodied initial, but the finish left me with the lingering notes of the German hops. I'm not sure really if I liked it or disliked it. I just know I wasn't sold on the flavor so I give it somewhere in between a ☆☆ and a ☆☆☆.