Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Outer Banks Brewing Santa's Little Sledgehammer


Boy we got an interesting one today. Santa's Little Sledgehammer is a 10% ABV Christmas beer from Outer banks Brewing a few miles down the road from me in Kill Devil Hills. Now, a couple things. This stuff is 8 bucks for a bit more than a pint. I usually try to avoid beers that are this expensive, cause I wan't to focus on beer people actually drink. Power to the people! But if your'e here, you are probably on vacation, so you might splurge a little. Also' this is a real small brewery, so they don't have the economy of scale that others have. They have to charge more. Anyway, on to the beer.
Santa's is a pleasant medium brown with that tan head to it. The nose is striking, with a lot of clove, baking spice, and this underlying, almost saccharine, sugary sweetness. Wow, that's a very heavy, full-bodied beer. There's a lot going on here. Let's see, there's a lot of spice, mocha, licorice, smoky notes and more. It's overwhelming in a good way. There's also a lot of clove here which may significantly contribute to the the anise, sambuca like, finish. This is the kind of beer that seems to improve as you drink it, or maybe all that alcohol is going right to my brain. This is a first rate Christmas beer that would seem to be perfect for the season. Too bad I'm trying it in Spring, instead of when we had the 75 f-ing inches of snow. This stuff really has duration, the flavors linger for 5 minutes or more, that's how strong they are. And that could be a big problem for some people. If you dislike anise flavors this would not work for you, stay away. But, for me, this is a real good beer. Oh, love the name.

http://www.obbrewing.com/

No comments:

Post a Comment