The intense aroma of this unfiltered brew is immediately evident with spicy, herbal notes of Sassafras, wintergreen, and licorice. These are balanced with the sweet aroma and flavor of carmelized sugar and molasses. This beer finishes with the subtle complement of vanilla and wildflower honey.
Beer Ratings and Reviews:
[1] Review by OrvalPlease from Orland Park, IL, USA who has tried this beer once. (6/8/2008 9:42:38 AM)
"Dark amber color with a tawny head. Strong, long lasting licorice aroma (slightly medicinal) with wintergreen notes mixed in. Multitude of flavors present in this beer - woody mint, honey, licorice and molasses. There does seem to be a bit of a root beer flavor and aroma as the beer warms and the flavors/smells meld. Interesting beer, glad to have tried it."
Aroma:
7/10
Appearance:
6/10
Mouthfeel:
7/10
Flavor:
7/10
Overall:
7/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.4)
Sampled: Bottle Sample Size: 12oz @ $3 Unit Cost: $4 per Pint
[2] Review by RedHaze from Bellevue, NE, USA who has tried this beer once. (3/2/2007 3:40:33 PM)
"Pours a dark, somewhat hazy, amber with a one finger head that fades quickly to a thin spotty cap. The subsequent lacing is thin and disorganized.
Smell; this has a very strong sassafras smell, along with some mint and mlidly herbal aromas. A somewhat minty smell comes out after I let this warm a little. On the initial sniffs I thought this didn't smeel to bad, but the mint has me worried.
Taste; sassafras is definitely present as it dominates the first couple of sips. After those initial sips some mint/wntegreen makes an unwelcome appearance, as well as a lot of licorice. I like a little licorice, but this was too much for me. As with the smell, the first couple sips weren't that bad, but it just fell apart after that. Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied, and the drinkability just isn't there.
While this beer has a lot going on in the aroma and flavor, most of them are very hard for me to deal with. I appluad Sam Adams for trying something different, but this one just wasn't for me."
Aroma:
5/10
Appearance:
7/10
Mouthfeel:
7/10
Flavor:
4/10
Overall:
5/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(2.8)
Sampled: Bottle Sample Size: 48oz @ $9.99 Unit Cost: $3.33 per Pint
[3] Review by Stoutlover72 from Northern, California, USA who has tried this beer once. (11/24/2006 1:50:47 AM)
"This was a hard one to rate. Do I rate it as a beer? Do I rate it as a rootbeer? To start the aroma was very root beer like, with sweet notes, sassafrass and licorice being the most prominant. I like root beer, so I did like the nose. Appearance was a very dark brown, clear with a minimal sized head. Mouthfeel was a bit syrupy but nothing catastrophic. Flavors were vanilla, sassafrass, licorice with a small alcoholic kick. It really wasn't entirely horrible IMO. I could drink one every now and again, but to put back more than one would be a struggle."
Aroma:
7/10
Appearance:
7/10
Mouthfeel:
6/10
Flavor:
6/10
Overall:
6/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.2)
Sampled: Bottle Sample Size: 12oz @ $1.5 Unit Cost: $2 per Pint
[4] Review by aracauna from Adairsville, GA, USA who has tried this beer once. (10/25/2006 6:55:47 AM)
"Pours a cloudy brown with very little head. A strong herbal aroma lead by an overabundance of licorice makes for an almost interesting smell, but makes it nearly undrinkable. It got easier to drink as I went along, but it never reached anything I’d describe as enjoyable."
Aroma:
7/10
Appearance:
6/10
Mouthfeel:
6/10
Flavor:
4/10
Overall:
5/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(2.8)
Value of this beer for its style: Not Sure Compared to this brewer's other beers: Not Sure
[5] Review by EyeChartBrew from CA, Liechtenstein who has tried this beer once. (8/28/2006 12:39:39 AM)
"Wow. This is an entire cornucopia of flavors -- most of them not normally seen nor brewed with in decades (centuries?).
"Blackstrap molasses, sassafras root bark, dried wintergreen, and licorice." Yikes, that's a whole butt-ton worth of ingredients that I normally never think about!
But really? After cracking this open, and pouring about half of the 12-oz bottle into one of my Stone Old Guardian stubby glasses, and giving it some time to warm up some, giving it a honest chance to try to impress me -- it still kinda sucked. *But*, if nothing else, I can respect that this is perhaps what the Founding Fathers thought to be what a Winter Warmer ought to taste like -- and, in that case, this doesn't suck as much.
The Dried Wintergreen is the weakest link with this beer. I can stand a beer made with a bunch of molasses, and sassafras, and even anise (aka licorice). But the Wintergreen? That's crossing the line from "unique historical artifact" to "shitty chewing gum-ish mess", in my book.
This beer does has some interesting aspects to it -- please don't mistake me. But the Wintergreen really throws everything that could be gained by the other ingredients out the window. In other words, what could be a "B-grade" beer -- without bonus points for the historical angle -- goes straight into the gutter with the "Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun. With Double Mint Gum" overbearing wintergreen profile.
The farther you go into this beer, the worse it gets, IMHO. An unworkable, unrepairable mess of a beer -- that could be so much more interesting.
Music; Christian Death's "Hour Of The Wolf"
//TB"
Aroma:
4/10
Appearance:
6/10
Mouthfeel:
5/10
Flavor:
4/10
Overall:
4/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(2.3)
Sampled: Bottle Sample Size: 12oz @ $2.5 Unit Cost: $3.33 per Pint
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(3.4)
