21st Amendment Fireside Chat
Like FDR’s Depression-Era Radio Addresses, which were like a kick in the butt and a hug at the same time, our Fireside Chat is a subtle twist on the traditional seasonal brew. We begin with a rich, dark, English-style ale and then we improvise with spices until we know we have a beer worth sharing with the nation. Celebrating the right to be original.
3.2
459 reviews
San Leandro, United States
Community reviews
Reminds me 100% of the Holiday season. The aroma has some great notes of nutmeg.
Pours a dark ruby red brown with a pillowy off white head which lingers a while......aroma is nut brown type ale traits with very light cinnamon, nutmeg.....taste is quite smooth, malty, nice bittering, various spices with none dominating.
Pours up a clear dark amber with a small beige head and some decent lacing. Aroma is malty with nutmeg, and cinnamon. Taste is malty, with caramel, slightly sweet. Body is medium with average carbonation and an almost syrupy mouthfeel. Good stuff!!
Can Vero Beach Fl ABC. Pours a beautiful deep red amber, very little head and no lacing. Packed aroma with lots going on, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, pine, roasted nuts. Tastes of pumpkin fallowed by cinnamon chocolate gramcracker.
Twelve ounce can. Solid lacing. tastes of malts, nutmeg, graham cracker, and some spices. I don't know about a "fireside" chat, but a few of these and they will find you chatting to yourself. A nice winter spice ale that I even enjoyed on a Indian Summer late October day.
Decent winter warmer, a modest English brown that never goes overboard with the seasonal spices. Toffee and nuts mix with restrained cinnamon and nutmeg notes, and the finish stays unexpectedly bitter. Gingerbread nose seems a bit weak, but the pour's pretty enough and the texture's nice and full, hearty enough for a winter seasonal. Not bad.
Can at Mariano’s Westmont. Turns out this was from Oct. 2016. But the server said there’s a guy who keeps asking for it, so they’ve kept it on hand. In fact, it seems to have held up pretty well. Dark, reddish-brown pour under a tan head. Smell has a nice note of Christmas beer spices like cinnamon and possibly coriander. I think there’s some wheat malt in this, too. The spice is obvious but not overwhelming. Rather pleasant. The high abv seems to have kept it in shape.
We were surprised but easily made it into one of our favorite winter seasonals.
Reviewed at:
https://youtu.be/9AP1NEF_UIA?list=PL2I6nU36z3fuBfKpybPgPsHlx0Z9wWABo
12 oz can. Pours a light brown with an inch of tan head a little bit of lacing. Smells of vanilla, caramel, and spices. Taste is sweet caramel, chocolates, and spice.
Pours dark brown/mahogany with white/tan fluffy head. the aroma is fruity, plums, molasses, rum, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg. The flavor is sweet with nutmeg, plums, molasses, allspice, fruity plums, and almost some Belgium candie flavors. overall very flavorful with spices and other notes, but not too much of the beer its self. (this is great for Christmas beer). leaves the mouth dry and sweet and lingering flavors. the body is heavy.
February 2016. Handsome 330ml can courtesy of Cousin Matt- last of the Christmas horde. Weighty mahogany with a sinking tan foam. doppelbock-meets-rauch-meets dubbel aroma awash with HP sauce on smoked ham, molasses, liquorice, carob and clove. Shrub and cherry blossom once the head has gone. Spicy but not overly so with sarsaparilla and clove failing to overpower a solid spongy malt loaf, ham and muscovado base firmly in the doppelbock camp. Sweetish but serious. Spices really well integrated. Gnaw of pencil. Unexpectedly elegant stuff.
Taste: Rich grainy barley malt, spice cake, malty finish. Bread like, spice cake nose. Copper/Brown, mostly clear, tan head with sticky well dined ring of lace. Full but not heavy body. A meal.
Amber-brown color with a soft white head. Super roast aroma and flavor; fairly sweet.
Notes: Can Jan ’ 17
12 oz can with a Nov. 2016 canning date.
Appearance: Pours with a clear, dark copper colored body topped by a frothy beige head. Decent retention and
Smell: spiced fruit bread
Taste: Lightly bitter and moderately spicy.
Mouthfeel: Full body. Medium+ carbonation. A little sticky.
Overall: a dark and spicy winter ale.
TAP. Kole beer in colour with long off white head, solid lacing.. Sweet malty nose with spices, clove & cinnamon for sure.. Sweet malt body, goes to the herbs & spices, clove is big, fruit cake vibe, actually really good.. Sourced 21st amendment
I sensed no spices- just a over hopped malty mess that left a bad after taste that lingered forever. Never again.
Pours reddish brown with a tan head. The aroma is malty (like a brown ale) with some nutmeg, dark fruit and a little bit of licorice. Burnt malt flavor is lightly sweet and modestly spicy. Quickly transitions to a long lasting, unappealing bitter finish(like bad licorice). Palate is medium bodied and softly carbonated. Pretty blah compared to some of my favorite winter beers,
12 oz can. Clear ruby red pour with a large khaki head and great retention. Decent lacing. Ugh, way too much Belgian yeast taste. Light spice. 7.9 ABV is well hidden. Pass.
A lot of nutmeg and cinnamon from the start. Brown in color, but a bit too Christmas spice heavy and ultimately sweeter than I’d prefer.
Can into a snifter showing light bodied translucent caramel brown with very sparse latte foam around edges.
The nose shows lightly roasted malts with hints of tea, cinnamon, ginger, and a bit of nutmeg.
The palate is well carbonated and very light bodied. Immediate flavors of Christmas spice in the background (think cinnamon and ginger) but quickly subside with a moderately strong hoppy bitterness on the finish that is out of place and overpowers most of the other delicate flavors of the beer. Either way, it is a winter specialty beer, just not the best.
From a can. The spice was a bit much for me personally but in colder weather I’d be a bit more into it.
Draft at Kasey’s Tavern in Chicago. A huge, boozy, spicy beer. Lots of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, bitter hops. Syrupy malt balanced by huge hops. Big, full body. Actually feels like more than 8%. The benchmark for a "winter warmer". Really truly needs to be sipped fireside. Excellent.
Can, pours a reddish brown with a medium to larger creamy head. Light lacing. Smell and flavor are nutmeg, raisins, english malt, and other dark fruit and ready notes. Medium in body. Lots of spices being noticed, maybe too much
A good one for a winter’s night. Spicey, on the heavy side. Great color when you put it in a glass.
Can pour into taster cup at One Stop Market 30th Anniversary. Appearance is fairly dark brown (dark cola), mild sparkle, tiny ring of white head, decent lacing. Aroma is fairly mild malt, spicy. Taste is fruity, earthy hops, spice (cinnamon? cardamom?). Palate is medium-to-full bodied with thick texture, average-to-lively carbonation and finish like taste (dark fruit/malt/light spice), mixed with yeast and bitter. Overall, there is some complexity here, which makes for an interesting beer.
Fresh can, ENJOY BY 02/18/17. Nose like a malty brown ale, pour too; murky mahogany in the glass with light ruby highlights and a very large and jiggly tan head -- perfect for this English pint. Taste very strongly spicy, or at least that’s the initial impression: nutmeg/oregano, nutty, raw alcohol seeping into a smooth but dull/flat medium body. Light bitterness very nice here, relatively dry on the whole with subtle roasting/toasting of the malt coming through, very light red berry, light caramel, strong raw cocoa nibs which last into hegemony in the aftertaste, and an unexpected slurry yeast component / touch of peanut butter (in flavor only). Something herbal dominating the back like mace or allspice. Very sticky lips. Overall, it fits the ’Warmer’ mold pretty well and doesn’t overdo the spices, but at the same time, it’s punching up a boring English base -- a lot more can be done with an English brown or porter. [2016.10.25: 3.1]
12 oz. can from The Beer Store. Poured a dark brown with reddish highlights and a one finger dense, creamy tan head. Aroma features light toffee with an amalgamation of spices. All light. Light sweetness on the flavor. Some toffee and vanilla with more faint spice. Medium bodied and soft on the tongue. I liked this. Nice "winter warmer" type beer without the heavy dose of spices.
The beer is overall okay in every regard. There's nothing wrong with it per se, but nothing that makes it really good. The spices are very mild, the body is a bit thin.
Drank with Theresa at the 260 King St Beacon flat. Pours a dark brown-cola colour with fizzy off-white head. Smells of dark malt, roasted and slightly burnt, lightly nutty, a bit of banana, wood, anise/liquorice. Taste is lightly spiced, rye, roasted dark malt, some leathery earthiness, a bit herbal, finish is spicy and sweet. Body is quite uncarbonated, light slickness to start but becomes more watery, quite spicy. Not bad! But also sort of what you’d expect.
Poured from the can into a nonic pint glass. The appearance is reddish-brown. The head is long-lived and light tan in color. The aroma the aroma is malty sweet with some cinnamon and nutmeg in the background. In the tasting, this is like gingerbread cookies. Malty and slightly syrupy with spicy hops that contribute vegetable qualities instead of ginger spice. The only weird aspect. A good brew for a cold night to share amongst friends around the fire.