Fireside Chat - 21st Amendment Brewery

YardmanFTB

Maryland

4.43/5  rDev +30.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

One of my favorite spiced winter beers and it comes from a place that doesn't even have a winter (San Francisco). It is a dark English-style ale spiced with cinnamon and other spices common in winter ales. I find it to be a great mix between a malty English Ale and a spiced American-style winter Ale. A great beer.

Serving type: can

03-26-2013 02:44:09 | More by YardmanFTB

nickfl

Florida

3.79/5  rDev +11.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

A - Pours with one finger of light tan foam on top of a dark brown body with clear, amber highlights showing through.

S - Mint, nutmeg, cardamom, and dark cherries with a bready malt background.

T - Thick, brown malt up front with some brown sugar. More of the spice character comes out in the middle as notes of nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon come out. Finishes with more dark bread, spices, and a bit of caramel.

M - Medium-thick body, moderate carbonation, and a slightly dry finish.

D - Not bad, the spice aroma is still pungent even though this can has some age on it and it is a bit unique compared to many other spiced beers Ive tried. A fairly well handled example of a spiced beer.

Serving type: can

03-18-2013 23:06:00 | More by nickfl

kylehay2004

Florida

4/5  rDev +17.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Single finger head with poor retention but nice lace on a near clear deep amber red body. Aroma is very sweet and well represented with nutmeg, cherry, mint and cinnamon, all spice really. Flavors of the winter season with more nutmeg, gingerbread, nutmeg and hint of peppermint. Some caramel malt base as well. A lot thicker than expected, moderate carbonation and fairly oily coating the palate. Very interesting with this one managing to have many of the same flavors as others in the class but the overall flavors and body make it different and therefore memorable.

Serving type: can

03-18-2013 23:04:39 | More by kylehay2004

TheBrewo

Michigan

3.71/5  rDev +9.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

We pop the tab and pour a brew of the deepest ruby red. It holds a two finger tall head of big, cakey, light brown bubbles on a rough pour. It leaves patterned lacing down the sides of the glass as it recedes at a slow pace. No haze is noted, but bulky sediment sits suspended about the foot of the glass. Carbonation appears light. The aroma is hugely robust, with sweet and biting cranberry, tart raspberry, candied cherries buttery caramel and coffee malts, burnt gingerbread, spicy booze, clove, lightly limey hops, and raw allspice. Our first impression is that the opening act is highly bittered, but it gives way to a smooth follow through, with cleanly stark components. As we sip, big metallics, soured coffee malts, raw cinnamon, lactics, and light leathers start things off. The peak comes with plenty of bitterness, drying coffee bean maltiness, earthy muskiness, and juicy, wet yeast. The finish washes with less bitterness, but the smoke and depth of caramel and coffee grain, more yeast, molasses sweetness, and spice of allspice, pumpkin, ginger, and pecan nuttiness. The aftertaste breathes of toffee sweetness, raw coffee malts, mild grapefruit and herbal hoppiness, strawberry fruitiness, raw leathers, charred smokiness, salts, white sugars, and distant booziness. The body is medium, and the carbonation is light to medium, but with hearty froth and cream on the front. The sip otherwise gives nice slurp, smack, and pop. Pucker adds to the astringent dryness as it clears away an initial coating. The abv is appropriate, and the beer drinks decently.

Overall, what we liked best about this beer was the true winteriness and warmth of the spice and depth of malts. While we do wish things had fleshed out a bit more fully through the flavoring, each component was nicely contributory to the final sip, adding nice depth and excitement throughout. The nose gave big fruity sweetness, and smelled a bit more like a bock, at times, than a warmer. Mouthfeel also ultimately added to the experience, helping to keep you happy with almost every sip.

Serving type: can

03-09-2013 02:49:07 | More by TheBrewo

flexabull

California

3.75/5  rDev +10.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Pours a dark copper color with a pretty nice off white head.

Aromas are of cider, ginger, and sugars.

Taste starts out with some cider flavors. Baked apple, slightly sweet, with some caramel notes. Finish is spicy. Mostly notice ginger, as well as nutmeg and cinnamon. Interesting beer, but pretty tasty.

Mouthfeel is full and smooth.

Overall, I like this. It might come off to some as being a bit heavy handed with the ginger and spices to some, but it works pretty well for me.

Serving type: can

03-08-2013 17:38:16 | More by flexabull

jco3rd

California

4.1/5  rDev +20.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Served in a nonic pint glass. Pours a dark color, like a porter. Nice fine head, which dissipates to a ring around the edges. Lots of suspended yeast, which detracts from the look in the glass.

Malty and rich gingerbread on the nose. Quite delightful.

Sweet malty flavor, balanced out by dark bitter roasted malt flavors with dark spice notes.

All in all enjoyable. However I feel it is slightly too bitter for the style. Still I will continue to purchase and enjoy this beer.

Serving type: can

03-06-2013 04:27:48 | More by jco3rd

DMXLOX22

Pennsylvania

3.81/5  rDev +12.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Picked up a single of this strange brew from a mixed six-pack at my local establishment. Let's see how it measures up.

Appearance: Pours a dark, almond-like, brown. Leaves behind moderate bubbles and an exceptional, frothy white head that takes it time to dissipate and the lacing it on par with most of the beers in this category.

Smell: Has some moderate, dark malts. Has an almost chocolate-like aroma, and it definitely comes into a positive aspect of this beer. It has a subtle tartness to it that actually draws me in more. I can see more indisputable things about this.

Taste: Has a upfront taste of slight fruits and calm, but thick malts. Noticed some lemon zest and cinnamon. Also I enjoyed a taste of brown sugar and slight amounts of vanilla. I thoroughly enjoyed the fine malts of dark roast, but the slight sweetness of spices. Goes together very well and is well-balanced.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a nice, natural carbonation that makes for easy sipping.

Overall: Wasn't exactly thrilled going into this, but over time I did enjoy it as it went down. It brought some surprises to the plate, but there are in need of some improvements. Some of the spices added in were generic and not very different from the norm. Not to say this wasn't a good beer, as it was good for sipping, but nothing entirely too special. I would maybe try again if it were offered, but I guess I would recommend to a friend. Cheers!

Serving type: can

02-25-2013 02:45:54 | More by DMXLOX22

Darkmagus82

Montana

3.29/5  rDev -3.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

Poured from can into a pint glass

Appearance - Pours a lightly hazed brown-mahogany color with a small one half finger cream colored head. The small head persists for some time to fade eventually leaving a lighter level of lacing on the sides of the glass.

Smell – The aroma is a mix of malty and spicy smells with notes of some sweetness within. The malty aromas are of a toasted malt with the spice being mainly of cinnamon and nutmeg. The sweet smells of caramel, fig, and plum mixed with a light boozy aroma, create a quite spiced fruitcake aroma overall

Taste – The taste begins of roasted malt and a very small amount of sweetness from plum and caramel. The caramel fades quite quickly from the taste, while tons of spice and a light boozy flavor come to the tongue. The spice flavors of cinnamon and nutmeg grow stronger to the end of the taste and are joined by an ever increasing rum like boozy taste. These flavors in the end leave a somewhat astringent rather dry boozy and spicy flavor on the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is on the thinner side in terms of its creaminess and thickness with a carbonation level that is average to just above average. The thin body does a rather poor job at complimenting the roasted and boozy flavors, although on the plus side the thin body and higher carbonation level did prevent some of the more off flavors from really lingering on the tongue. So overall a moderate mouthfeel.

Overall – Not really one I would recommend. The flavors are a little too spicy and astringent with a feel that does not complement well the winter warmer category (although I guess the boozy taste does).

Serving type: can

02-25-2013 02:03:56 | More by Darkmagus82

SHODriver

California

3.13/5  rDev -7.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

A: pours a deep brown with a slight reddish hue, call it mahogany. a finger of deep off white head sits atop and fades to a small mat after a decent time.
S: smells of spices, toffee and a little bit of plumb. very sweet on the nose
T: toffee up front, some spices like nutmeg and a hint of cinnamon, a bit of dark fruit, slight toastyness from the malt and some sugary sweetness. slight herbalness on the back end. aftertaste is hard to describe but it's like spice mixed with some hops and a bit more residual sugar
M: medium with active and slightly prickly carbonation, a little drying on the swallow
O: solid beer but the finish on the swallow really ruins it. glad I only got the one. overall it's not bad and if the aftertaste was cleaner and the flavors played better it would get higher marks. up until that point it was a solid B.

Serving type: can

01-30-2013 04:19:24 | More by SHODriver

brewdude1982

North Carolina

4.38/5  rDev +28.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

This was a 12 oz. can poured into a mug.

It pours a opaque black with no particles evident in the beer. It smells sweet like vanilla and maybe ginger or some other spice. I feel that it is nicely balanced and welcomed. I love the spices of this beer. It has a warming very pleasant taste of vanilla and then fades to the other spices as well as to the malts of this beer which are rich. I taste lots of sweet tastes which escape me but I definitely get vanilla. I like this beer and would order it again especially if on tap.

Serving type: can

01-28-2013 02:25:14 | More by brewdude1982

RJLarse

Washington

3.68/5  rDev +8.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

I bought a couple cans of Fire3side Chat at Total Wine & More in Spokane. Poured in to a pint glass.

Pours a walnut brown color, translucent , with a foamy beige one finger head. The foam is fairly sticky and laces the side of the glass in a broad ring.

Smell is a darkly sweet aroma, with some dark fruit and rum notes. Dates, plums and a bit of a rum fruitcake aroma.

Taste is a lot like the smell, rich dark fruit flavors, a little spice and rum flavor. Just a touch of alcohol heat on the finish.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied, slightly cloying, with a heavy sweet aftertaste.

Overall a nice winter warmer. A little long on the sweet flavors.

Serving type: can

01-28-2013 00:36:09 | More by RJLarse

TheSixthRing

California

3.74/5  rDev +10%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Appearance - Poured into my Chimay chalice, this winter warmer poured a deep ruby brown color with an off-white, finger width head. Average retention, the resulting lace was spotty, with fair stick.

Smell - Really sweet, fruity smell, like dried pieces of stone fruit: peach, apricot and/or prune. Hints at bready malts.

Taste - Follows the nose, and then some. Big bread notes, complimented well by the strong fruit and spice character, a touch of bitter chocolate mid-taste and toward the back end, then finishes like burnt bread with a moderate amount of citrus bitterness.

Mouthfeel - Medium to full in body, with a fair amount of carbonation. Tingles the lips. Finishes somewhat on the dry side of things.

Overall - This is a nice winter warmer. I don't know that I could drink more than a can at a time, but it's certainly festive, and a beer I might turn to for a one-off night cap on a day like Christmas Eve.

Serving type: bottle

01-11-2013 07:41:27 | More by TheSixthRing

ESeab

New Jersey

3.48/5  rDev +2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Bottle poured into pint glass.

Amber/brown color with thin, lingering vanilla head

Smells malty and not too 'in your face' for a spiced beer. Hints of caramel and cinnamon.

Taste was smoother than I thought and the spices were not lingering at all. Nutmeg was noticeable.

Overall this was a good brew by 21st Amendment. I'm not a huge fan of Christmas ales but would drink this again, just wouldn't seek it out. The spice disguises any alcohol that would be detected. Give it a shot, good, not bad, not great.

Serving type: bottle

01-05-2013 01:20:18 | More by ESeab

atr2605

New York

3.53/5  rDev +3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A-pours a dark amber with an off white head that leaves a nice lace
S-cinnamon, brown sugar, cherries
T-caramelized sugar and spice meet with hop bitterness and a dry biscuit flavor in the finish
M-medium bodied
O-Not a bad beer, has decent flavor profile and appearance. Not a staple for my holiday season but might grab it once in awhile

Serving type: bottle

01-03-2013 02:27:07 | More by atr2605

GilGarp

Colorado

3.58/5  rDev +5.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Canned 9-24-12.

Served cold into a goblet.

Fireside Chat is a hazy dark brown color with thin creamy head. Is settles quickly but leaves some lace behind.

Aroma is sweet and malty with honey and toffee elements.

Flavor is rich and spicy with lots of mulling spices like cinnamon and clove. It has a bit of vegetal flavor, which seems off.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and nicely carbonated.

Overall a pretty good winter warmer but too heavy on the spices for my tastes.

Serving type: can

01-02-2013 01:20:56 | More by GilGarp

micromaniac129

Pennsylvania

3.9/5  rDev +14.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Presented to me at the JAmison Pourhouse as a rich ruby brown with a small substaining head. Did't take notice of the carbs.
Aroma was light with some spices that were pretty sutle at best. Abit malty but not much.
Aroma is malty fresh with a light spice taste. Iwasn't aware of cocoa nibs unti I read there website but either way I did't really taste any cocoa.
Smooth drinking and pretty full with a clean semi bitter aftertaste.
A solid beer in my opinion.

Serving type: on-tap

12-23-2012 17:21:48 | More by micromaniac129

BeerBuckeye

Ohio

3.1/5  rDev -8.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

A - Pours a deep mahogany color with puffy, 2 finger, light brown head.

S - Caramel malt, bready, light on spices, nutmeg and allspice. Slightly metallic and estery

T - Wow, almost overpowering on the spices. Clover and cinnamon, lots of nutmeg as well. It's certainly Christmas-y, but almost in that "Good god, Grandma, have you no limits?" way. Little bit of ester.

M - Full, drying.

Overall - I feel like 21st Amendment tried to find the most spices they could possibly put in a beer and do that. It wasn't bad, but it was way overpowering.

Serving type: bottle

12-22-2012 18:12:11 | More by BeerBuckeye

vkv822

Oregon

3.4/5  rDev 0%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

on-tap @ Sellwood Public House.
from notes.

Deep mahogany with a thin off-white head.

Primarily chocolate malts, with lots of spice notes in both aroma and taste.

Mouthfeel is medium+ with mild carbonation.

This was an interesting beer, I enjoyed the aroma and taste, but overall the holiday-spice notes became a bit much towards the middle of the glass.

Serving type: on-tap

12-22-2012 09:46:26 | More by vkv822

MattyG85

Minnesota

4/5  rDev +17.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 12 oz. can into a Sam Adams "Perfect Pint" glass. Canned on 09/24/12.

Appearance: Pours a dark and hazy brown with some hints of ruby. Lots of rising bubbles and a big four finger light tan head with decent retention. Leaves a bunch of spotty lacing around the glass.

Smell: A malt and yeast driven aroma with a very big mix of spices. Toasted malts and a Belgian like yeast presence. Hints of banana, biscuit, cookie dough, gingerbread, toffee, caramel, and wheat grains. Big hints of spices including nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, clove, and pepper. Sweet brown sugar and molasses. Subtle hints of dark raisin, fig, dates, and prune. The spices really stand out. Interesting smell.

Taste: As spice driven and malty as it smells. Toasted malts with a taste of bananas, yeast, biscuit, gingerbread, grains, toffee, and caramel. Very big taste of spices including ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, clove, and a little pepper. Undertones of fruit including apple, dark fig, raisin, dates, and prune. Sweet kick from some candied sugar and molasses. A quite interesting combination. Its sort of like a Dunkelweizen mixed with a heavily spiced winter warmer.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a moderate amount of carbonation. Very creamy and slick. Spicy and fairly smooth.

Overall: A pretty different take on a Winter Warmer. Very heavily spiced and a nice fruity malt mix. Pretty decent overall.

Serving type: can

12-20-2012 07:36:23 | More by MattyG85

PeterIngemi

Massachusetts

3.48/5  rDev +2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Poured from a 12oz can into a dfh snifter.

A: pours a deep dark brown/mahogany with a little more then a finger of tanned head.... Head recess nicley with some nice lacing.

S: x-mas spice blast. Particuarly nutmeg and cinnamon over Sweet molasses.

T: x-mas spice over a rich malt backbone. Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, molasses, brown sugar, rasin.

M: in the heavy side of medium, a touch of bitterness on the finish leavs the mouth tasting bitter and spicy, moderate carbonation.... Not a fan of the aftertaste.

O: if you like very spicy winter Warner's you'd probably really enjoy this. Not particuarly my style, too much spice for me.

Serving type: can

12-15-2012 06:47:03 | More by PeterIngemi

AdamBear

Pennsylvania

3.15/5  rDev -7.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

A-dark brown with a reddish tint. thin light cream colored head

S-smells like hot cinnamint and grains. sweet smelling. i was expecting some smokyness like a fireside chat would have, but there is none

T-comes in with a cinnamint flavor with an odd sweetness. tastes almost artificial. has some dark belgian sugars to it. the ending really does taste similar to a dark belgian ale...with a touch of bitterness. its an odd mesh of flavors. Actually, there is a really faint smoke flavor in the after-taste.

M-medium dry carbonation with a watery finish

O-it's more or less just a mess. there are a lot of flavors going on here, but they just don't mix together well. I think some of the spices need to be taken out. It definitely does have some sort of potential, but it needs work. not exactly easy to drink. it has a certain plastic-like bitterness that makes this not exactly fun to finish. I don't recommend, there's something better out there for you to choose.

Serving type: can

12-14-2012 03:59:06 | More by AdamBear

M_C_Hampton

Georgia

3.88/5  rDev +14.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: poured from a growler into a Weizen glass (because it was dirty from the awful Boulevard Wheat), pours a dark orange brown with a short pillowy tan head that lingers leaving some good lacing, clear

S: cherries, grapes, raisins, dates, prunes, smells of spiced cake, molasses

T: sweet malt with afore mentioned flavors above that transisions into a drier finish, clove bitterness present that is a little overpowering

M: feel is fuller bodied with a hint of alcohol present, aftertaste is strong towards the spice side, slight carbonation is correct

O: not a bad winter style ale, spice flavoring is on the heavy side, could use more malt for balance

Serving type: growler

12-11-2012 01:06:14 | More by M_C_Hampton

magictacosinus

California

2.53/5  rDev -25.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

Joy, another winter brew to try. This time from a brewery I enjoy, too! Poured into a tulip glass from 12oz can. Bottom states that it was canned on 09/24/12.

Pours a strong, promising reddish darkish color with an immediate strong and fantastic 4 finger head of brown-tinged carbonation. Hard to tell how much carbonation remains in the brew total, but the alcohol leggings are indeed quite strong here. Lacing remains around the edges of the glass, and slight frothiness coats the top of the liquid. Looks pretty good overall, definitely in the spirit of the holidays.

Aroma is definitely a different twist on winter beers than others I have seen in the past. There is a lot of alcohol here, often making the malts resemble a caramelized, sugary concoction. There are lots spices attacking my nostrils in the process, and what's especially prominent is peppermint and tamarind. Not bad at first, but about a minute in I'm feeling a bit dizzy from all of the alcoholic properties, as well as the strong spices and yeasty notes resembling dark fruits and (as others have mentioned) mulled wine. Kind of cringing overall.

This beer starts off pretty flavorful, and hell, just for kicks, I paired this with pretty rich homemade chocolate cake. However, as I finished the cake, and the beer warmed up, I started to realize what I was up against. At first, there's some great notes of peppermint, dark fruits (especially cherries) and canned cranberries. Then, something goes horribly wrong. The mulled notes come off as dry and withered, and there's an aftertaste that turns out to be astringent, metallic, and filled with rather undesirable flavors of overpowering blackcurrant. Something must be wrong here. The hops vanish altogether as this warms up, and the alcohol mixes with this aftertaste to create a rather nauseating product overall.

I honestly don't see what this was supposed to taste like with a final product this messy. Maybe it was supposed to be consumed fresher, but it seems I'm not the only one recently who's only been able to find a batch this old. I like peppermint and dark fruit flavor they aimed for here, but the metallic blackcurrant aftertaste really is too much for me, especially because I suspect it wasn't supposed to end up like this. Drain pour.

Serving type: can

12-10-2012 05:56:53 | More by magictacosinus

Arithmeticus

Maryland

3.85/5  rDev +13.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Poured chilled in standard ale glass

A: dark cola color; thin head; very nice carbonation;
S: cinnamon, potpourri, other spices
T: sweet, spicy, deeply malty beer; very good specimen of a winter warmer; reminiscent of highly spiced mulled wine
M: viscous, thick; great body

I like this as a winter beer, but would have it only on occasion; it's quite intense-flavored

Serving type: can

12-09-2012 20:18:39 | More by Arithmeticus

xmorgan

California

4.1/5  rDev +20.6%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

I like this beer, it comes off not overt sweet often a killer of this style as it lingers in a glass.

The appearance is well done with nice lacking.

My letdown was the body, I want a winter warmer to stick to my rips and warm me up, to put a fire in my belly to send me home and tuck me in, not a bigger session beer.

This is my opinionm but I enjoyed the beer and will have it again,

Serving type: can

12-09-2012 09:32:55 | More by xmorgan