ABV: 5.3% | IBU: 10

Last Tuesday, Ohio University shuttered its doors due to extreme wind chills, giving me a gloriously unexpected day off work. (Thank you polar vortex.) While at the store shopping for dinner, Samuel Adams new seasonal brew, Cold Snap, caught my eye. It’s as if the fates had aligned! For those of you who don’t know, a cold snap is a meteorological phenomenon described as a period of intensely cold and dry weather. If that doesn’t describe what we’ve been experiencing here in the Midwest, I don’t know what does. I’ve never met a Sam Adams beer I didn’t like, so of course I had to buy it.

Cold Snap is a white ale inspired by the traditional Belgian witbier. What this means is that the beer is coarse filtered, leaving the yeast and wheat proteins in suspension and giving it the hazy or “white” appearance for which it is named. Belgian yeasts are typically a little spicier and fruitier than their American ale counterparts, so Samuel Adams makes up for that with the citrus bitterness of Hallertau Mittelfrueh Noble hops. Spices like orange peel and coriander are common in witbiers, but Cold Snap has the added flavors of lemon peel, dried plum, tamarind, hibiscus, rose hips, vanilla, anise, and Grains of Paradise. They dry spice these ingredients, much like dry hopping, to bring out their full character, and the result is both refreshing and delicious. Let’s just say if Blue Moon and Shock Top had a baby, this beer would be it.

While I could’ve told you that Punxsutawney Phil would see his shadow, plunging us into six more weeks of snow and subzero temperatures, Cold Snap certainly makes it seem as though spring is just around the corner. And it tastes great with a bowl of turkey pumpkin chili too! So go out, grab a 6er, and enjoy before the big thaw takes this beer with it!

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