Swerving medicinal-iodine opening affects dull fruited sourness and arid honey spicing of copper-hazed Belgian pale ale. Zesty orange tang enhances oaken-dried pale malting of lighter, less effective version of brewers’ Reb’Ale.
SCHOUNE A L’ERABLE MAPLE ALE
Fairly viscous hazy yellow pale ale brings beautiful powdered sugar nose to cotton candied bubblegum mouthfeel as ceaselessly loud hop tingle encircles tongue. Phenol finish overtakes candied maple insurgence.
SCHNEIDER WIESEN EDEL-WEISSE
Delectable white-headed yellow-cleared moderation (a.k.a. Tap 4 Mein Grunes circa ’13) douses heavenly butterscotch creaminess inside dried banana tartness to bubble-gummy center. Floral-dusted clove-coriander-cardamom prickle nudges black peppered hop bittering, burnt wood chip salience and doughy mildew sinew. Moldy lemon-orange-peach tang precedes arid wheat wine finish. Compares favorably to Franziskaner brews.
SCHNEIDER WEISSE ORIGINAL
Pronounced floral yeast succulence, bright lemony spritz and easygoing clove-nutmeg spicing introduce cloudy copper moderate body. Subtle orange peel bitterness overrides vanilla-creamed banana-bubblegum sufficiency and red cherry snip at midst. But explosive carbolic resilience intrudes upon modest wheat cracker spine and banana nut bread finish, leaving phenol aftertaste.
SCHNEIDER WEISSE HEFE-WEIZENHELL
Lustrous amber-hazed murk lingers below lofty pearl head of highly carbolic medium body. Soft hop bed cushions ripe banana sweetness, white wine sedation, and honeyed clove illusion as lemon-spiced adjuncts tweak sourdough-induced biscuit-y wheat spine.
SCHLAFLY RESERVE BOURBON-BARRELED IMPERIAL STOUT – 2007
Convincing bourbon-barreled Russian Imperial (aged in Jim Beam whiskey casks) maintains lilting espresso head above ruddy obsidian body. Medicinal cherry overture enriched by prune-strewn raisin puree sweetness, viscous anise-licorice ascendancy and creamy molasses frolic. Oaken vanilla souring envelops impending sherry, cognac, brandy and spiced rum illusions as well as recessive Black Forest cake or fruitcake notions.
SCHLAFLY RESERVE BARLEYWINE
Sumptuous oak-aged barleywine laces sinewy molasses-like caramel-sugared Scotch malt creaminess with candied apple, bruised orange, overripe cherry, peach and melon fruiting. Ester-y grape, raisin and fig souring bedecks tertiary vanilla-soaked bourbon-cognac illusions as well as distant almond-chestnut wisp.
(SCHINCARIOL) NOVA SCHIN PILSEN
Moderate pale body not far removed from brewers’ lamer, lighter pilsner. Sweet cedar-smoked peat malts meet prickly citric hops, gaining slightest tequila hint at back of tongue.
SCHINCARIOL PILSEN
Palest clear-toned pilsner may lack body, but wood-smoked pale malting and fizzy hop-spiced continuance make easygoing Brazilian everything you’d want in a light summery refreshment. Sweet grain finish picks up grassy citric souring.
SCHIERLINGER ROGGEN BAVARIAN
Plain Bavarian rye lacks resolve. First reaction to tart, phenol-infested, sourdough-breaded German was it tastes like conflicted Weiss Beer, though not as foamy, yellow-fruited, or wine-y, nor as flavorful. Wispy plum-wined cinnamon apple midst coarsened by astringent rye finish, sealing its unfortunate fate.
SCHAEFER LIGHT LAGER
Lighter whitish pale version of traditional American macrobrew is void of flavor, making it less offensive than bourgeois crap marketed on television. Fizzy hop-maize washout depletes faintest sour acridity.
(DUBUISSON) SCALDIS NOEL BELGIAN SPECIAL ALE
Pronounced fruited wine spicing and steep raisin-prune-cherry upwelling differentiate Noel’s 8 .5-ounce winter ale from Scaldis Clovis (both brewed by Bush: 2008). Candi-sugared Belgian yeast stead invites cognac, brandy, cordial liqueur, sweet whiskey and medicinal cherry illusions to enrich maple-sapped chocolate-caramel malt efficiency. High-voltage alcohol whir well suited for holiday consumption.