12 Beers Of Xmas - Day 6

The Twelve Beers Of Christmas
Beer Six
Bristol Beer Factory - Wheat Wine 10.0%

If you've been following the Beer O'Clock Show #12BeersOfXmas series on other blogs you will be enjoying their penultimate entries this evening whereas I am only half way through. This is because, as I have previously explained, I started on the official first day of Christmas, that being Christmas Day itself.

Tomorrow is New Years Eve, and I expect you have already sorted out where you are going and what beers you might be drinking even if you don't know for definite right now. The day before News Years Eve is traditionally known as New Years Eve Eve, and it's on this day that we remember the good things that happened in the year that has nearly passed. I'm assuming that you will be burning the candles on your New Years Eve Eve cakes this evening as we raise a glass and give thanks for the blessing bestowed upon us.

Of course, I just made New Years Eve Eve up. It's not really a thing at all, however it almost sounds both plausible and ridiculous like it could be a 'thing' but really you know it isn't and that's just like tonight's beer, a wheat wine. A Wheat Wine sounds like it could be something but not a beer. There's already a beer with a similar sounding name, you reason, knowing full well what a barley wine is, but not a wheat wine. That must be some sort of healthy low-alcohol grape-grain fusion surely, not a beer at all but a drink you might pick up in your local Holland & Barrett. It is, isn't it?

You might be forgiven for this is a concocted style, and I don't expect that there's too many of you that will have tasted one before unless you've had the good fortune to try the Mikkeller/Three Floyds collaboration Boogoop or, closer to home, Lovibond's Gold Reserve as it is a relatively new style.

Brewed with at least fifty per cent wheat malt, hence the name, this style originated in the United States in the 1980s and examples can vary in colour from gold to deep amber, and even brown in some instances. Alcohol levels can vary greatly too, and can be anything from 8.5% abv to 14.0% abv. 

This is obviously strong ale and it's similarities to a Barley Wine are apparent, but the Bristol Beer Factory have added their own particular twist. First it is oak bourbon barrel aged before being blended with cold brewed coffee provided by Extract Coffee Roasters in Bristol and fermented with the brewery's own triple-strain house yeast. As you may have gathered this sounds like it could be a very special beer indeed, I can't wait to get the bottle open.

It pours a hazy golden amber with a thin white head, it is quite a beautiful looking beer on it's own to be fair however the aroma is something else. Deep and musty with oak and bourbon you can actually smell the staves of the barrel they used to age this beast of a beer in. There's a little coffee in there too and the usual vanilla esters you would associate with the oak ageing process, but it's that bourbon soaked wood that does the most fantastic things to my nostrils. I really could sit here for a good few hours and allow this beer to warm in my hands as I enjoy this sensation. Silky smooth and really rather sensual over the tongue this beer absolutely oozes class. There's a big bourbon taste here but strangely, and rather dangerously, it doesn't seem at all boozy as the coffee sitting right at the back of the initial burst of flavour keeps a tight rein on the whole thing, restraining and controlling it wonderfully. A heather honey note comes in from the side, sweet and with a drop or two of pear juice in the mix before a big black pepper twist takes it right up to the finish. Damp musty wood drying by a fire next to which you have strategically placed the whiskey of American origin of your choice, and as you might expect it fades wonderfully like the closing bars of your favourite song caught on a balmy summer breeze as the sun sinks slowly over the horizon.

I don't use the word awesome to describe a beer often as there aren't that many that make the grade and excite my tired, jaded and often cynical palate these days but this more than fits the bill. There is so much in here, so many levels of flavour, subtle tastes and unexpected nuances to this bold yet cultured example of the brewers art that it simply has to be savoured to be believed. I urge you to get a bottle of this beer, or do as I have and get yourself  two or more. Drink one now, write down your thoughts the put the other away for a couple of years at least before opening it to compare. I can't wait to see how this develops.

12 Beers Of Xmas - Day 5

The Twelve Beers Of Christmas
Beer Five
Mikkeller + Bedow - Wild Winter Ale 6.0%

So that was my Christmas break over and done with for another year, it was back to work today with a bang. If, like me, it was back to the grindstone on this Monday morning then I trust that you had a good and restful time with lots of fun, happiness and the usual festive feasting, all washed down with some excellent beer of course. 

On Christmas morning I like to start the festivities with a good aperitif beer, something fruity and sour to get the juices flowing for the day ahead. In past years I have favoured Deus Brut de Flandres from Brouwerij Bosteels, with something from Cantillon, either the Geuze 100% Lambic Bio or the excellent Iris being in it's place on occasion. Looking for a beer to clean and refresh my palate I wanted something a little different this year, and as I had a bottle of Mikkeller's Spontanmandarin in a box that BeerBods did as a special limited release to subscribers earlier this year I had the perfect beer to fit the bill. I'm a big fan of Mikkeller beer, and my choice was made with knowledge of how good the spontaneous fermentation Spontanale series is as I reviewed the original release back in May 2012 as part of my mammoth twenty-four post "Mikkeller In May" series, the one that really cemented my passion for writing about beer.

The reason for my digression is clear when you learn that also in that BeerBods box was today's beer, the Mikkeller + Bedow Wild Winter Ale. Brewed as part of a four beer series that started with Spring in 2012, through Summer, Autumn and finally Winter of the same year, this one-off release was limited to 3,500 bottles. The collaboration with Bedow, a Swedish design agency and graphic design agency, features a label printed on heat sensitive paper so that when it gets warm the apple tree depicted loses it's leaves. It is brewed with the addition of apple, hence the apple tree, cinnamon and a good dose of brettanomyces and I'm rather excited to be finally opening this bottle.

It pours a beautiful deep amber honey colour, bright and clear, throwing a huge fluffy white head as you might expect for a beer of this style. It has a strong fresh apple aroma, the kind you get when you bite into a juicy fresh Golden Delicious, the unmistakeable whiff of brettanomyces, and a hint of cinnamon spice. Imagine a baked apple, a cinnamon stick in it's centre and a sprinkling of dark sugar and you won't be far off. It creeps softly over the tongue, pushing it's fizzy carbonation in a wave before it, releasing some of that stewed apple and cinnamon flavour all bound up in some deliciously light chewy caramel, but it's all so fresh and clean. There's a slight spike of cinnamon spice right before the finish, a hint of white pepper and coriander seed citrus too, but this fades away to leave that apple flavour, very like the aftermath of an apple sour sweet, it is simply delightful.

I would imagine that the two intervening years has diminished the cinnamon allowing more of the apple flavour to emerge, and even though it is now more balanced I would have loved to have tasted this during the 2012 festivities. I will end this post with another picture of the same bottle, this time with the addition of a little warm water, just so that you can see the effect it had on the paper. Not bad considering that the temperature in the conservatory where our Christmas tree is happens to be -1 Celcius. A wild winter ale indeed.

12 Beers Of Xmas - Day 4

The Twelve Beers Of Christmas
Beer Four
Jacobsen - Golden Naked Christmas Ale 7.5%

I have to hold my hand up straight away here, I'm drinking Carlsberg tonight. 

You read that correctly this is a Carlsberg beer, but not one you're likely to find in the UK as this beer was brewed by Husbryggeriet Jacobsen in Denmark, Carlsberg's specialist brewery. Opened on the 31st May 2005, it was set up as a response to the growing microbrewery and craft beer movement and is located within Carlsberg's own brewery in Valby, Denmark. It has an annual capacity of around 1,700,000 litres, that's about 5 million 330ml bottles, and headed by brewermaster Morten Ibsen, it shows that it takes the threat very seriously. The beers were originally only available only in Denmark, but now distribute to Norway, Sweden, Finland and the United States. They were also briefly available in the UK shortly after the brewery first opened, I was able to pick up the earliest releases in my local Sainsbury's of all places, but I haven't seen them since which is a real shame.

It is also the brewery that brewed the world's most expensive beer trilogy. Selling for upwards of 250 euros a bottle on release the beers, called simply Vintage No.1 (10.5% abv, a barley wine brewed in 2008 and selling for 2008DKK), Vintage No.2 (8.7% abv, a Baltic stout brewed in 2009 and selling for 2009DKK) and Vintage No.3 (15% abv, a pale barley wine and selling for 2010DKK) were only brewed in very small batches, and had hand stencilled and signed labels from five different Danish artists for each Vintage, one artist for the first two releases and three for the last. There were six hundred bottles each of Vintage No.1 and Vintage No.2, and one thousand bottles of the Vintage No.3.

The beer I'm opening tonight for the Beer O'Clock Show #12BeersOfXmas isn't quite so rare and nor was it quite so expensive, in fact it didn't cost me anything at all as it was a prize in an online competition where the winner of the best festive photograph won six bottles of Jacobsen beers (two bottles each of three different beers), kindly organised by Beer Genie. I thought that I had drunk all six but when I was contemplating which beers I would choose I came across a bottle of each (and both of these) in a separate box under a blanket at the back of my 'cellar'. Golden Naked Christmas Ale is a Dubbel-style ale, first brewed in 2006 although this bottle is only just over two years old, and is inspired by the Nordic Christmas. Brewed with Golden Promise Pale Ale malt, often used for whiskey, and Naked Oats, those with loose husks that fall off during harvesting, it is easy to see how this beer got it's name. A typical run also uses one thousand two hundred oranges, two hundred cinnamon sticks and twenty one days to mature, so I'm expecting some big Christmas flavours. I can't wait to see how this tastes.

It pours a rich ruby red with plenty of carbonation that throws a creamy off-white head, it's a thing of beauty and certainly looks very inviting in the glass. The aroma is full of stewed prunes, raisin and cherry, it's like a wonderful dark fruit punch with slices of orange peel floating to the surface. It's the kind of beer that you could sit and hold in your hands feeling the aroma change as it warms, and indeed as it does so I'm picking up some of that cinnamon spice riding on the back of the prunes, giving it more of a sweet syrup note. A soft tickle of carbonation brings through quite a thin liquid but it's absolutely packed with prune and blackberry flavour, big, juicy and slightly tart, before on strolls the supporting cast; hints of raisin, a light dusting of cinnamon and a grating of orange zest, maybe a drop or two of port as well, and these really lift it. This is absolutely stunning. The finish is sweet and tart, with an intense blackberry aftertaste that reminds me of an excellent merlot, and this lasts long enough that you can savour it's rich juiciness before wanting to go back for some more. 

This may be a beer from a major player on the international beer stage, but it has so much flavour, so much nuance and is so beautifully defined that you can tell that this has been brewed with love, care and passion, and I defy anyone to tell me that this isn't a craft beer. I was hoping for a little bit of Christmas, but what I got was a joyously fruity, beautifully deep festive punch, so much more than I could ever have expected. It is simply astonishing.

12 Beers Of Xmas - Day 3

The Twelve Beers Of Christmas
Beer Three
Siren Craft Brew / Stillwater Artisanal Ales
- When The Light Gose Out 4.6%

I love beer, this is a well known fact and pretty obvious really, but I also really like shopping for beer too.

There are particular places I like to go to to buy beer, most of which are in London, but I do have a few regular haunts a bit further afield. The place that I frequent most, and which conveniently just happens to be right around the corner from where I work, is the Ales By Mail Craft Beer Shop. I tend to go there when I know that they've got something specific in that I want, but occasionally I like to browse the shelves to see if something catches me eye, and you can guess the rest.

Considering they are a mere two years old, Siren sure have made one hell of an impact. For me they are *Golden Pint Spoiler Alert* producing the best beer in the UK at the moment, consistently delivering fantastic and exciting craft beer that get me excited with every release. So when I saw that they had brewed a gose with Stillwater Artisanal Ales one of America's most exciting and innovative and exciting breweries, not to mention having some awesome artwork on their bottles, I was quite anxious to get hold of a bottle. So, seeing that on the shelves at Ales By Mail, put their that very morning, I had it in my hand and was heading to the counter to pay.

A gose is a German top fermenting beer style that originated in the town of Goslar in Lower Saxony in the early Sixteenth Century. It is traditionally brewed with around fifty percent malted wheat, coriander and salt, and as such does not comply with the Reinheitsgebot, the German beer purity law stating that only hops, water and malt were to be used in brewing, however it was allowed as a regional speciality. It is a style that has died out and been revived on various occasions, however it seems to be experiencing something of a renaissance at present with breweries from all over the world taking an interest in it, along with many others that were previously forgotten.

Siren and Stillwater's take on this style is brewed with Hawaiian black salt and hibiscus, a popular ingredient in itself in 2014, with a good dose of brettanomyces to pull it all together, I can't wait to get that bottle open.

There's that unmistakable brettanomyces aroma as I open the bottle and it pours jet black, no messing about here it's as black as a solar eclipse with it's thin beige head fading as quickly as the light is extinguished when the moon passes in front of the sun. The aroma is very reminiscent of a dunkel, a dark German lager, with some harsh dry chocolate malt notes, but as is warms it reveals some wonderful black cherry notes combining to make it smell a little like a Black Forest gateau. It's quite thin over the tongue with the merest notion of fizz playing around the sides of the tongue but I am knocked immediately sideways by a burst of hibiscus, black cherry and raspberry when I was expecting a hit of chocolate and coffee, looks can certainly be deceptive. There is a hint of chocolate here though, a dark undercurrent carrying it all along rather beautifully to a dry but still fruity ending as the memory of those cherry flavours endure, and urge you to go back for more.

This is a wonderful beer with surprises at every turn, and to be honest I wasn't expecting anything less. When two great breweries, and I use the word great advisedly, come together to produce a beer sometimes the results cam be a bit hit and miss, but I'm very pleased to report that they've got it absolutely spot on here. In fact i'm going to see if I can get hold of a few more bottles as, despite it's relatively low abv, I have a feeling that this will age rather well.

12 Beers Of Xmas - Day 2

The Twelve Beers Of Christmas
Beer Two
Birrificio Toccalmatto - Noel du Sanglier 2009 9.0%

After having a beer that I've kept safely hidden for just over twelve months yesterday, and seeing as it's still Christmas, I though I'd push the boat out a bit further for my second post today and open a bottle that I've had for a little longer.

Birrificio Toccalmatto's Noel du Sanglier, which translates from Italian as 'Christmas Boar', is an Italian take on a Belgian Strong ale, and used to be the brewery's Christmas offering but hasn't been brewed since 2011. I fact it was only brewed for four consecutive years 2008 to 2011, and the bottle I have is the 2009 vintage, making it five years old, and as five years is considered optimal ageing for beers of this style I'd better not keep it, or me, waiting much longer.

It pours a hazy amber tinged dark brown with a thin beige head and an aroma that isn't heavy but rather subtly spiced nutmeg and cinnamon raisins and a box of freshly opened dates. Smooth over the tongue with a gentle fizz around edges this could possibly be the most delicious Christmas pudding beer I've ever had. Some pudding maltiness soaked liberally in brandy heralds more of that raisin flavour, it certainly has overtones of mince pie mince meat, and then in comes the spicing, nutmeg and cinnamon again but not overstated or overpowering in any way. The finish is long and has all the honeyed fruity hallmarks of a fine Pedro Ximenez sweet sherry, it's wonderfully satisfying and a perfect ending to a wonderful beer.

This beer has mellowed beautifully with age. I imagine that the spiciness may have been too intense masking it's fruitiness or obscuring those puddingy malts, but it's all come together superbly now. Some things are definitely worth the wait.

12 Beers Of Xmas - Day 1

The Twelve Beers Of Christmas
Beer One
Elusive  Brewing - BA Imperial Stout 9.0%

As much as I really wanted to join in with the Beer O'Clock Show #12BeersOfXmas 'official' start date on the 20th December, it was always going to be a practical impossibility as I was already deep into my Beer Advent Calendar series. However, the great thing about the Beer O'Clock Show event is that you can dip in and out any time you like. You don't have to start on the appointed day, you don't have to blog about it, just sharing twelve beers over the Christmas period using the #12BeersOfXmas hashtag on twitter or Instagram or even leaving a comment at the bottom of someone else's post all count as joining in.

Now I'm a bit of stickler for tradition, and for me the twelve days of Christmas don't start until Christmas Day, so that's when I had Beer One. If you follow me on Instagram (it's 1970SBOY if you don't already) then you will have already seen me review this beer on there late last night, so I'm sorry if you've already read that, but it does warrant a full review.

I had always intended this beer to be drunk on Christmas Day but unfortunately, or fortunately as you will see, it was the 25th December 2013 that I had originally earmarked as the one. Due to illness I wasn't actually up to it last year, so away it went to languish in my beer cellar for further twelve months. Sleeping. Resting. Getting to know itself a little better.

On of the best things about this beer if that was a gift, and a gift from the brewer, Andy Parker, home brewer extraordinaire, founder of Elusive Brewing (soon to begin an exciting new chapter), but most importantly a good friend.

This was a rare beer indeed, well it certainly was until I opened it, the last bottle in existence. Brewed around sixteen months ago using Pale, Dark Crystal, Light Crystal, Chocolate, and Roasted barley malts, and hopped with Centennial, you can imagine my anticipation as, late last night, I finally got around to opening the bottle.

It poured as black as night with the viscosity of engine oil and a serious amount of carbonation, making it fizz and throw a light brown head up the glass, and unleashing an aroma of burnt brown sugar and date. Medium bodied, there's a good dose of liquorice, black pepper, and whisky soaked prunes floating in liquid chocolate in the flavour, the booziness holding back but giving you a gentle nudge every now and again. it's very moreish. The finish has more black pepper, espresso coffee and chocolate in the slightly hot finish, the alcohol is more apparent but it doesn't dominate at any point, it's truly delicious.

I am so pleased to have got this beer to drink today as it is certainly an 'occasion' beer, and a Christmas beer is certainly that. Andy is a fantastic brewer, and if you've ever had any of his beer (his collaborations with Weird Beard met with universal praise) then you will know this already. 2015 is set to be a big year for him and Elusive Brewing, give him your support by buying and drinking his beer when it is available and you will be rewarded with something very very good indeed.

Advent Calendar - 24th December 2014

Beer Advent Calendar
Ilkley Brewery - Mary Christmas 4.7%
24th December 2014

It's the most wonderful night of the year, and it's the most wonderful night of the beer!

I'm sure you're all gearing up for the Big Day tomorrow, hustle bustle, panic and uncertainty, but I'm equally sure you have some great beers ready for this evening and the upcoming days. In the final of my reviews of the year (prior to my Golden Posts) I've picked a few of my favourite UK beers of the year. I hope you've had some of these beers, but if you haven't then I hope you can get them in 2015. Let me know what you think.

The first beer I'm going to bring to your attention is Siren's Whiskey Sour IPA. All (!) this beer consists of is there Limoncello IPA, a phenomenal beer in itself, barrel aged in bourbon infused oak and you get one of the most amzing beers of the year. It's simply stunning and brewed by (maybe!) my brewery of the year. they haven't put a foot wrong in 2014 as far as I'm concerned and I'm sure that they will continue this into 2015 and beyond.

Brew By Numbers 04/04 Berliner Weisse Lime was one of those beers that you could have served me for ever and I wouldn't have been tired of it. The huge lime zest twist works wonderfully over the mild Berliner Weisse base combining to make possibly the most refreshing beer that I've had this year. It comes in huge bottles too, so if you see it buy it.

Staying with the Berliner Weisse style, the next beer I want to bring to your attention is Beavertown's Lemon Phantom. Another superbly refreshing beer that is, I'm afraid, best drunk at the brewery. Get yourself down there and find out while I love this beer so much.

The final beer I want to mention is Quantum Brewery's Pineapple and Chilli sour, a little left field but most certainly removed from all the other beers I;ve had this year. There's a really good fiery prickle of heat here that settles itself nicely alongside the pineapple flavour. It's certainly gorgeous, but hot and gorgeous, with the heat actually giving something wonderful back to it.

And so, for the final tine, here are the answers to today questions. I hope that your did well here as, even though I know that few of you got any of them right you have enjoyed the concept over the last twenty-three days, I know that I've enjoyed setting them.

1. Bah Humbug!

2. Liefmans

3. Winter King

4. Mexico

5. It's brewed in Australia by Holgate, and Christmas is in Summer in the Southern hemisphere.

The final beer of my Ales By Mail Advent Calendar is from another West Yorkshire brewery, albeit a very popular one. Infused with Caribbean rum, this beer is described on their website as an 'amber ale with all the trimmings'. It is the beer that I've been looking forward to when I've heard it was going to be in this Advent Calendar, but I can't wait to see what it tastes like.

It pours a russet amber with a thin pure white head as clean as the driven snow and an aroma that is full of spicy Christmas promise with nutmeg, clove and cinnamon suppressing a some red berry notes struggling to emerge like snow drops in the Spring. Thin with a buzzy festive carbonation it flavour is sweet and sugary like a frosted nutmeg dusted gingerbread biscuit with a few blobs of raspberry jam decoration. the finish is fruity and heady, with the rum finally revealing itself, leaving some faint traces of alcohol on the tongue but combining wonderfully with the sweet Yuletide spiciness to bring it all to a sweet boozy Christmas cake conclusion. This is the most overtly festive beer I've had had in this box and possibly the most overtly Christmas beer I've had for a good few years. It is extremely fitting that this beer has ended this remarkable Advent journey, full of twists and turns and taste sensations, as it is the beer that defines Christmas more than any other. I hope Father Christmas stuffs a bottle in your stocking tonight.

And so for the last time, it's that Christmas cracker joke that I know you all love. Love to loathe perhaps, but it's an integral part of these posts so you're just going to have to lump it for one last time.

There was only one joke that would work for today, and I've had it in mind for today since the beginning of Advent. Whether or not you like it, you can't argue that it isn't topical.

Here we go.

I hope you are ready for this?

If you're not them I'm (not at all) sorry.

What did Adam say just before midnight on the 24th December?

Is it Christmas, Eve?




Now normally I would end here but there really is only one thing to add as this blog fades out of sight:
A Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!