The holidays can make you demented, luckily Ska Brewing has the beer answer for you…
Ska aged their winter pale ale Euphoria in Peach Street Distillers’ bourbon barrels to create: Dementia.
The Beers of Christmas – Day 18
Less than two weeks til Christmas. Not to stress you out about the shopping and gift wrapping still to be done. To calm you down, here is the next winter beer, from Three Taverns: Feest Noel.
“This Belgian-style quadrupel uses dark roasted malts, imported Belgian dark candy sugar, and spiced accents of cardamom, allspice and cloves.”
The Beers of Christmas – Day 17
No, California does not get snow but with the 2016 we’ve had, maybe we will. At least we can enjoy some gingerbread from the Surf Brewery.
The Beers of Christmas – Day 16
Today’s Christmas offering is a Dubbel. Not a style you see in the wild often, let alone as a winter beer.
Single Digit is from Smuttynose Brewing and is described as “a full-bodied, amber beer brewed with a special Trappist ale yeast. Stylistically reminiscent of a Belgian Abbey Double, it features fruity aromas and flavor, balanced by spicy Sterling hops. Warming, mellow & pleasantly complex…”
Christmas Beer Review # 1 – Jubelale
There are three Christmas beers that I always have at least one bottle of: Anchor, Sierra Nevada and Deschutes with their rotating label of art, Jubelale.
The Jubelale page of the Deschutes website declares that the beer has “Cocoa, dried fruit, and toffee notes. A robust ale with a warming spice.”
And here are my thoughts….
Such a cool label this year. Bright and colorful while remaining wintry. The beer pours a brown with orange tints. My first reaction is smoke. Leather and tobacco combined. Bright with minor cherry notes too. Almost has a barrel-aged quality to it.
Featured Review – Winter White from Bell’s
Our final review of the year is another winter offering from Bell’s Brewing. It is the canned version of their Winter White Ale.
WW pours a hazy muddled light orange color with little brown yeasty bits down in the bottom of the glass. The coriander really pops in the aroma almost to the point of being as strong as cinnamon. That spice carries through to the flavor where it is augmented by an orange juice note. This wit beer finishes very dry. Pretty much a by the guidelines wit. And that is a good thing.
Merry Christmas!
Holiday Ale # 28 – Storm Warning
We have reached the end of the holiday ale line and we end with a warning…
…here is what Klamath Basin Brewing says about their winter seasonal, “When the wind howls and snow drifts gather, you just have to ride out the storm. Hunker down with this deep reddish-brown Belgian style winter warmer. Its creamy head, caramel body and subtle citrus spices are sure to brighten the darkest winter day.”
Holiday Ale # 27 – Winter White
To Connecticut we go for the penultimate beer of the holiday ale year (for BSP at least) to Half Full Brewery and their canned Winter White.
Holiday Ale # 26 – To: From:
In honor of the new Mikkeller brewing facility in the old AleSmith Brewing facility, today’s holiday offering is a gift tag…
…”A porter brewed with: water, malt (pale, caracrystal, pale chocolate and chocolate), flaked oats, dark cassanade, hops (centennial and cascade), spices (star anise, cinnamon, clove and coriander seed) and ale yeast.”