Xmas Eve

I can tell you the exact moment that Xmas 2010 started. It was early in the evening of December 24th, when I suddenly realised that I was sitting in my favourite pub (The Marble Arch, Manchester), with my favourite person in the whole world (my missus, Jo), listening to one of my very favourite songs (‘Vagabonds’) by one of my all-time favourite bands (New Model Army), whilst supping a rather excellent pint of beer (a rich, fruity, roast-malt chocolatey Marble Port Stout), which the lass behind the bar had recently informed me was completely free of charge (I think the Marble Arch has an annual tradition, or an old charter, or something). Now, if that’s not my own personal idea of Xmas perfection, then I really don’t know what is.

And that was just the start of the evening. From there I moved on – not wanting to abuse our host’s hospitality too much – to a full price pint of Ossett Winter’s Tale; a 5% ABV dark-amber ale with a thick tan head and a rather lovely mouth-feel. This one delivered a rich, malty, chocolate base note, with a lightly spiced, dry finish. It was very pleasant indeed. Jo and I weren’t able to stop too long as the trams stopped running at nine, so we just had time for one more after that. Earlier in the evening I’d exchanged season’s greetings with Opening Times editor John Clarke, so what with him being a big fan of the Belgian beers, I asked him for a recommendation from the Marble Arch’s bottled Belgians menu.

John had no hesitation in suggesting I go for the St Feuillien Triple, an 8.5% ABV golden Belgian and in John’s words, “the best triple in Belgium”. I’d already tried this one back in October last year at another Belgian-loving friend’s recommendation, and I had no hesitation in giving it another go. St Feuillien Triple delivers a huge flavour-burst: massive hops up front with a sweeter note dancing on top; grapefruit sharpness followed on, with herbal, faintly liquorice, slightly medicinal highlights. A quite delicious slow-sipper to savour.

The one minor disappointment of the evening was the blackboard at the end of the bar, which was advertising draught halves of Marble’s Chocolate Dubbel. But when I asked, I was told they’d run out earlier on and now only had the 750ml bottles left. So there was only one thing to do: head on home and crack open the bottle that I’d been saving since I bought it back in November. It was another big, boozy, deliciously dark beer, packed full of rich cocoa flavours and smooth as silk. I happily sipped that one over the course of an hour or so whilst catching up with a few Xmas specials on the telly box. Lovely stuff, highly recommended. I can see another couple of those coming home with us next time we visit the Marble Arch, if they’ve got any left by then.

Xmas Day

Round about two of the clock, as I stood there in the kitchen – elbow-deep in sprout-trimmings, gluten-free stuffing mix and streaky bacon rashers – I realised something was missing: a glass of beer. So I reached for a bottle of Hook Norton Twelve Days, which I’d picked up in Selfridge’s earlier in the year. Dark, chocolate malt flavours characterised this 5.%% dark ale, along with lighter, spiced highlights. It was quite delicious and the perfect accompaniment to Xmas dinner (lemon, garlic & thyme chicken, with all the trimmings). An all-round winner in the winter warmer stakes and far too good to only drink at Xmas. I tried to stock up the other day, but Selfridges in Manchester had run out. Somehow I’m not surprised.

After dinner, it was time for a drop of Harveys Tom Paine Ale. This 5.5% ABV golden amber ale was packed full of tangy, sweet, orange-citrus hop flavours and light spices, as well as honey, marmalade and perhaps the faintest hint of whisky-smoke. Very tasty indeed; a rather excellent after-dinner palate refresher. Next up: Hook Norton Old Hooky. This one is a darker, maltier, but no less refreshingly tasty cousin of one of my personal faves, Hooky Gold, and it’s one that I’ll definitely be buying again when the opportunity arises.

Later in the evening, after a round of family phone calls and a bit of a sit down in front of the telly, it was time for Xmas pud. And what better to accompany that than a glass of Het Anker Gouden Carolus Christmas? This 10.5% ABV Belgian seasonal special was a glorious riot of sweet, fruity flavours; with its rich, dark-sugar malt base and an explosion of cherries, dark berries and ripe bananas it’s definitely one for the sweeter-toothed palate. Jo thought it tasted like highly alcoholic Vimto. I thought it tasted like liquid fruit cake. Either way, it was delicious and almost as good as the draught version I’d enjoyed at the Marble Arch last Xmas. And yes, it went fantastically well with our Xmas pud and brandy cream.

Boxing Day

Another day at home with not much to do but eat, drink and be merry in front of the TV. After a couple of regulars – a Fuller’s Bengal Lancer and a Black Sheep Ale – I reached for a couple of seasonals that I’d saved over from our trip to Beer Ritz in Leeds back in December ’09.

First up – accompanying the traditional cold meat with bubble and squeak dinner – was Ridgeway Very Bad Elf. As far as I know, this 7.5% ABV dark ale is brewed primarily for the US export market and I think it’s one of a few ‘Bad Elf’ variants. It turned out to be quite a bit lighter that I’d expected – golden amber rather than darker brown – but it still had a smooth, luxurious mouth-feel and a warming chocolate malt-sweetness, plus hints of sherry or maybe whisky. There really wasn’t much hop action from this one at all and the alcohol hit was noticeable but not at all harsh. All in all, another deliciously, dangerously drinkable winter warmer. One for the keep-an-eye-out-for list, most definitely.

Finally, I finished the evening off with Hepworth’s Vintage Christmas Ale. Another boozy, 7.5% ABV winter ale, this one poured a mid-amber colour and had a slight sour edge to the underlying sweetness – maybe from the herbal flavours, cloves in particular, in the mix – over a malty base, with good hop notes and a light dryness to the after-taste. It was pleasant enough, just not as great as some of the others I’d tried. Of all the Xmas beers I tried this year, I think this is the one I’d probably give a miss in future.

So there you have it: three days’ worth of relaxing and feasting, helped along by a selection of (mostly) terrific beers. That’s what I call Xmas!

Yesterday I made my last work-related London trip of 2010 and took full advantage of one more opportunity to visit The Euston Tap.

But first a very important end-of-year review-type meeting with my boss who, being a bloody good bloke, was more than happy for us to hold said meeting over the road from our office at the Black Friar (see Travels With Beer for a photo gallery of the rather magnificent interior) and he got the beers in as well.

The Black Friar being a Nicholson’s pub, you’ve usually got a good chance of finding something half-decent on the pubs, but I was particularly delighted to spot a Thornbridge pump-clip and one I’d not seen before, to boot: Wild Holly. I’m guessing this is a new Thornbridge beer for winter 2010 (guessing because there’s no info on the Thornbridge website yet).

Wild Holly was dark and should have been delicious – plenty of dark brown sugar flavours, with hints of cherry and spices, all very pleasant indeed – but the mouth-feel was desperately thin, particularly for a 5% ABV winter ale, which rather spoiled the overall effect. If ever there was a beer that was screaming out for a sparkler, this was it. I’d definitely want to try this one again, but not unless the pub in question was likely to serve it up in better condition.

So, on to the Northern Line and up to the Euston Tap. Wandering in, I spotted and occupied a spot at the end of the bar and got cracking on my two target-beers for my quick visit. The first of these was the Thornbridge / Dark Star collaboration, Thornstar.

This one is a 4.7% ABV Black IPA – a style I’m becoming very fond of – brewed with a CaraFa roast malt base and several varieties of New Zealand hops: Pacifica, Southern Cross and Nelson Sauvin. It poured (via sparkler!) dark and beautifully full-bodied, with a creamy white head. Rich malt flavours gave an impression of gentle sweetness, with hints of dried fruit & chicory. This sweetness gave way to a drier, hoppier finish and stronger coffee flavours came into play towards the end of the half. Lovely stuff.

Next up: a half of Anchor Christmas 2010. This is the thirty-sixth annual Christmas brew from the Anchor Brewery in San Francisco. It’s rare to find Anchor beers on draught over here, so I was particularly keen to give this one a go.

The beer poured with an almost opaque dark body and faint ruby highlights, with a thin head and not much aroma. This 5.9% ABV beer had plenty of rich roast-malt flavours, and was subtly cinnamon-spiced with a dry-sharp, gingery after-burn. Bizarrely though, the dominant flavour seemed to be Coca-Cola, which threw me a bit, I have to admit (I’m not mad keen and haven’t drunk the stuff for years). It wasn’t unpleasant but I think I was expecting something fruitier and richer. I definitely preferred both the Thornstar and my last swift half of the evening: Matuška Black Rocket.

This Czech import – another black IPA, it must have been my lucky night – had a gorgeous mouth-feel, with a sweet, malty base delivering hints of sherry and coffee on the after-taste A very smooth-tasting beer with a lovely roast-malt, dry-hop balance. One of those beers I could happily drink all evening, but at 6.8% ABV probably shouldn’t.

Apologies if the notes were a little sparse on that last one, but by this point Jeff, the legendary landlord of the Gunmakers in Clerkenwell had wandered over, having spotted me down the end of the bar and recognised me from the last time Jo and I were down in London. He introduced me to Yan, landlord of the Tap, and I’d already started nattering to the bloke next to me at the bar – a local CAMRA stalwart by the name of Errol – so the four of us had a good old natter about beers, pubs and all sorts of stuff (that’s one of the things about the Euston Tap: it’s very easy to strike up a conversation with pretty much anyone in there). Couldn’t really make notes on my phone halfway through, would have been unforgivably rude of me…

So, that’s my last visit to London for this year, and my last visit to what is rapidly becoming one of my very favourite pubs. I’ll definitely be back next year. Often.

In the last Around the Beerblogosphere piece I mentioned finding the recipe for an Xmas cocktail that I was quite tempted by: the port and stout mull-it. On closer inspection though, it turns out you have to boil a jar of sweet mince-meat and strain out the lumpy bits until you end up with a spicy syrup… dear me, that sounds like far too much effort and mess!

Then I remembered something that Reluctant Scooper said ages ago, about making a DIY cocktail during a visit to the Marble Arch… I realised that we actually had all the necessary ingredients in the beer cupboard already, so Jo and I rolled up our bar-sleeves and got to work.

Here’s how we did it:

Step 1: Gather the ingredients

For this recipe, you will need the following (see fig. 1):

fig. 1 – Assemble the Ingredients

1. A bottle of Marble Chocolate (a rather superb 5.5%ABV “stout(ish)” dark ale)
2. A bottle of Marble Ginger (we used the 6%ABV variety – a.k.a. “Big Ginger”)
3. A suitable cocktail glass (or “pint pot” as they’re more commonly known)

Step 2: Pour half the Marble Chocolate into your cocktail glass (see fig. 2):

fig. 2 – Pour the Marble Chocolate…

WARNING! At this stage you will be sorely tempted to guzzle the delicious, chocolatey liquid, spurred on by those fabulous cocoa-aromas and the sight of all that gorgeous dark beer sitting there, calling out to you… but you must resist! Or at least, you must resist unless you’re only planning on making one measure of delicious cocktail mixture, in which case you can sup half of each bottle au naturel if you prefer. But bear with us, we promise the end result is well worth it…

Step 3: Pour (carefully!) half the Marble Ginger into the same glass (see fig 3):

fig. 3 – Merge the Marble Ginger…

Jo was obviously the glamorous hand-model for this stage of the process (hers are frankly much lovelier hands than mine – nobody needs to see my gnarled and keyboard-scarred digits interrupting the visual delights of Marble Chocoginge).

Step 4: The end result

fig. 1 – The finished article… Cheers!

I believe the phrase we’re looking for is: “Ta-daaaa!”

Assuming you haven’t already supped the remaining beer, you can then prepare a second measure for your glamorous hand-model, before she kicksyouinnanuts and steals yours.

Tasting Notes: Delicious! Marvellous! Gorgeous! Fabulous! All that warm, spicy ginger dances on your tongue, and then a bitter-sweet wave of chocolatey goodness rolls along behind it: flavour, flavour, flavour all the way to your tonsils. Seriously, what could be more Xmas-y than the combination of chocolate and ginger, all wrapped up in a 5.75%ABV (averaging the two, that is) beer-based liquid delivery system? Eggnog? Bailey’s? Advocaat? Bah, humbug! Grab yourself a couple of bottles of Marble’s finest, apply them to a pint pot and you’ll be well on your way to an extremely merry Yuletide indeed, I promise you.

Big thanks to Reluctant Scooper for the inspiration and to the Marble Brewery for the fantastic ingredients!

Time for another quick wander down the highways, byways, lanes and back-alleys of the beerier reaches of the blogosphere, the Big News of the Week of course being the results of the British Guild of Beer Writers Awards…

So it’s huge and thoroughly deserved congratulations to all the winners and runners-up of this years British Guild of Beer Writers Awards, particularly Mark Dredge and Woolpack Dave in the New Media category and Pete Brown, whose incredibly entertaining (yet still mildly educational) Hops and Glory netted him the Beer Writer of the Year prize, which he celebrated with another deleted scene from the book. The Thornbridge brewer’s blog has a report from the Awards Dinner with food and beer tasting notes that are guaranteed to make you drool all over your keyboard (or is it just me who needs a keyboard-mop?) and the BGBW’s own Adrian Tierney-Jones has posted details of the menu as well.

Meanwhile, back at the beer-blogging coal-face: Mark Dredge muses on Extreme Beer: what is it, what does a beer have to be / do / go through to qualify as ‘extreme’? Tandleman has been talking evolution and innovation again, with another very interesting post that’s provoked a lot of discussion in the comments section. And Adrian Tierney-Jones weighs in with thoughts on both those issues, with a focus on the great work being done down at Fuller’s. All well worth a read.

Brewery news: Roger Protz informs us that Greenwich-based brewery Meantime are expanding, having signed the lease on a new brewery premises that will allow them to double and eventually quadruple their current output. BrewDog have secured planning permission for their proposed state-of-the-art brewery. And the folks at the Otter Brewery have been awarded the Sustainable Devon accolade for their environmentally friendly approach to brewing.

Pete Brown reports from the opening of The Tap, a brand new pub on Sheffield station. That serves a range of Thornbridge brews on tap. Sounds like a trip to South Yorkshire is on the cards.

Beer = Poetry. So says Carol Ann Duffy, as quoted by Zythophile.

Jeff Evans lets us into the secrets of brewing a strong Christmas Ale, whilst Tandleman bemoans the lack of imagination that most brewers seem to apply to the concept (for some reason my eye was drawn to this comment, and I believe I may have uttered the phrase “OMFG, I am so there!”)

Tyson reports on the fate of 41,472 bottles of Becks lager seized by HM Customs for failure to pay excise duty, which will not be re-cycled and used to produce electricity.

The Pub Curmudgeon has posted an interesting and thoughtful piece on beer advertising and the inherent snobbery of a small sub-set of the real ale enthusiast crowd. And he’s crunched the numbers on the latest stealth rise in beer duty revealed by Alistair Darling’s latest pre-budget announcements.

The Reluctant Scooper has also been crunching the numbers, this time on alcohol units and looking at the whole concept of recommended unit limits. He’s also been helping to expand our linguistic horizons with Jaipur: new definitions.

And finally: has been experimenting with beer floats (that’s an ice-cream + beer combo, in case you were wondering) and concludes that a good dollop of hops works wonders. I have to confess, I’m still not entirely convinced; I’m just not much of one for messing around with cocktails. Then again, I saw a port and stout mull-it being made on last Sunday’s ‘Something For the Weekend’ and I might actually be tempted…

2008 was something of a landmark year for me, beer-wise. Having started this ‘ere blog with Ed and Joe (we were later joined by Tim, of course) I got in touch with my inner scooper in a pretty big way. This resulted in frequent trips to the supermarket – or to the off-licence, or the delicatessen, or whichever liquor-retailing establishment I was passing at the time – to grab just about one of everything I’d not seen or sampled before.

As a result, and what with it being (let’s be totally honest) a lot less fiddly to drink the beer than it is to write up the tasting notes afterwards, I have something of a backlog. I’m now going to attempt to clear the majority of said backlog, in a series of mini tasting-notes (sipping notes) of three sentences or less, in roughly chronological order, based on the notes I took at the time. Which may or may not prove coherent enough to actually make sense. Time will tell. Here goes:

Young’s Christmas Pudding Ale (5.5% abv, bottled)
A 2007 limited edition, by all accounts. Tooth-cringingly sweet; a shot of intravenous marzipan. Not one I plan to risk my enamel with again.

Holt’s Touchwood (4.5% abv, draught)
One of Holt’s seasonal ales, on draught at our local, the Woodthorpe in Prestwich. A light, malty beer with a lingering, hoppy finish. Pale and easy-drinking, a definite session option.

Wharfedale Executioner (4.5% abv, bottled)
My Dad gave me this one at Xmas, 2007. A rich, red-brown ale with a subtle aroma but a potent mix of flavours; burnt coffee predominating. (Wharfedale has apparently since been acquired and re-named the Dark Horse brewery so not much chance of a re-visit here, unless they re-issue.)

O’Hanlons Goodwill Bitter (5.0% abv, bottled)
Another 2007 seasonal? A dark amber beer with a chewy flavour, citrus. Spiced, but not overpoweringly so.

Wychwood Bee’wyched (5.0% abv, bottled)
A pleasantly sweet, highly drinkable, golden ale delivering plenty of honey to the palate. Does exactly what it says on the label.

Greene King Fireside (4.5% abv, bottled)
Rich, red-brown in colour with plenty of malt, hints of caramel, citrus and spice. (So clearly much better than the pint of piss I was served when I ordered this one in London a couple of months ago.)

York Brewery Centurion’s Ghost (5.4% abv, draught)
Sampled at the York brewery tap, this one was definitely one of my beers of 2008: rich, dark, ruby-tinted, full-bodied, smooth-drinking nectar in a pint pot. Stunningly good, this is a session beer for the bold, or a sipper for the cautious. I’ll be hunting a Ghostly Centurion down the next time I’m in York and will produce some proper tasting notes when I do; it surely deserves a proper write-up at the very least.

York Brewery Stonewall (3.8% abv, draught)
Tried this one mid-session, in-between a couple of pints of Centurion’s Ghost. As a result, a direct quote: “Light, tasty, quite malty, easy-drinker, hoppy notes.” Best you’re going to get; needs a re-visit, clearly.

Harviestoun Haggis Hunter (4.4% abv, bottled)
A rich, malty, golden-amber ales that was apparently brewed as a Burns Night special last year. Hoppy after-taste and a hint of citrus; not too bad at all, but not one I’d dash to re-visit.

Bateman’s Victory Ale (6.0% abv, bottled)
Brewed to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and named as one of the world’s 50 best beers in the 2007 Beer Challenge. I can see why: it’s a rich, sweet, malty, mid-brown ale with distinct toffee flavours that I’m definitely going to go back to one day soon. Deceptively drinkable; at 6.0% you’d need to be quick to find your sea-legs after a few of these.

Thwaites Lancaster Bomber (4.4% abv, bottled)
A lovely rich-red colour with a smooth, malty finish. Very drinkable. Might go back to this one sometime.

Jennings Cumberland Ale (4.2% abv, bottled)
A pale, golden-amber ale with a very mild, hoppy character that isn’t too harsh or bitter. Not exactly remarkable, but not at all unpleasant at all.

Right, I think that’ll do for Part I. Part II to follow in due course…

Xmas / New Year 2008. A week and a half off work and a chance to hit the beer cupboard and see what falls out. I kicked off at lunchtime on Xmas Day with a bottle of Wychwood Plum Duff (5.0% abv), a seasonal number from the brewers of one of my all-time favourites, Hobgoblin. Quite spicy, with a sweet & sour character, I thought Plum Duff had perhaps just a little too much fruitiness for my palate, but the mellow, warming after-taste made it drinkable. Not a bad start…

Xmas dinner was accompanied by a drop of Innis & Gunn Triple Matured which Ed sampled back in November and I pretty much concur with his conclusions on this one: toffee, vanilla, a little oak, generally smooth with a pleasantly bitter-sweet finish. I also cracked open a bottle of Meantime Winter Time, which I wrote up during my Meantime series last year. Unfortunately, I was too busy tucking into my grub to pay much more attention than last time, so I’ll have to come back to that one for a third attempt at some point.

Next up was a bottle of Greene King Abbott Reserve (6.5% abv) which turned out to be incredibly tasty; much more so that I’d expected, I have to admit. Another smooth, strong beer with a pleasant citrusy tang (I detected orange zest and nutmeg without any help from accompanying a mince pie). Quite sweet but with a bitter under-current that stopped it tasting too sugary. Definitely one I’d go back to again.

Boxing Day was spent driving to and from family in Leeds, so I only had time for a couple of beers when I got back home: first up was William Worthington’s White Shield (5.6% abv, bottle conditioned). At 5.6% it’s not as strong as you might expect an IPA to be and it poured with more fizz and a lot more sweetness than I thought you should expect from the style. Not horrible, per se, but far from the best I tasted last year.

After that one I went for a bottle of Williams Bros Midnight Sun (5.6% abv). This porter seemed to be a fairly classic example of the style: a slightly sour whiff in the bottle, a very dark ebony with a tan head, a spicy, faintly smoky, sweet coffee flavour that was smooth and very drinkable. Another good contender for a regular slot in the beer cupboard.

The weekend brought another driving stint up and down the country to the in-laws’ and by the time Jo and I had spent at least half of the (unusually long at four hours) journey to Bridgnorth stuck in a standing-wave tailback on the M6, I definitely needed a couple of beers and I was hoping that another strong ale from Greene King – this time Old Crafty Hen (6.5% abv) – would hit the spot quite nicely. It turned out to have a hoppy nose, citrusy flavours and a surprisingly deft touch for such a strong beer. Alas, that deft touch meant that whilst it was decidedly drinkable, it lacked much in the way of character and was rather un-memorable as a result. A symptom of larger brewery mass-production, perhaps? Or maybe it’s just one of those beers that’s much better on draught. I preferred the Abbot Reserve, definitely.

I opened a bottle of Hall and Woodhouse Badger Pickled Partridge (4.5% abv) next and alas it was another fairly indistinct one, albeit quite pleasant and quite drinkable again. Very malty, with light spice notes and a lingering bitterness to the after-taste. Not much else to write home about. I’ve had a much better Badger beer recently, which I’ll be writing up before too long (all being well).

The next day produced much better results. Jo’s folks live not too far at all from The Bull’s Head at Chelmarsh, which – following a change of management a couple of years back – is a great food and ale pub, well worth checking out if you’re down that way. I nipped down after Sunday lunch for a pint with brother-in-law Richard and opted for a drop of Dorothy Goodebody’s Christmas Stocking (4.2% abv? -ish?), a seasonal ale from Wye Valley. Extremely nice it was, too, with distinct cinnamon and nutmeg spices; very easy-drinking indeed and neither too heavy nor too sweet. More enjoyable than the Plum Duff, certainly.

I was back down the pub in the evening, with Jo and her folks, for an Irish folk session laid on by landlord John and some of his mates. This time I decided to try another draught Wye Valley brew, their Hereford Pale Ale. At 4% abv it was a light, highly quaffable, golden pale ale that made for a great session beer – I stayed with that one for the next couple of pints as well – with a fresh, faintly citrus flavour and a very dry, hoppy finish. Good stuff!

But the scooper in me was sorely tempted by a third draught ale from Wye Valley: Dorothy Goodbody’s Golden Ale and so I switched to that one for my final pint of the evening. I’m glad to say that I wasn’t at all disappointed. Very similar to the HPA, but with less strident hop notes and a maltier finish. Altogether a very pleasant end to a very good evening (the music was more than half-decent, too). If only they’d had Dorothy Goodbody’s Wholesome Stout on as well… but that’s one to keep an eye out for another time.

I finished the seasonal Bridgnorth run with a visit to the town’s specialist wine merchant, Tanner’s, and picked up a selection of local brews that are now awaiting their turn in the beer cupboard. More on those in due course.

And there you have it. Not the entire Holiday beer session, I have to admit. There are a few others that I will be writing up separately, but that’s the bulk of my last ten days’ beer sampling. Mostly good, one or two indifferent, none bad enough to pour down the sink. Not a bad result at all.

Brewery: Anchor Brewing Company
Location: San Francisco, USA
ABV: 5.5%
Version: 355ml bottle
Source: Gap Wines

Okay, so Christmas is over but as this ale’s full name is “Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2008″ I can justify posting this. That and I only got the bottle yesterday.

Anchor have been brewing their Christmas Ale since 1975, and each year they change the label and the recipe. The former features a different tree each time (the current one is a Jeffrey Pine, according to the Pint Log) while the latter remains a secret. This is my first year sampling this so I’m no position to compare it with previous incarnations.

Enough preamble, on with the pouring and tasting. Anchor suggest on their website that this be refridgerated if being stored for any length of time but there’s no mention on the label of serving chilled, so at I did so at room temperature (plus it seems strange to me to serve a winter beer chilled, although maybe not so in California). It’s a very dark, virtually opaque, brown with just a hint of red when held up to the light. The aroma is at first malty, with some caramel biscuity qualities and a touch of light fruit. All very complex and a bit of a mystery - maybe pine to match the label? The taste is just as interesting a mix. Malt comes through straight away, with some chocolate and fresh herbs (some of those secret ingredients) and I’m fairly sure I detected a touch of butterscotch in there too. All very smooth, but with a slight bitterness coming through to add a little bit of bite to the finish. Lovely stuff.

Brewery: Bateman’s
Location: Skegness, England
ABV: 4.9%
Version: 500ml bottle
Source: Co-Op

Just time to slot in another Christmas ale review. I’ll be the first to admit we’ve been very lax on this seasonal subject but, and I can’t vouch for the others, I haven’t seen very much Christmas themed beer on the shelves the past few weeks.

Rosey Nosey is a dark copper colour, with a strong fruity, malty aroma. The first thing I noticed on tasting was the dry texture, not really what I was expecting from a Christmas ale. The flavour starts off with hop bitterness mixed with dried fruit, followed up with some red wine/sherry notes and a grassy/vegetative finish. This latter element tends to dominate the flavour to its detriment, and I found the dryness too pervasive. Doubt I’ll be having this one again.

Brewery: Shepherd Neame
Location: Faversham, England
ABV: 7.0%
Version: 330ml bottle
Source: Sainsburys

The shops are decked out with gaudily coloured trees and decorations, and incessantly pumping out really annoying seasonal tunes from their sound systems, so it must be Christmas already. As a bit of respite from all the madness that tends to blossom at this time of year, we can always settle down with a bottle or two of whatever Christmas beer the breweries have unleashed upon on us. I’ve got a couple in already so why wait until the day, I’ll start on them early.

As noted above the bottle I sampled is the 330ml version, packaged in a cardboard presentation box, and not the 500ml boxless bottle I spotted recently in my local Co-Op, but I’m sure it tastes the same. It’s dark amber in colour with a fruity aroma and a touch of caramel and spices. First impressions on tasting were of warm malts and alcohol, with an element of sugary sweetness and just a hint of hops. Some bitterness comes through in the finish. Despite the relatively high alcohol content it’s not overpowering or cloying, coming across quite well balanced. Initially it’s fairly easy drinking, but it soon becomes apparent that it’s really quite heavy and deserves to be taken slowly. A reasonably respectable start to the seasonal ale tasting, I’ll probably pick up the bigger bottle as comparison to see how it fares over a slightly longer tasting session.