The week between Christmas and New Year's Eve found me trying Christmas/winter beers from all over the world.
Hook Norton Twelve Days, brewed in England, is an English strong ale. It is a nice Christmas gift. It's like some sort of Christmas dessert. The carbonation is a bit overpowering, but there are notes of caramel, nuts, cocoa, raisins, dark cherries, plum, apple, toast, cookies, molasses, earthy and herbal hops. At 5.5% ABV it would be easy to knock back a few of these around the holidays.
Stoudts Winter Ale, brewed Adamstown, PA, is a beer that changes from year to year. The 2009 edition is a 6.2% ABV, hoppy amber ale. It isn't very special, but the fact that the beer changes from year to year makes it a true Christmas present, because who wants to get a gift that they already received the year before. It's hoppy, but well balanced. Nothing too extreme.
The St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, brewed in Belgium, is a beer that I've been wanting to try for a few years now and finally got the opportunity this holiday season. This one has Christmas written all over it — both literally and figuratively. At 10% ABV, it is nice and warming, which was much appreciated the night I tried it, considering it was 19 degrees with the wind chill making it feel like 7 degrees. The aroma is evident as soon as this beer is poured. It hides the alcohol incredibly well. It also has one of the most persistent heads I've ever seen on a beer. It is a little hard to explain, but I will try. There are notes of dark, sour fruit, dark candy sugar, light Christmas spices, maple syrup, molasses, chocolate, cinnamon, caramel, earthy yeast and slight metal. An incredible Belgian strong ale. I think this will be on my list of Christmas Eve beers next year.
New Holland Cabin Fever, a 6% ABV brown ale from Holland Michigan, is a bit of a mixed bag. It starts out incredible and ends up just nice. For having an average ABV, the beer does a very poor job of hiding the alcohol. While not the best trait in a beer, the noticeable alcohol did make it a nice winter warmer on a cold night. It is almost like an ale version of a doppelbock. The key to enjoying this beer might be to drink it quickly and fairly well chilled, because it goes from tasting like a Chunky bar or a Christmas cookie to cloying and medicinal when you take your time with it and let it warm up a little.
Ølfabrikken Jule Ale, from Denmark, is just one of several Christmas beers that Ølfabrikken makes each year. Denmark is one of those place, like other Scandinavian countries, where the breweries commonly brew more than one yule or jule/jul beer as it is known in that part of the world. This is an odd Christmas ale because it is both hoppy and full of Christmas spices. Most brewers go one way or the other and I feared this combination as I opened the bottle. At first, the two flavors didn't seem to go all that well together, but it grew on me. This 8% ABV American strong ale doesn't do a good job masking the alcohol content, but that seems to work fine in this beer and is quite welcome. It has notes of caramel, chocolate, spices, citrus, pine, coffee and brown sugar. It is also very well balanced once you get used to the clash of flavors.
I also tried Ølfabrikken Kloster Jul, a bigger, seemingly more traditional (if only slightly so) Christmas ale from the brewery. This Belgian strong ale, at 9.5% ABV, is very warming. I definitely prefer the previous beer. This one seems to have something off in the aroma and flavor, but I cant tell if the beer is slightly skunked or if it is the licorice root that is used in the brewing process. There are notes of caramel, molasses, raisin, cherry, licorice, yeast, cheap chocolate, instant coffee, spices, cola, alcohol, metallic hops, toffee and oranges. It is interesting, but not one of my favorites.
We've almost come to the end of this journey. My next post should wrap up the Christmas/winter beers that I tried this holiday season. It will focus on the beers I tried on New Year's Eve into the new year. Drink it in.
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