HOLIDAY BEER NOTES
05 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in 21st Amendment Brewery, A Christmas Carol, Affligem Noel, beer, classic porter, Fireside Chat, holiday beer, porter, spiced winter ale, Uncategorized, wassail, winter English ale, world class beers
The eve of Saint Nicholas Day is a good a day as any to raise a toast and a cup of cheer to the magical effects of human goodness: With Saint Nicholas speed as it were, the patron saint of brewers.
I find it difficult to bah humbug those who think of cellaring holiday beers. For myself, nothing is quite so great as a freshly completed limited edition, so I do not consider ‘putting down’ (sounds like organized crime lingo) a few special edition bottles for some time later. I’ve always had the suspicion that people who obsess about ‘vertical tastings’, have a secret desire to be wine collectors. But what I am concerned with here is beer, and when it comes to holiday beer, it is most certainly, time to drink.
One of the great beauties of fresh beer is that you get to taste what the beer actually tastes like when it came out of the brewery. Affligem Noel, available fresh at the grocery store this year, is a prime example of what world class beer actually tastes like. How is it possible to describe its enormous quality and character? And without those typical musty notes attributed to cellared versions? Fresh is best. I would say for all holiday beers, whether spiced (wassail) versions or not. Sure many a winter beer will keep for quite some time, but that is most certainly not the point, because holiday beers are designed to be festive and celebratory.
Wassail recipes abound. 21st Amendment Brewery’s Fireside Chat is quite a kick both graphically and physically. A six-pack of cans containing strong spiced winter ale, with a depiction of FDR enjoying a holiday glass and a smoke. The ale itself is a powerful statement for beer in cans. Made at the old Cold Spring Brewery in Cold Spring, Minnesota. One of those “ho ho whoa!” brews available at this time of year.
“When this result was brought about, old Fezziwig, clapping his hands to stop the dance. cried out, “Well done!” and the fiddler plunged his hot face into a pot of porter, especially provided for that purpose.”
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
The game is afoot…
Moving Forward Towards The Holidays
08 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in beer, beer of the bear, Breckenridge Christmas Ale, christmas, Great Divide Brewing Comany, Hudepohl Oktoberfest Bier, Hudy, Sam Adams, samuel adams, Samuel Adams Winter Lager, winter classics, winter English ale
For beer seekers this autumn has been a remarkable time. The celebration of marzen and pumpkin ales has proven remarkable. For The Beer Doctor, this year produced what I consider the beer of the year, in the United States at least: Hudepohl Oktoberfest Bier. A successful recipe that deliciously adheres to its German malty roots, and is a crowd pleaser, much in the same way as Samuel Adams Octoberfest. Designed to be enjoyed during this season, before giving way to the Holiday Special Brews, which have already started to arrive.
What for example, is to make of the perpetual favorites from out west, such as Breckenridge Christmas Ale, which has always been a beautiful New World take on Scottish Winter Ale that over years, has become a sublime achievement, where nothing is out of place in its palate profile.
The same can surely be said of Great Divide Hibernation Ale, a dry-hopped take on an old English Winter, where malts and hops do all the talking. As is also the case with Brooklyn Winter Ale, their holiday/winter tribute to the power of Maris Otter malt.
A careful perusal of spiced beer reveals there are many choices. Samuel Adams Winter Lager always has a huge fan base and rightfully so, considering the balanced obtained with spices added to the wheat bock recipe.
“A damn tasty winter beer,” is part of what Beer Advocate’s Todd Alstrom said of this beer, 9 years ago. Considering that I have sampled Winter Lager for at least 20 years, I marvel at the brewmasters’ skill at refining these exquisite recipes, bringing them to fruition, year after marvelous year.
Home For The Holidays, Part 5
24 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
in beer, bock, christmas, craft pack, holiday beer, Magic Hat Brewing, samuel adams, Shiner Holiday Cheer, sierra nevada, Stegmaier, the lion brewery, Uncategorized, winter English ale
You would have to have lived for awhile to comprehend the enormous changes in the beer universe over the last 30 years. Not so long ago, many people believed that Holiday beer simply meant putting a ribbon around a six-pack of Michelob… just as there are still some people who believe that bock is brewed in the spring, when breweries ‘clean out’ the bottoms of their vats.
On the other side of all this, there is a growing awareness that some fabled brews at Christmas time, which were once very difficult to obtain, have now been folded into the mainstream beer market. Being fairly old, I still remember when obtaining Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, anywhere east of the Mississippi river, was very rare indeed. Now, at least until very recently, 12 pack boxes of SN Celebration could be obtained at the local Kroger, in ample supply. It is hard to believe that not so long ago, even the late fabled beer hunter, Michael Jackson, wondered if there was an actual market for beers that put emphasis on hops. By gobs, that seems like ancient history now, where a whole generation of new beer drinkers arrived at drinking age when hops and flavorful brew has become a given, from Samuel Adams, Magic Hat, Sierra Nevada and Stone, among many others.
At one time, I foolishly believed I could sample all the winter-holiday offerings available. But logistics, state tax laws, put an end to that illusion. Even beers once available in the Midwest have disappeared, often because a brewery’s production schedule simply can not keep up with distribution demands. Then there are (and still are) those special beloved brews that get snapped up as soon as they become available. This year it was Shiner Holiday Cheer that immediately comes to mind, A unique brew that used peaches and pecans… it disappeared in less than a week.
One barely noticed offering this year, from The Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barre, PA is the Stegmaier Holiday Warmer, a strong ale take on English Winter Ale. A showcase of malt strength, it is not always fully appreciated by some of the younger beer drinkers, who think that hops and all of its extreme presentations, is the last word on what is beer. The same people who will shell out big time bucks for a sixer of Bell’s Hopslam, because for them, it is the ultimate beer, sometimes have difficulty fathoming malty depths.
But this Christmas, I am pretty well set up, with Lakefront Holiday Spice Lager, Breckenridge Christmas Ale, Stegmaier Hol;iday Warmer, Left Hand’s Fade To Black, Sierra Nevada Celebration in the 24 ounce bottle, etc etc…
As they say in the space program: “I am good to go and ready to launch.”
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Thank you as always, my only prayer,
The Beer Doctor
