Ho Ho Ho! Beery Christmas!

A few years ago I tried to do the 12 Beers of Christmas...a beer advent calendar of sorts.  This did not go well.  Between days of travel, work, and illness I missed more days of beers than I succeeded in documenting.  So this year I thought I would just do a couple of quick reviews of some Holiday/Christmas beers that have come into my possession.  Holiday beer used to mean "tastes like someone mixed the mash with a pine tree," but nowadays they can be just about anything.  Spiced and juniper beers are still the cornerstone, but stronger winter versions of beers are becoming more popular.  Even hoppy beers like Sierra Nevada Celebration are considered Holiday beers.  This year I really didn't have too many of this style, and as you can see I'm trailing behind Christmas time in my write up.  Better late than never right?

Brewery Kerkom's Winterkoninkske: This is a strong juniper ale from one of my all time favorite breweries in Belgium.  Sj and I have been to the brewery twice now and I really wish we could get their beers in Minnesota!  Producers of the Bink beers, they have a big selection of different styles including some hoppy ones.  This beer is 8.3% ABV and my bottle is at least 2 years old.  They have an incredible Grand Cru version of this beer that is out of this world.

This beer was a bit past its prime.  Caramel and some cardboard were dominant in aroma and flavor.  I couldn't pick out juniper in this, though it is supposed to be there.  I'd like to try a fresher bottle.

Brasserie de Blaugies La Moneuse Special Winter Ale: This beer came into my possession from a friend, Brett, who moved and left me much of his amazing beer cellar.  This one is from 2005, nearly a decade old!  The beer is a saison, so usually something to be drunk fresh.  When in Belgium this past year we were able to try a 20 year old bottle of their sour beer with plums that was Heavenly.  A few days later I was able to meet the brewmaster/owner and thank him.  So I wasn't quite sure what I was going to get when I cracked this venerable brew.

Aroma: Some caramel and maltiness present.  Hint of old paper, but more like a pleasant old library than musty cardboard.  No hop aroma.  Very subtle Belgian yeast esters.  Some figs as it warmed.

Appearance:  Caramel in color with a hint of haze from long dormant yeast.  Fine off-white head that faded quickly but was easily roused.

Flavor: Sugar and caramel dominant.  Mild dried fig or date flavors.  I do get some sherry-like oxidation, but not unpleasant.  No spicing or hopping to speak of.  Not incredibly complex but well balanced.  Finish is off-dry and not astringent.  Body is medium.

Overall: This beer was still quite drinkable after all these years, but had likely lost a lot of its fresh and Belgian "saison-ness."  3.5/5

St. Bernardus Christmas Ale: I really like St. Bernardus beers.  They are more accessible and often cheaper than many of the true Trappist ales.  I have had several people tell me that the St. Bernardus 12 is as good or better than Westvleteren 12.  Having had both within a day of each other, I disagree!  But still a great beer.  I haven't had the Christmas ale for a few years and was happy to find this smaller bottle at The Four Firkins the other day.  This beer clocks in at 10% ABV.  No spices that I can find.  This is served in the matching glass in proper Belgian fashion.

Aroma: Caramel up front.  Dried figs and prunes as swirled.  Light honey and sugar sweetness.  A bit of alcohol zip on the nose.  Light clove and allspice notes as it warms.

Appearance:  Deep brown in color with a slight yeast haze.  Large, fine, off-white head with tight bubbles.  Head very persistent.

Flavor:  Initial strong sweetness and sugary flavor.  Medium to almost light bodied.  Very high carbonation adds to the semi-dry finish.  Lingering cinnamon and light sweetness on tongue at tail end.  As it warms I get more of the dark fruit I smelled in the aroma, but more subtle than expected.  Alcohol warming borders on a burn.  No hop flavors.

Overall:  A well balanced and flavorful Belgian dark strong ale.  This is a bit hot and would probably be best aged a year to mellow the alcohol and bring out the dark fruit character.  4/5.

Goose Island Christmas Ale 2009: The Christmas Ale has been around a long time.  Basically a 6% brown ale, with no spicing.  I used to look forward to this one when I lived in Chicago, but that was a very long time ago!  This vintage bottle was a blind gift at the JAB Holiday party this year and I can't remember who it was from.

Aroma: Strong oxidation on this one--cardboard and wet paper.  Some caramel sweetness.  Hint of citrus hop.

Appearance: Very hazy deep amber color.  Despite cautious pour into the appropriate Goose Island nonic pint glass I got some big chunks and floaters. Fine tan head that fades fairly quickly.

Flavor: As in the aroma, strong oxidation takes center stage here.  Hint of caramel and indistinct spice (old nutmeg?).  Very thin in body.

Overall:  This one is just too old.  I'm not convinced this beer is a great example of a Christmas ale anyway, but it should not be aged.  I think I gave the beer a 3 of 5 when it was fresh, but this one is 2.5 of 5.


So this year's Holiday Beer extravaganza was something of a fail.  I discovered that many of these do not age well.  But hey, maybe I'll try to do a better job with this next year!

Merry Fistmas!

Ok, so I've been radio (blog) silent for the past week or so--not typical for me at all!  I've been busy with the pre-Christmas holiday shopping, and very busy at work, so bear with me.  I have several longer homebrewing posts already in the can for the coming months and hope to continue my series of interviews for the upcoming year. 

So this week I thought I would talk about (and drink) a few holiday beers to celebrate!  I have always been a fan of holiday spiced beers, and look forward to this time of year.  One year I tried to do the 12 Beers of Christmas, but due to scheduling issues I didn't manage to have one each day.  Maybe I'll attempt that again next year.  Over the past few years I've noticed a lot of new holiday beers that are not spiced: many are double IPA's, Imperial versions of regular beers and just odd-ball beers that don't fit a category.  To some extent I think this trend is fine--as long as breweries are giving us good beers.  However, I'll admit I'm still a little morose when I find just another IPA or brown ale masquerading as a special holiday beer.  And let's not forget all of the Belgian Christmas beers that range from strange spiced concoctions to simply strong versions of regular Belgian style ales.

Ok, so here is where the Merry Fistmas comes in!  On a recent trip to Chicago I was able to visit Revolution Brewing and get the awesome big black fist tap handle pictured above.  I was sad that their fabled Christmas ale was not out yet, but then my best friend Bryan saved the day when he brought a couple cans for me at my birthday party!  This is really an aggressively hopped brown ale with definite spruce flavors...and very tasty.

Santa likes his malt liquor!

Last week Matt and Anna came over for a spirited game of Cards Against Humanity, and brought along a 2006 vintage Samichlaus.  This beer was originally brewed by the Hurlimann Brewery in Switzerland from the early 1980's through 1997.  At that point the beer was out of commission until it was resurrected by Schloss Eggenberg in Austria in 2000.  The beer itself is named after Santa Claus and is supposedly brewed every year on December 6.  It is based on a Dopplebock style, and for a while was the strongest commercially available beer, clocking in at about 14% ABV.  Because of its rarity and strength, this was one of the first popular beers to cellar.  Digging into my stash on this fine Friday evening, I found a dusty bottle of 1996 and 2000 to make a little vertical tasting for us.

The 1996 bottle was deep brown in color with almost no head at all.  Strong cardboard and sherry notes dominated the aroma--and the flavor.  Some alcohol was certainly in there.  The oxidation was a bit too much for me to really enjoy it, but trying a beer that is 17 years old is pretty interesting!  The 2000 bottle (from the new brewery) was very similar with more raisin character.  Still very little carbonation.  I think this was my favorite of the three.  The 2006 was much lighter in color and lacked the complexity that the previous beers had.  We felt that the recipe had been significantly changed somewhere along the line--but it was interesting that this did not happen on the first move to the new brewery in 2000!

Moving on to Christmas Eve's festivities.  I took this time to open last year's St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, and man that beer has aged nicely!  Belgian yeast character is pleasant, but not overwhelming the subtle dark sugar notes.  Carbonated to well above typical American Belgian ales, this beer ends very dry and drinkable for it's 10% ABV.   I then dug out a special bottle I've been holding onto since our 2012 trip to Belgium: Kerkom Winterkoninkske.  This is a dark strong that we bought during our tour of the brewery, and was already a year old at that time.  The flavors of this beer have changed a bunch since I had it last, with incredible notes of Belgian chocolate.  I'm sad we can't get their beer in Minnesota, but I did pick up another bottle the last time I was in Illinois!  To pair with this latter beer I cooked up a steak and lamb kidney pie with puff pastry topping.  This is a dish I used to love from Sherlock's Home brewpub and I haven't had a really good one since they went out of business.  Since I was able to buy a whole yearling lamb through True Cost Farm (our meat CSA) and had the required tasty organ meats, I thought I'd give it a try!  I was pretty close considering I cobbled together a few recipes from on-line and added some of my own ideas.  The pie was bursting with flavorful thyme gravy, cremini mushrooms and of course steak and kidney bits.  A good pairing, but after sharing those large two bottles of strong ale, Sj and I both fell asleep while trying to watch Iron Man 3.

Seriously, tastes better than it sounds!

For Christmas Day itself Sj and I followed our usual pattern of consuming much needed coffee and sweet rolls while unwrapping the presents in our stockings.  I got lots of Magic cards and candy in mine...along with a single much prized bottle of 2013 Bourbon County Stout!  Sj got lots of beads and even more candy.  Sj and I then got into the glory of tearing into our regular presents and flinging wrapping paper balls around for the cats to rampage in.  Not having kids, we tend to spoil each other at Christmas time and buy way too many presents for each other.  I'm not complaining!  I discovered some cool homebrewing equipment like the Fast Rack and the Big Mouth Bubbler hiding under the tree--more on those in a future post.  I also received a couple of really cool Belgian beers and a whole slew of new clothes.

Merry Christmas to me!  Thanks Sj and thanks to the Four Firkins for pointing her in the right direction!