Happy Hoppy Christmas!

BEST WISHES TO ALL, CHEERS M'DEARS! 😁

So this is Christmas...

I saw the St Bernadus (website) Christmas Ale (10.0%) in the Jolly Fisherman in Hastings (blog) and there were only 2 bottles left, so I had to go in for one! I've talked about the brewery before, eg in my blog about St Bernard's Day back in August, so I shan't repeat myself here, but just write about the ale. As you can see it has a very dark deep red in colour and yes, it is a Christmas/Winter ale in style indeed! A fruity roasted malt aroma with a hint of chocolate too, and a big fruity taste, I noted damson plums in particular with a hint of cherry, plenty of body unsurprisingly, and with a dry finish and pretty damn good! A Belgian Christmas ale to add to the English one from Harvey's I recently imbibed (blog).

And my brother Dan has brought back beer from Belgium for me again for this year's Christmas present, he told me it's not the same as last year (blog), so I'll have to resist temptation and see what bottles there are, yes, I can tell it's 4 bottles from the shape, to come... 😁 

Met up with Leeds John yesterday at the Eel & Bear (blog), and drank this rather sumptuous Biscoff Chocolate Brownie, a 7.0% Pastry Stout from Somerset based Yonder Brewing (website). Again, does what it says on the label big time, biscuit, vanilla, caramel, coffee and chocolate in the aroma and taste, smooth and luxurious, sumptuous indeed, cheers! 👍

A Christmas Ale Story...

Yesterday I received my first Christmas Card, many thanks Neil and Sara, so I thought I'd open this bottle that Jackie had kindly donated to me, cheers m'dear! Indeed, I hadn't drunk Harvey's Christmas Ale (website) since we visited East Sussex Harvey's Brewery 6 years ago (blog), and it was a pleasure to return to drinking their, as they describe it, Barley Wine.

First brewed in 1972, Harvey's Christmas Ale, a mere 7.5% 😉 and I believe brewed with locally grown hops, Fuggle (hopslist) and East Kent Golding (hopslist). These hops, combined with the malts used, produce an ale with dark fruit flavours, notably damson/plum and a suggestion of port wine. A deep chestnut colour, a bit sweet to start off with, though a nice bitterness coming through at the finish. It's not quite as good as the cask version we drank back in 2019, but as I said before, it's a bit of a Christmas Pudding of a beer, I like it!

I'm not saying Harvey's nicked my calling it a "Christmas Pudding of a beer" and now include it in their blurb, they probably always have, but I came up with that description back then independently, but which came first, who cares? I guess we'll never know, cheers! 😁

December Whiskey of the Month!

My November Whiskey of the Month was so good I decided to go back to the same West Cork Distillers (website) for my December Whiskey of the Month! I wrote about this relatively recently set up distillery (22 years ago) in my November blog, if you haven't already read it, there's some background to West Cork Distillers and the 3 lads who set it up in that blog.  

West Cork Distillers Glengarriff Series Bog Oak Charred Cask Single Malt Irish Whiskey (43.0%) being an Irish Whiskey, is triple distilled using locally grown grain; the distilling process is excellently explained in detail on their website. The Bog Oak Charred Cask Single Malt Whiskey is then matured in casks before bottling, adding colour, flavours and complexity. This one is first matured in sherry casks for at least 30 months, and then for a further 4-6 months in unique 'bog oak charred' casks; indeed, being an Irish whiskey it has to be matured for at least 3 years. The casks they use come from the USA, but they are charred on the inside, on the Irish side of the North Atlantic, using oak harvested from the local boglands of Glengarriff.

So, what was my second whiskey from West Cork Distillers like? Aroma-wise I got toffee and butterscotch, and a very subtle wood and spiciness, and an even more subtle smokiness. Indeed, I got little of the smokiness in aroma and taste apparently described in some other reviews, but we do all have very different palates! The flavour of this very smooth whiskey was sweet to start with, toffee, butterscotch, stoned fruits, pear and apple, and with a lovely dry warm finish.

Another pretty damn good Irish Whiskey, sláinte! 😁