It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
Over the past couple weeks I have been accumulating some official seasonal brews. I have already enjoyed at least some of all of the beverages you see pictured here and none of them have disappointed. Having no idea what the Christmas season has to offer me yet, I can only say that this has been a very nice start.
Each year I enjoy Starbucks Christmas Blend, and I can say that I always find it an enjoyable brew. We have actually been enjoying it here since before Thanksgiving and we drank several pots of the Christmas Blend last weekend. Most of the Winter and Christmas beers that my friend Deuane hooked me up with I have not tried before. I have had Weyerbacher's Winter Ale before and have always enjoyed all the offerings I have had from Weyerbacher. The other seasonal I have had before is Troegs Mad Elf, which is a massive beer. I like the Mad Elf a lot and because of the 11% alcohol by volume it is an excellent candidate for cellaring. I will be saving some of the 2006 Mad Elf for Summer tasting and at least one bottle for Christmas 2007. For the record, Troegs had a single batch beer called Naked Elf without the cherries and honey and I liked it even more than the Mad Elf. Hopefully they will brew Naked Elf again this coming Summer.
The rest of the beers that I have for this Christmas I have not had before. We start with Sly Fox Black Raspberry Reserve. I actually have two bottles of this interesting beer and I have not opened either of them, I will probably drink them for Christmas dinners and perhaps one for New Year's Eve. While visiting Seattle earlier this year I visited Pyramid Breweries and I have now had pretty much all of Pyramid's regular offerings. Over the Summer I had their Summer seasonal beer and now for the first time I have had Snow Cap Pyramid's Winter seasonal. I have had one of these and I enjoyed the beer, having had their Weizen beers this was a big change from what I am used to from Pyramid. Deuane was pretty excited about Anchor Brewing's Christmas Ale which even if I had tasted it before it would not matter. Anchor has been brewing a Christmas Ale for 32 years and they change the recipe and they also keep the recipes a secret. I would like knowing a little bit about the beer, but I can respect tradition. Anchor's Christmas Ale for 2006 is good and it is dark, so it is right up my alley. The final Winter beer I currently have in my beer cellar is Tommyknocker Cocoa Porter Winter Warmer. I have two bottles of this and I have had one of the bottles so far. I was not sure what to expect from this Winter Warmer and the taste surprised me. The best way I can explain it is that it has a chocolate sour taste to it. It was not difficult to drink, but the taste definitely let you know it was there each gulp.
I am sure I will stumble across a few more Winter beers, especially since Winter does not start until later this month. Also, tonight marked two weeks in the bottle for our Christmas homebrew. So in another week or so you will no doubt be seeing a photo of a refreshing pint of our Christmas Porter. We also brewed our Oatmeal Breakfast Stout last weekend, it is currently racked in secondary. I will be bottling that interesting beer next weekend and with real coffee and chocolate in the beer it might pick you up as much as it knocks you down.
Each year I enjoy Starbucks Christmas Blend, and I can say that I always find it an enjoyable brew. We have actually been enjoying it here since before Thanksgiving and we drank several pots of the Christmas Blend last weekend. Most of the Winter and Christmas beers that my friend Deuane hooked me up with I have not tried before. I have had Weyerbacher's Winter Ale before and have always enjoyed all the offerings I have had from Weyerbacher. The other seasonal I have had before is Troegs Mad Elf, which is a massive beer. I like the Mad Elf a lot and because of the 11% alcohol by volume it is an excellent candidate for cellaring. I will be saving some of the 2006 Mad Elf for Summer tasting and at least one bottle for Christmas 2007. For the record, Troegs had a single batch beer called Naked Elf without the cherries and honey and I liked it even more than the Mad Elf. Hopefully they will brew Naked Elf again this coming Summer.
The rest of the beers that I have for this Christmas I have not had before. We start with Sly Fox Black Raspberry Reserve. I actually have two bottles of this interesting beer and I have not opened either of them, I will probably drink them for Christmas dinners and perhaps one for New Year's Eve. While visiting Seattle earlier this year I visited Pyramid Breweries and I have now had pretty much all of Pyramid's regular offerings. Over the Summer I had their Summer seasonal beer and now for the first time I have had Snow Cap Pyramid's Winter seasonal. I have had one of these and I enjoyed the beer, having had their Weizen beers this was a big change from what I am used to from Pyramid. Deuane was pretty excited about Anchor Brewing's Christmas Ale which even if I had tasted it before it would not matter. Anchor has been brewing a Christmas Ale for 32 years and they change the recipe and they also keep the recipes a secret. I would like knowing a little bit about the beer, but I can respect tradition. Anchor's Christmas Ale for 2006 is good and it is dark, so it is right up my alley. The final Winter beer I currently have in my beer cellar is Tommyknocker Cocoa Porter Winter Warmer. I have two bottles of this and I have had one of the bottles so far. I was not sure what to expect from this Winter Warmer and the taste surprised me. The best way I can explain it is that it has a chocolate sour taste to it. It was not difficult to drink, but the taste definitely let you know it was there each gulp.
I am sure I will stumble across a few more Winter beers, especially since Winter does not start until later this month. Also, tonight marked two weeks in the bottle for our Christmas homebrew. So in another week or so you will no doubt be seeing a photo of a refreshing pint of our Christmas Porter. We also brewed our Oatmeal Breakfast Stout last weekend, it is currently racked in secondary. I will be bottling that interesting beer next weekend and with real coffee and chocolate in the beer it might pick you up as much as it knocks you down.
