Advent Calendar Window 12 - There is NoeL in Christmas

For whatever valid reason, I'd begun to worry in previous years that some of are more modern and respected micro breweries were not embracing the festive season. With Christmas beers getting an undeserved bad reputation and not requiring a fistful of late hopping for style, I think many of them felt it was a tradition not for them. I've been proven wrong, of course, with this year I've discovered Christmas delights, whether new or old, from the likes of Red Willow, Ilkley, Hawkshead, Partizan and Revolutions to name a few. The Hop Studio are another usually hop focused brewery that have joined the seasonal spirit with There is NoEL in Christmas 4.5%. Having been launched just last year, the evidence seems to suggest this is the first year the brew has been released.

"We'll see the days of glory,

We'll see the days when men of good will

Live in peace, live in peace again."

The beer pours chestnut brown and is noticeably thin. The chestnut theme runs through this beer from start to finish with a roasted, nutty quality on the nose with very light spicing. The taste is pure roasted chestnuts in a glass which just about qualifies it for Christmas. Another beer where the nose matches the taste and never divulges much more. Warming this up and selling it from a cart in a city centre high street would not be amiss. The malts are domineering with a little spicy tang of hops reaching the tongue at the very end. The body is too thin though to give much else and the non-existent carbonation is the real downfall here. It's a decent tipple drunk, noted and nearly forgotten. Perhaps one for cask rather than bottles.

Purchased from Beer Ritz, September 2013.

Drank alongside a chocolate shepherd and a chocolate reindeer as assumedly Lapland based shepherds herd different cattle to those of Israel.

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