Advent Calendar Window 13 - Special Holiday Ale

I bought this on my first ever visit to Beermoth back in March, spotting the three wise men on the label and instantly grabbing it for this year's Advent Calendar. At this point, it was the first I'd heard of Special Holiday Ale 8.5% - a collaborative brew between Nogne O, Stone Brewing and Jolly Pumpkin. Research into this shows that this a collaboration that has taken place each year since 2008 using the same recipe, but taken in turns to be housed at one of the 3 breweries each year, allowing for different brewing and aging practices. I like the premise and this particular is the second time the brew has taken place at Nogne O. A collaboration between three giants of brewing, Jolly Pumpkin were the only brewery I wasn't a huge fan of on purchase, but exploits into their Luciernaga and Noel de Calabaza in this very Advent calendar have made me a convert.

"Things are different since you've been here last
Childhood dreaming is a thing of the past
Maybe you can bring us some hope this year
Visions of sugar plums have disappeared"

Special Holiday Ale has a Ruby Port look and style about it with low carbonation. There's lots of complexity here that I've listed in my notes. For the nose I've written down: Sherry, red wine, cherries, fennel seeds, cranberries, thyme, raisins, hazelnuts. For the taste I've used the words; Grog, winter berries, more cranberries, more sherry, oak casks, I'm thinking of spruces, northern, snowy forests, Christmas. I'm not really getting the proposed spices but drinking this beer makes me feel like I'm in Scandinavia. There's certainly lots of goodness things going on here, but something in the finish is slightly lacking meaning all those tastes happening in your mouth are short lived. Desperate to keep the experience alive, I find myself reaching for another mouthful each time it disappears and the experience is over all too quickly. Excellent to a point, but perhaps would age even better.

Purchased at Beermoth, March 2013

Comments

WHEN CELEBRITIES DIE - THE INFINITY OF PUBS

Recently I was stood outside Huddersfield Railway Station waiting for my Replacement Bus Service. I was eating much needed food from a nearby fast food outlet and contemplating my next move. Other match-goers had gone home but I had over 50 minutes to wait for my bus. We’d already been to a few of our post-match regular spots and so I was contemplating somewhere new or different to pass the time now. I stood in St George’s Square, behind the statue of Harold Wilson, and pondered where I should waste my next hour. And pondered and pondered. After deliberation that ate into much of my allotted time, I walked down to the familiar setting of The Sportsman, realising that there wasn’t anywhere different to go at all. But whilst I deliberated, I cast my eye over the currently scaffold-covered George hotel opposite the station; a place I had been in once with my Dad. It’s downstairs public bar had stood as a firm and available option to match-goers fo...

The Pubs of Stalybridge Part One: The Stalybridge Seven.

And a touch more ... Rififi Nightclub - once the town's cinema - has stood empty and unused for four and a half years This is the continuation of my posts of regular pub crawls to try and get myself in more pubs and discover more. Whilst I grew up in an old hamlet that most were quick to distance themselves from, my address clearly stated that we belonged to Stalybridge. However distant the town centre felt I was a Stalybridger, a Stalybridgian, a Stalyian: you know I don’t think I’ve ever heard us given a name before. I’m going with Stalyian. After a few moves around the country and through various relationships, I didn’t expect to find myself still local to the town in 2017. Whilst my address hasn’t stated Stalybridge for 3 years, I still spend plenty of time in the town – not least as it houses my “local.” To many in the north-west, it is famous for its nickname of Staly Vegas , that came about (as far as I’m aware) through its late Nighties-through-to-N...

Advent Calendar Window 14 - La Goudale de Noel

"Keep my distance, but you still catch my eye, Tell me, baby, do you recognise me? Well, it’s been a year, that doesn’t surprise me" La Goudale is an interesting French enigma. I searched for this under the label Brassee a L’Ancienne believing this to be the name of the brewery. After some fruitless searching, I learnt that this is not the name of a brewer, but rather a French saying that, roughly translated, means “Brewed in a Traditional way.” La Goudale is actually from the Brewery Gayant based in Douai, North-east France that aleso houses other well-nown brews such as Amadeus and La Biere Du Demon. The real reason I find them an enigma though is for the discovery the other day that two of their beers – the Abbey and Wit – are sold in Aldi. They are in 750ml bottles and are £2.49 and £1.99 respectively. Housed here, the repugnant snob in me thinks they look cheap and unappetising on these shelves and managed to slightly put me off my La Goudale...

Beer Compurgation

Search This Blog