Advent Calendar Window 14 - Hoppy Christmas

This will be an odd post based on certain reviews I've read recently. Prior to my first tasting of anything from Conwy Brewery I'd heard that they were producing good things. Then the Stalybridge Buffet Bar started to see a few of their ales on cask, as well as Mossley Organics getting their bottles in. With reluctant hope I tried their beers and found them rather good, especially the Celebration Ale that was part of my Halloween tasting.

Since those initial favourable reviews though, I have seen Conwy slated, not least by the rather well respected CAMRGB website. I came across their review of the Celebration Ale whilst trying it for myself and was shocked. Reading the reviews of the other Conwy beers surprised me further. Still, it was my girlfriend who picked up my bottle of Conwy's Hoppy Christmas 4.3% knowing I love Christmas themed beers and I added it to me Advent Calendar. Since then I read a CAMRGB review that tore this beer to pieces too. I started to wonder if there was some bias behind them or whether I was seeing a different side. So I tried to approach this beer imagining that it would be poor.

"If I ain't drunk then it ain't Christmas,

You know where to stick those Jingle Bells..."

Hoppy Christmas pours clear golden and frothy with a decent marmalade nose and a fresh bread undertone. It's the British definition of sharp and bitter, with a lemon rind hit over a sweet citrus base and a shortbread finish. I'd guess the bittering is plied with English hops, though I don't know for sure, but I find this a decent brew, if not yet perfected. The finish is a tad muddled but at least the tang is lasting and the brewing skills are apparent. It's certainly not a Christmas beer, similar to Mikkeller's Hoppy Lovin' Xmas and Brewdog's Hoppy Christmas, yet it's still a good brew worth picking up.

So why were Conwy disapproved of so strongly? I still don't know. This Advent Calendar blog supports the deeply spiced, mulled Christmas beers that so many bloggers seem to despise, but this beer is the anti-thesis to that ideal. Just over halfway through this calendar and I'd like to vent my frustration at those that claim not to like Christmas beer and find heavily spiced beers a sin. That's fine if that's your opinion, but similar to those I called out whilst discussing smoked beer, why would you drink a style you know you don't like? If you don't like this particular beer, why don't you stick to Double IPA's and Gozes through Winter? Nobody is forcing Christ

mas beers upon you. It is the most ridiculous opinion I think I've seen on social media. Yet Conwy's Hoppy Christmas isn't like those beers at all so surely you should love it. Surely....

Purchased at Mossley Organic and Fine Foods

Comments

THE STATE OF CASK part 2: The Cask Consumers

In what has become one of the most written about subjects amongst beer communicators for a long while I am going to follow on with my own thoughts about cask beer. Yet these ideas are formulated from potential posts I've been writing the odd paragraph about for around 18 months but never managed to construct into something relevant. I have much to say on the subject; so much so that rather than making this into one enormous read I've split it into three sections regarding the current trends and effects on cask beer as I see it. Today I look at the problem with consumer's and the immunity of one Timothy Taylor's Landlord. Part 1 can be read here . On the first Saturday morning of June 2016 I travelled to Stockport Beer Festival with my Aunt Marie and Uncle David; famously more traditional beer drinkers. They enjoy a day out in Stockport as, coming from Dewsbury way, they don’t actually see much beer from my side of the Pennines, incl...

National Winter Ales Festival 2013 - A Reasonable Farewell

Perhaps if this had been three years ago I would really have lamented the loss of the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester . Not only has it long been held in my home city, but it was also my first ever beer festival, signifying a special place in my heart. That first visit was in 2006 and the event was then held in a co–operative building near Victoria station. At the time, my young ale loving mind was rather gobsmacked by the wondrous multi roomed, multi floored experience as barrels and casks of the good stuff stood waiting for me to try at no more than 90p for a generous half pint. Breweries and beer styles I had never heard of were present. It was also where I had my first taste of rauchbier, an encounter I have never regretted. I paid £3 to enter that day as a non CAMRA member. The organisations members that did travel with me on the occasion entered the festival for free (so they say, I’m inclined to believe they paid at least £1.) “They’re not a money making ...

Beer is Available in Supermarkets

Thanks to @Adam_G_Manning for the photo and everyone else who offered to help on Twitter This beer blog has become a near eternal snake of content but at least I’m distinctly aware of it. First comes the repeated speeches every time a brewery sells up to a large multinational. Then comes the turn of brouhaha because a supermarket has changed its range of beers. It must be that time of year and I still feel as impassioned to comment. It was, once again, the major retailer T esco who increased their range two and a half weeks ago - this time with additions including North Brew Co and Magic Rock - for the second time in 6 months. I felt the need to make comment about the bewildering excitement then, just as I did in 2016 with the arrival of Dale's Pale and Pinner . This time there has been further furore, both from people that see the positives and negatives, aided by successful marketing tactics that has led to an awful lot of commentary. Late to...

Beer Compurgation

Search This Blog