Advent Calendar Window 7 - Mary Christmas

Oh Ilkley Brewery, why would you even describe a beer to me as Christmas in a glass? On purchasing Mary Christmas 4.7% I am hit with that odd mixture of emotions; dread and excitement. The two contrasting feelings are based on the same pre-judgements about this beer. It says it is a blonde Christmas beer. It says it has a good dose of American, German and Australian hops. It says it is shoved full of spice. It says it is "Christmas in a glass." All reasons to be cheerful. All reasons to be set for failure.

I have mixed feelings about Ilkley brewery. Drinking in Yorkshire frequently and seeing their beers cross the Pennines means I spot them regularly. There have been some in their core range, particularly the renowned Mary Jane or Joshua Jane, that have been decent but not lived up to excessive hype. Yet other beers, such as the Lotus IPA or The Mayan, show me what a great brewery this is. Whether they are just well marketed remains to be seen. Whether this beer disappoints...

"And by the light of that same star

Three wise men came from country far

To seek for a king was their intent

And follow the star wherever it went"

Pouring a very thin and clear light golden shade, the nose here is an interesting mix of confused caramel, fighting nutmeg and lost banana. The taste is... it is Summer and Winter clashing. Let's phrase this another way:

Recently I had Emelisse's Smoked Rye IPA for the very first time. I am, as I say repeatedly, a huge fan of smoked beer. I also love Emelisse's IPAs. And so surely this marriage was made by the angels. Not quite. It was a clash of titans; a battle of great respected forces that didn't find a peace treaty or agreeable ground to join in harmony. Everything worked, but on separate levels, like pouring a delicious Makhani sauce over your roast chicken dinner. Great entities, not a deity.

Mary Christmas resembles these analogies. It is good beer and good ideas clashing slightly. I like the pretence of making a spicy Winter affair out of tangy, hoppy paleness. All the ingredients are there for a sublime finish, but the result isn't so palatable. This is fresh with orange peel, grapefruit and sunflower oil hashed together against cloves, fried ginger and maple syrup. It's so close to working in my Christmas beer ideal, but I'm not sure it does.

Mary Christmas is definitely an intriguing and commendable different approach to Christmas drinking, whilst retaining the festive characteristics. I'd like to see it again, but it is certainly one to divide opinions.

Purchased at Beer Ritz (by mail) September 2013

Comments

"They Had Their Issues, So..."

There’s a set of garages to rent as storage units near my workplace. One of them is taken by a local florist that uses it to store flower arrangements for various events, that are more often than not funerals. As such, at least once a week at 8am I will pass a car being loaded up with flowers arranged into heart shaped patterns or the letters M U M. It is a grounding reminder that, as I mentally grumble my way through the upcoming arbitrary grievances of my ordinary working day, a group of family and friends locally is going through the hardest time. It provides much needed perspective on days when I could do with being reminded of all that I have to be thankful for. These little moments explain to me why it is possible for us to share a communal loss when a celebrity passes away. Grief is often a personal and lonely experience, shared between a minority of people in your life. When a co-worker loses a relative or friend, it has little affect on me, bar signing of

The Ten Pubs That Made Me - Part 3: Dr Okell's / My Foley's Tap House and Leeds

A pint in Mr Foley's Tap House from December 2022 This is Part 3 (the fourth post) of an ongoing project. Please see the beginning of Part 0 for details. Come the end of this journey, there may be a lesson in procrastination that I am unlikely to heed. These posts stem from a list that I made three years ago and a series that I embarked on 18 months ago. We’ve only now reached a 30% completion rate and with this post we are back to fail for the second time. This odyssey began with a trip to Mr Foley’s Tap House in February 2022 – named Dr Okell’s bar on my first visits in 2005 – only to discover that it was closed. It did reopen by the time that the post was coming out and I managed a brief visit in December 2022. However, my July 1 st 2023 trip to Leeds, on which this post is based, is met with this sign at the door of the bar: A quick check of social media shows an Instagram post from the day before (June 30 th ) announcing the closure of the

LIVERPOOL - the City that Craft Beer Forgot Part II (and found...)

After visiting Liverpool, one of my favourite cities, in February this year, and not impressing people with my rather hasty but honest verdict on the city’s lack of craft beer, I jumped at the chance to return last week and hoped to come out with a more attractive judgement. A couple of friends and I visited on a day out, with neither of them having been drinking in the city before. It was left to me – or rather, I volunteered – to plan the day’s itinerary and places to visit. I had a couple of new or unvisited places in mind myself, but knew it would be unfair to miss out on some of the city’s famous gems. With around 10-12 hours in which to fit in an entire city, I opted to concentrate on the famous Georgian Quarter and see if we had time for the Dale Street end later on. We planned to arrive in the city for around 11a.m. just in time to walk up Mount Pleasant to the new-on-me, though I believe it has been opened three years, Clove Hitch on Hope Street for breakfast.

Beer Compurgation

Search This Blog