Advent Calendar Window 11 - Reindeer's Delight

"Now I think we collectively as a people

Should rise against this corporate jolly noise

And tell the world 'Let's buy some piece and quiet for a change'

Before we spend it all on fucking toys"

I'm finding it difficult to write about this beer as the reindeer on the label is likely to take my soul if I say anything negative.

I'd like to tell you about Oakleaf Brewery from Gosport, Hampshire being founded in 2000 and how I've never come across any of their beers before but I'm afraid that I might be saying it all under duress as those evil eyes watch me from the bottle as I take each sip from my glass. I'm not sure what this Reindeer's "delight" is but I can only assume it comes from harvesting souls or coming around on Christmas eve to kidnap humans to feast on for the next 365 days. This reindeer is humourless, soulless and lifeless, which is ironic when we consider the beer...

Oakleaf - Reindeer's Delight 4.5%

This beer pours like the blood of the reindeer's enemies diluted with water. It's as flat as a catholic's 4th century view of the earth's shape. There's some decent intrigues happening on the nose: cooking apples, bramble bushes and raisins. This isn't the worst tasting beer ever either - mainly because I don't mind apple juice. I don't mean cider, I mean apple juice. I like Copella. But this isn't quite Copella. I believe Volvic do a flavoured water now that is just water with a hint of apple. It may well be this, though they diluted in a teaspoon of a mildly hoppy beer to try and create the illusion that this has been brewed rather than just fashioned. It's drinkable because it's flavoured water. It's not a delight. It's not festive and I'm not going to even peel the label off this bottle as that dead eyed reindeer will feast on my brains if it remains in my house any longer. This beer certainly claimed my Christmas spirit.

Christmas Spirit Rating: .......................................................

Revisit: Boggart's Christmas Rum Porter
or
The explosive Noel de Calabaza

Comments

Children and Dogs in Pubs and Bars

I once took my niece to the pub. She was either 1 or 2 years of age. I often looked after her on Saturdays and on one of our weekly walks, for the first time, I stopped by the local pub, mainly because my friend was there with his daughter of similar age. The two kids got on well together and it was a lovely couple of hours; a perfect showcase of adult friends and their children existing in public houses. But my sister was furious. She didn’t rant or rave but her lips were purser than a 90s children’s show teacher. It was here that I learned of the effect that our childhood had had upon her. She recalls many an afternoon being bored in the corner of pubs that our Dad had dragged us to, arms folded in the corner with nothing to do, and she doesn’t want the same for her children. The idea of her first born being taken to pubs infuriates her; fearful that they would be subjected to the same unhappy experiences that she was. I don’t recall those times in the same way as my s

"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

Beer Compurgation

Search This Blog