Skip to main content

Advent Calendar Window 6 - William's Nollaig

This years calendar introduction is here. 

"Dear Santa I've been good this year
Can't you stay a little while with me right here
(Tell me) I've got to know
Where do lonely hearts go
Because nobody ought to be all alone on Christmas"

I imagine that the majority of us were first introduced to the Williams Bros through their “Historic Ales of Scotland” package (that used to even grace a stall at Manchester’s infamous Christmas markets.) My brother bought me that gift box some 5 years ago for Christmas and I was instantly enamoured with the styles and techniques – particularly Fraoch and Alba.

Since then, I’ve actually read rather reproachful comments about these traditional ales from bloggers more interested in Williams’ modern exerts into the likes of Joker IPA and Caesar Augustus. These are solid brews in their own right, but I’m still impressed by the likes of Fraoch and its story.

William Bros. Brewing Co. started life as a Homebrew shop until they came by the ancient gaelic recipe for a heather beer: Fraoch. Within a year of the beer being released, demand was far outstripping supply and, with the addition of the other Historic ales in subsequent years, the brewery continued to expand. It wasn’t until 2004, when the brewery moved from Strathaven to Alloa that they started to divulge into the more “contemporary” beers that grace a lot of supermarkets. But the market for the Historic Ales remains strong.

It seems only natural then that if any brewery was to try and create a Christmas beer brewed with actually Christmas trees (spruce) then Williams Bros would be prime candidates. It also happens that I’ve never tasted Nollaig but it is behind the Window of Day 6 of this Beer Advent Calendar.

Williams Bros Brewing Co - Nollaig - 7%

Nollaig pours a murky persimmon shade with perfect marshmallow head. My immediate thoughts as the aroma of the beer fills the room are of barley wine. There's so much honeyed caramel and burnt sugar. There's extra hints of orange peel and a little clove but it's dominated by a massive sweetness. To taste, Nollaig is a stumping delight at this point. It's incomparable so I'm searching for fresh tasting notes; the sort of beer you’re happy to review as you’re not just repeating what you’ve said about a thousand previous beers. There's lemon, honey, pine - not in the hoppy sense of pine, but the actual tree branches - there's rosemary, Satsuma and just a little caramel in contrast to that deftly sweet nose. It manages to be light but full bodied all at the same time. It has many orange fruit flavours, but it's powerful, warming feeling looks at snow-covered mountains, rather than sunny beaches. It's complex and intriguing and is only letdown by an aftertaste of washing up liquid that mars what is quite a delightful - and very different - drink. What it lacks on the finish, it makes up for in originality. This is what Williams Bros do best for me.  

Christmas Spirit Rating: 73%. I want to frolic in a snow covered spruce tree forest. 

Revisit: La Rulles Cuvee Meilleurs Voeux 7.3% from December 2013 
or
Mikkeller's Hoppy Lovin' Christmas from December 2012

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
1 comment
Read more

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...
4 comments
Read more

BEER INDUSTRY PERSONNEL - COME TO DADDY!

Around 7 months ago I started dating a pub manager. It was inevitable in many ways. Amongst the perks that come with being involved with somebody on the other side of the bar, came the dread of how to react in future to the interactions involved in bar work.    It isn’t a situation I’ve been in before so it has required adjustment. I’ve never had a partner pull up a chair in the office and stare at me through part of the working day whilst occasionally ordering goods from me. So you don’t want to interfere in your partner’s work whilst still getting to enjoy the pub.   You don’t want to suddenly take up a spot on the bar where you make gooey eyes at each other with every pull on a hand pump. You don’t want to be one of those possessive teenagers, watching like a bar hawk and scowling at any intimidatingly handsome pair of arms that makes your other half roar with laughter. You want to separate their work from your social life and allow everything to sti...
11 comments
Read more