Christmas Ale - Shepherd Neame (United Kingdom)

Christmas Ale - Shepherd Neame (United Kingdom) 7.0%

A reddish gold colour in a glass with a frothy, white head of foam. A dry, slightly herbal hop aroma with light red fruit and plum flavours. Sweet, lightly boozy and herbal taste with caramelized stickiness and dark malty flavours mixed with some light fruit tones (apple, raisin, plum). Shepherd Neame's Christmas Ale has sherry traits but also the robust malty body of a nice amber ale. The mix of flavours reminds me of really good fruitcake and is pretty close to my ideal concept of an English Christmas Ale.

Big Rock Winter Spice Ale (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 6.0%

Big Rock Winter Spice Ale (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 6.0%

A clear burnt amber in a glass, not much of a head. An aroma of spices such as cloves, nutmeg, with cinnamon a touch of oak. A definite alcohol warming with those same spices in the taste, cloves, nutmeg, strongish cinnamon, as well as ginger with a red fruit, slightly appley touch that makes the whole thing seem like a perfect beer substitute for mulled cider, the more traditional spiced Christmas drink. Obviously, Big Rock's Winter Spice Ale has no where near that much apple flavour. A spiced, smoky and lightly bitter aftertaste with some dried red fruit tones. Fairly sweet as well as all the rest. Quite a nice spiced winter ale as long as you know what to expect: the strong spice flavours can be a shock if you aren't anticipating them.

Bah Humbug - Christmas Cheer! Wychwood Brewery (England)

Bah Humbug - Christmas Cheer! Wychwood Brewery (England) 5.0%

A quite reddish brown colour in a glass with a decent head and light lacing. A lightly cinnamon and malt aroma; a smell of glaze with some dried red fruits (cranberries). Hints of gingerbread and hops.

What a neat taste! Strongly cinnamon with cloves but with pronounced malt flavours of a red, like roast and glaze, and also sugary sweet crystal malt. The finish leaves your mouth feeling quite dry. The mix of flavours from this fine Christmas Ale puts me in a distinctly Christmas mood. Bah Humbug Christmas Cheer! from Wychwood Brewery would make a fun (and tasty) stocking stuffer for the beer geeks on your Christmas list.

Berentsens Jule Avec (Norway) 9.0%

A velvety smooth pallet rich in dark chocolate and coffee with cream. I had to wait for it to warm up (suggested serving temperature was 10 Celsius) and had supper ready but put food on hold so I could savour this beer in its own right: it was worth the wait. Interestingly hoppy behind the malty chocolate and only mildly bitter for a beer this dark, strong and Yule-y. Pitch black in a glass.

(I can't believe I forgot this one - when doing my Yule beer specials 1, 2, and 3!)

Norwegian Yule Beers: PART TWO

This second installment covers Yule Beers that range in alcohol content from above 4.7% to under 7.0% ABV. These beers are sometimes called Julebrygg (Yule Brew) instead of Juleøl (Yule Beer). And also, although this trilogy is entitled Norwegian Yule Beers it also includes a few non-Norwegian Christmas beers that I purchased while I was living in Norway.

One of the most exciting things about the Norwegian Yule Beers and Brews is that while all of the good ones share a certain Yule-y flavour they are all still distinct which makes sampling them all a lot of fun. Enjoy!

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Aass Juleøl Det Original (Norway) 6.5%

I'm a fan of the Aass brewery (as I make obvious here) but this is truly a top notch Yule beer. It smells like a red, looks like a porter and tastes like a delicious something-in-between. Bitter and malty but the defining taste is the distinctive Yule beer taste honed wonderfully: sweet, smoky, tastes of caramel, hints of oak and with an almost wine-like flourish.

Aegir Bryggeri Julebrygg (Norway - Flåm) 6.0%

This beer comes from a brewery nestled on the coast of the breathtaking Aurlandsfjord in the quaint town of Flåm. It's fruity and a little malty, and has a really flowery bouquet. Well balanced and excellently crafted but not Christmas-y or Yule-y, just tasty.

Berentsens Julefnugg (Norway) 6.5%

Really dark in a glass with a creamy foam. Very bitter and smoky with flavours of coffee, roasted nuts, caramel and very malty. This beer is particularly strong flavoured for a Yule beer and predominantly bitter.



Christianssands Bryggeri Juleøl (Norway) 6.5%

Wow, this beer is impressive: black like a porter with a frothy head this has the typical slightly bitter sweet caramel taste of a Yule beer but also packed with flavours like sage, toasted bread, hops, coffee and deliciousness. At 6.5% it is strong like traditional Jylebryg (Yule Brew). I recommend it!


Dahls Juleøl (Norway - Trondheim) 6.5%

Sweet with caramel flavours and tastes of apples. It's pretty good and much better than I had expected considering how bad Dahls Pils is.

Erdinger Schneewibe Das Winterbier (Germany) 5.6%

Very sweet, it's cloudy and it tastes cloudy. It is unfiltered so you have to be mindful of the sediment while pouring it out, you can drink sediment but it's not the 'best-practice'. It has a mildly bitter taste at first blush or should I say brush of your palate (if you're counting that is three puns) but is quickly washed away by a very sweet taste. It's not at all like the Christmas beers of Scandinavia but nor does it try to be: it's German and it bills itself as a Winter Beer (actually as THE winter beer) and its interesting combination of flavours seems to fit that name quite nicely.

Fredrikstad Original Recept Juleøl (Norway) 6.6%

The Borg brewery's contribution to Yule beers. Surprisingly mild mannered at 6.6%. Dark brown in a glass. Hints of oak and coffee but a generally shortlived taste. Initial bitterness masks a fruity underlying flavour of dark cherries which lingers on a little in the aftertaste. A very pleasant Yule beer but it really takes some 'digging' to root out the full flavours, all in all good but mild. Certainly not the taste adventure that some of these other Yule beers are.

Hansa Julebrygg (Norway) 6.5%

Dark in a glass and malty. Tastes a little like bitter cherries. An overly long and lingering, almost cloying aftertaste. This beer tastes as if Hansa felt it HAD to make Yule beer rather than doing it out of any particular inspiration. If it wasn't for the ugly aftertaste this would be a fine beer. As it is, it's a pass.

Mack God Jule (Norway - Tromsø) 6.5%

It is bitter and sour. Musky like a burnt cherry glaze on a roasted beast. It tastes like the smell of old liquor cabinet with spilled then evaporated sherry with hints of mildew. Though in its defense it is from the most northerly brewery on the planet. Pass.

Ringnes Juleøl Sterk (Norway) 6.3%

Dark and sweet and quite bitter. A nicely complicated flavour that tastes decidedly like the depth of winter. Hints of an ineffable wood flavour, toasting bread and smoke, with a strong taste of a bitter fruit stored in a musty earthen cellar. Fairly dark in a glass and, for it's strength and pronounced flavour, fairly light on the tongue with a somewhat nutty aftertaste that doesn't linger overly long. Quite a good beer.

Norwegian Yule Beers: PART ONE

This is the first in a trilogy of posts reviewing the many many many Norwegian Yule Beers, this will cover Yule beers from 0.0% to 4.7% ABV.

Aass Juleøl (Norway) 4.7%

Pleasantly hoppy like most Aass beer. It also has a bitter malty aftertaste that one would expect from a Juleøl. It is fruity as well (grape juice overtones) and reminds me of on old fashioned red Dutch windmill (I don't know why but it does). In a blind taste test the typical hoppy taste that is practically the trademark of the Aass brewery would be more readily identifiable than that this particular Aass beer is supposed to be a Yule beer. However, with that said, I'd be happy to drink a second bottle and I like that Aass has a certain signature flavour that is found in nearly all of their beers, there is something about that that smacks of authenticity.

Aass Jule-Uten Alkoholfritt (Norway) 0.0%

Very malty and also sweet. Quite strangely it smells like tomato sauce... tastes like it too and a little of oak. Needless to say, don't try this one.

Frydenlund Juleøl (Norway) 4.5%

Sweet and with that lovely caramel and toasted bread mix that characterizes Yule beer. A hint of something that reminds me of sherry; like a mix of cherry wine, cotton candy with a background flavour of molasses. A nice Juleøl and typical of the lot: try only this one and you'll get the idea of what tasty Norwegian Juleol is all about.

Grans Julebrygg (Norway) 4.7%

Reddish brown in a glass. If it wasn't for the smothering sour taste if would be ... alright. At first the flavour is dark, with caramel and roasted something. The taste creates an image in my mind of a dark log cabin on a snowy Norwegian hill with snow laden pines pressed in close and you can barely see candlelight flickering through the windows like the gleam in an eye ... and then someone throws a bucket of sour beer on you. PASS.

Grans Juleøl (Norway) 4.7%

Only mildly Juleøl-y, tastes mostly like their regular Grans Premium with some red added. Slightly sour taste. Not a real Yule beer; tastes like Grans felt compelled to make a Juleøl but did so without inspiration. Pass.




Lade Gaards Juleøl 4.7%

Deliciously hoppy at first taste. Flavours of caramel, malt, maple, cinnamon and toasted bread. It is a deep reddish brown in a glass and has a cool classic label as well as a rare screw top in a land of pop off bottlecaps.

If you let it breathe in a glass the caramel taste really comes to the fore. But how could you let this beer languish in a glass!? It's so delicious it won't last. Too bad it only comes out at Christmas time, err... Yule.

Santa Clausthaler (Norway) 0.0%

Refreshing and light, it tastes a little red, a little like apples, a little musty with hints of caramel. If you want to a Norwegian Yule beer but without the alcohol this is a great choice. Not as thick as a full alcohol beer, reddish amber in a glass. Yum!

Munkholm Alkoholfritt Juleøl (Norway) 0.0%

Very light and sweet. A pleasant amber in a glass. Tastes hoppy, bitter and faintly of toasted bread or caramel. It's not a bad alcohol free Yule beer but Santa Clausthaler is much better.


Ringnes Juleøl 4.5%

Sugary and vaguely red, kind of malty. Tastes like normal Ringnes only with "red" beer flavour added. Of the many Yule Beers out there this one is near the bottom on the pile.


Tuborg Christmas Brew (Denmark) 4.7%

Fairly light on flavour and in a glass. Its reddish hue is one of the few things that distinguishes this beer from regular Tuborg; more bitter too and it has some stronger touches of caramel flavours and malt taste. All in all this isn't much of a Jule beer. You can give this one a pass but considering how ubiquitous it is in November and December (especially in Denmark) that might not be possible.