Winter Warmer - Garrison Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax)

Winter Warmer - Garrison Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 6.5%

Smells roasty, sticky and like caramel. A dark amber in a glass, a little like burnished wood. Very strong flavour, sweet with a somewhat floral spicy punch and fairly bitter with cloves but also with a hops flavour that is ever so slightly (and pleasantly) green.

Not an ale for the faint of heart but perfect for a curling up with during a dark winter's night. Would be a great drink to serve at any Yule, Christmas or New Years Eve party and would also make a great stocking stuffer for that beer lover on your list.

Truly a great winter style beer, I'm not surprised at all it brought home a Silver Canadian Brewing Award in 2009.

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 THREE

It this concluding entry my three part Yule Beer series (see part one & part two here and here respectively) I will discuss the handful of yule beers (aka Juleøl, Julebrygg or Julebokk) that contain an alcohol percentage above 7.1%. Enjoy!



Aass Juleøl Premium (Norway - Drammen) 9.0%

Darkly malty. Bitter caramelized sugar. Yuley but it didn't have the impressive flavour I expected from Aass, their 6.3% beer is better.


Ringnes Julebokk 2010 (Norway) 9.0%

A dark chocolate tasting smash in the mouth with a malty aftertaste. It is black in a glass and really good. I did not expect this from Ringnes: although their Juleøl Sterk was good, their lager is so so and their lower alcohol Juleol is just blah.

This one is really well balanced and smooth, not heavy, on the tongue. This strong tasty beer, with its smoky undertones and deftly measured sweetness, has surely ruined countless Norwegian Christmas dinners and work parties as it is 9.0% ABV wrapped in a Trojan Horse of deliciousness and therefore more than capable of overrunning the unwary. If they sold this year-round I might give up wine! Not to be missed.

St. Martin - Cuvee de Noel (Belgium) 8.5%

From the "Abbaye de Aboij Van" this 'Certified Belgian Abbey Beer' smelled of cinnamon at first. Oddly, when I set it aside for a moment (that's odd in and of itself), it very slowly spouted a pillar of foam out of the bottle so I poured it into a glass revealing a cloudy walnut brown colour. I drank the last sip from the bottle getting a mouthful of grit (delicious grit but way, way too strong tasting) which is a rookie mistake, I should have known better, but we carry on.

Inhaling the aromas of this beer brings me back to the three glorious days I spent in Brussels: smells of flower and spice seem to be the trademark of Belgian abbey beers, but this beer also has much more distinct tones of ginger and cinnamon (spice and everything nice to borrow a phrase). Obviously not in the same style as Norwegian Yule beers or German winter beers, but this beer is an absolute hit, and a must try.

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Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed reading about these delicious (and not so delicious) Yule Beers and the Norwegian Christmas tradition that they are continuing.

Cheers!

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.