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.

15th Anniversary Malt: Vanilla and Cocoa - Garrision Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 9.0%

15th Anniversary Malt: Vanilla and Cocoa - Garrision Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 9.0%

Opaque, dark chocolate black/brown in a glass with a thick beige head. Bitter dark chocolate aroma with a mix of faint dark fruit and some doughy rye bread tones with some subtle hops aromids too. Some light sediment at the bottom of the bottle that adds some grain and fairly prominent oatmeal flavours. The sediment really adds an interesting dimension to the beer so I'd strongly suggest pouring the whole bottle into one glass (or into a pitcher and then into glasses if you are really intent on sharing).

Strong tasting: roasty, a little smoky, slightly tart dark fruit and dried red fruit tones, alcohol with the bitter flavour of the darkest of chocolates.  This mixing of light sweet malts with touches of caramel (crystal and caramel malt) with a smorgasbord of dark (and very dark) malts and then coupled with the high alcohol tastes like an alcoholic fruitcake made with brandy (maybe a splash of whiskey - if anyone actually makes fruitcake with whiskey) and absolutely loaded with dried fruits.

Not entirely unexpectedly, this beer gets better as it warms: the fruit esters and touches of high alcohol are still decidedly there but mix more deliciously with the deep malt flavours and the vanilla really starts to come out. It is still very bitter, and there are still chocolate flavours, but rather than striking me as a mostly dark chocolate flavoured beer I'd almost say molasses and maple with some smoke sum up the flavours better (with the aforementioned fruit esters and tastes of alcohol). The hops flavours also come out more as it warms but this brew is still a celebration of malt rather than hops. Obviously there's a lot of depth to this malty beauty: try it cool, try it warmer and enjoy it all round.

Winter Beard - Muskoka Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Bracebridge) 8.0%

Winter Beard - Muskoka Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Bracebridge) 8.0%

This Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout is an opaque, very deep brown that is nearly black. There is alcohol in the aroma as well as tart red fruit with a dark chocolate backing. The taste is strongly of alcohol with dark chocolate, milk chocolate and, at first, some hops then tartness and red fruit (presumably cranberries) with a finish that reminds me of fruitcake.

Overall, a nice strong fruit flavoured seasonal but the fancy bottle, elaborate name and description (see below) and hilarious graphic built up sky-high expectations that the beer just doesn't seem able to meet.