Beers to note - December 2016

In December, due to it being Christmas I did drink a lot of seasonal and special Christmas and winter brews. These beers are always hit and miss and so perhaps next year I'll avoid all the seasonal ones that crop up, apart from the big hitting seasonal regulars from Harveys and Shep Neame. This is reflected in my list below of beers to note:


Bloody Notorious (Beavertown) - 9.1%
This was a beer in a can that I shared due to it being such a high hitter. It tasted amazing. Big hop hits, fruit notes not entirely orange as they try to make out and abv not feeling higher than 6%.

Davy's Old Wallops (Charles Wells) - 4.2%
Now I'm not sure if it was the mug it was served in that made this beer stand out for me, but it tasted great. Was smooth and easy drinking session beer that is well worth trying.

Organic Chocolate Stout (Samuel Smiths) - 5%
This beer is one of my all time favourites. Actually this and any of the fruit beers that Sam's do. The chocolate favour is amazing, it smooth and creamy to drink, doesn't feel like any percentage, which of course is dangerous. Though you certainly can't have more than 2 of these in a session as they are heavy and will become to sickly sweet.

Delirium Noel (Brouwerij Huyghe) - 10%
This was a heavy hitter but again was a bottle share. The citrus smell coming off it was everything you would expect from the perfect Belgium beer. It's taste was exactly following on from the scent and went down a treat, but you do easily feel the ABV on it, which is a very good thing for a double digit beer.

Trooper Red 'N' Black Porter (Robinsons) - 6.8%
I've included this one as I had been looking for it for a while and happened upon it by chance but sadly it didn't live up to my expectations. It was of course red when held up in the light much like a Guinness but it lacked that bit extra I was expecting. It was a decent beer and I would definitely drink again, but I think maybe my own hype let this one down.

Santi-Freeze (Burton Bridge) - 4.5%
This was the best Christmas themed beer for me. perfectly balanced beer that was easy to drink and I had a few as part of my session which is unusual for a Christmas beer.

Icelandic Arctic Pale Ale (Einstok) - 5.6%
Einstok make amazing beers, is my judgement after drinking this one. I'd previously had their stout and still have a another one spare to drink. The pale ale was just as well developed. Beautiful crisp beer that makes you want more. Now I need to find the White Ale, just hope my hype doesn't get the better of me like it did with Trooper.

Stiegl Pils (Stiegl) - 4.9%
A beautiful tasting Pils that shows up some of the mainstream Pils we have over here like Camden Pils or Veltins. This beer shows how a Pils should be done and was a pleasure to drink