Beverages and Blades - Traditional of Course

btb01 said:
Ok, it’s my final night doing the German Brewer’s Advent Calendar (we’ll be traveling for Christmas starting tomorrow), and I think the calendar has gone out with a bang!

First up, for Day 23, is Fürst Carl Kellerbier from Schlossbrauerei Ellingen. This is the second Kellerbier (German for “cellar beer”) in this calendar, and I enjoyed this one much more than I remember enjoying the first. It’s unfiltered so it’s a bit hazy, and the color is a beautiful burnt orange. The flavor is malt-forward, not much bitterness and perhaps a bit on the sweet side, but there’s also an interesting sourness that I really like.

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To finish things off, the advent calendar has served up the sort of thing I've been looking for all month. Day 24 is Kartäuser Doppelbock Dunkel, brewed by Privatbrauerei Egerer. 7.5% ABV, a beautiful dark beer full of caramel malts, interesting fruity flavors (I’m getting raisin and maybe a bit of cherry) and a touch of spicy bitterness from the hops to balance the sweetness. A great way to finish this advent calendar. Prost! 🍺

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Excellent conclusion to your Advent, Barrett, every one of your posts was a treat (even if the beer was not). I find it shameful that there are so few brews in that Advent that are on the fuller/darker side but I suspect they probably are trying to market to those with more domestic tastes than craft.
 
I have some catching up to do as we wind down to the conclusion of my own Advent.

December 18: This one is another import and the second one to be had from Samuel Smith's. This is their Organic Raspberry Fruit Ale. My experience with Fruit Ales are generally in the form of a sour or a light ale with more subtle fruit notes. I am really picky about sours, in that most of them I do not care for - however, some of the more fruit forward sours (particularly berry ones) can be an absolute treat. This one is different in that it is almost akin to a sparkling fruit beverage with a lot of body - in short, it is really, really pleasant.

I have had it before but it has been a few years and I'd say my fondness for it hasn't diminished. The process by which it is brewed is interesting: according to the label on the bottle, it is an ale that is brewed with wheat and barley, undergoing a couple of fermentation processes before it is sent to Tadcaster where they blend in pure raspberry juice and an unnamed cellared ale.

It is very raspberry forward, with a very balanced tartness to sweetness ratio. I could drink a LOT of this and likely regret it later.

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December 19th: This brings us a second offering from Calapooia Brewing Co., out of Albany, OR. This is a brewpub that we attend as a family relatively regularly - they have great food, great ales, and share their facility with a local distillery (possibly now owned by them) as well. This is their Turkish Coffee Stout, a seasonal offering that apparently is an oatmeal stout that has been brewed with locally made cold brewed coffee, cinnamon, and cardamom.

It is an interesting brew. You can definitely get the cinnamon and cardamom notes on the finish but it is otherwise pretty coffee forward and lacks the creamy mouthfeel that one can expect from an oatmeal stout (until it warms a bit, that is). It's good but I might need to have more of it before I make a more decided opinion on it.

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December 20th (only 4 more days): Another import! This time, we have one from Belhaven Brewery, out of Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland. This is a "Wee Heavy", a Scottish Ale and an excellent one at that - straight from the source 😁. I generally like wee heavies as they are usually pretty rich and malty, despite typically having a lower ABV (by American standards).

The description on this one is as follows: "Belhaven Wee Heavy is a classic Scotch Ale, showcasing the wonderful malted barley native to East Lothian. A rich, dense, complex beer, with notes of dried fruit and candied peel, it's like Christmas cake in a glass."

I don't think I have anything to add to that - it is really quite good.

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Pàdruig said:
Excellent conclusion to your Advent, Barrett, every one of your posts was a treat (even if the beer was not). I find it shameful that there are so few brews in that Advent that are on the fuller/darker side but I suspect they probably are trying to market to those with more domestic tastes than craft.
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Thanks, Dylan. I enjoyed the advent calendar, even some of the Helles lagers and Pilsners were surprisingly good. If I were to rank the beers (not something I have any intention of actually doing), a couple of those would even go right towards the top.

Pàdruig said:
I have some catching up to do as we wind down to the conclusion of my own Advent.

December 18: This one is another import and the second one to be had from Samuel Smith's. This is their Organic Raspberry Fruit Ale. My experience with Fruit Ales are generally in the form of a sour or a light ale with more subtle fruit notes. I am really picky about sours, in that most of them I do not care for - however, some of the more fruit forward sours (particularly berry ones) can be an absolute treat. This one is different in that it is almost akin to a sparkling fruit beverage with a lot of body - in short, it is really, really pleasant.

I have had it before but it has been a few years and I'd say my fondness for it hasn't diminished. The process by which it is brewed is interesting: according to the label on the bottle, it is an ale that is brewed with wheat and barley, undergoing a couple of fermentation processes before it is sent to Tadcaster where they blend in pure raspberry juice and an unnamed cellared ale.

It is very raspberry forward, with a very balanced tartness to sweetness ratio. I could drink a LOT of this and likely regret it later.

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That’s one I haven’t tried. When I did my big Sam Smith’s haul last year, I think they had a spot for it, but it was out of stock.

Pàdruig said:
December 20th (only 4 more days): Another import! This time, we have one from Belhaven Brewery, out of Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland. This is a "Wee Heavy", a Scottish Ale and an excellent one at that - straight from the source 😁. I generally like wee heavies as they are usually pretty rich and malty, despite typically having a lower ABV (by American standards).

The description on this one is as follows: "Belhaven Wee Heavy is a classic Scotch Ale, showcasing the wonderful malted barley native to East Lothian. A rich, dense, complex beer, with notes of dried fruit and candied peel, it's like Christmas cake in a glass."

I don't think I have anything to add to that - it is really quite good.

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I like the sound of “Christmas cake in a glass.” I’m usually a fan of Christmas ales, winter warmers and the like. Thankfully a couple of the German beers I got this month touched on some of those Christmas-y flavors (particularly the Weizenbock, and the Doppelbock from Day 24). One of my favorites, which I mentioned briefly in the Lounge yesterday, is SanTan Brewing’s Winter Warmer. It’s served with a little plate of ginger snaps that they bake themselves, which I might think was a bit silly if they didn’t pair with the beer so well.

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Jdottinger said:
Didn’t want to get my sister-in-law in the pic lol really wanted to get a pic of the canoe under the business sign but it was too crowded. El Machete Bar and Grill
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Alright…you’re off the hook this time, but next time show some chips and salsa please! Just be careful not to drop the knife in the salsa like I did when I was talking the same type of picture. 🤣🤣🤣
 
bigfish64 said:
Alright…you’re off the hook this time, but next time show some chips and salsa please! Just be careful not to drop the knife in the salsa like I did when I was talking the same type of picture. 🤣🤣🤣
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That should have helped the patina, I would think... not the most popular method, but I bet it would work... 😁
 
Tomorrow marks the end of this rather fun Advent - it has felt like this month has eaten up the days and I have no idea where all the time went...

Here are the last few beers before tomorrow's finale.

December 21st: Black Hole, a Black IPA from Coin Toss Brewing, out of Oregon City, OR. I am very picky with my IPAs, mostly because here in the PNW, we have an over abundance of them with many breweries/brewpubs offering 3-6 different IPAs and not a whole lot of anything else. As a result, I've become weary of the perpetual "hop bomb" and have largely turned to other styles to enjoy. That said, the Black IPA, sometimes called CDA over here (Cascadian Dark Ale), is a unique style in that it pairs the hop forward elements of an IPA with the dark roasted malts one typically finds in a Porter or Stout. The resulting marriage can definitely be hit or miss - kind of like mixing grapefruit with your black coffee in the morning... When you have a hit though, it is fantastic and achieving that balance can produce a pretty unique ale.

The Black Hole is a hit, in my opinion. Full bodied and robust, the hop forwardness gets more subtle as it warms a bit and then you can appreciate the roasty finish a bit better.

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tmd_87 said:
Digging into the stouts on this cold day. Excited for the storms that should be rolling in this weekend. This stout is an easy one to drink!

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I love that Stout, Taylor, I try and pick it up every time I come across it.
 
December 22nd: Elvish Winter Ale, from Brewery 26, out of Portland, OR. This one is a pretty hop forward winter ale - very full bodied though with the typical festive spices on the finish. This is an ale that benefits from warming a bit to cut the edge off that initial hoppy blast. Once it has mellowed, it is a really enjoyable winter beverage. (Giant head though, it fizzed up something fierce even before the pour)

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