The winter solstice has almost arrived, and with it comes the deep need to celebrate family ties, bring evergreen trees into our home as a symbol of nature’s determination to survive the harsh winter months and to drink dark, rich beer. The other Michael Jackson, a guy who is to beer scholarship what that first guy is to crazy has-been pop stars, describes winter beers thusly:
Brewing special seasonal beers predates modern history and has its origin in the pagan celebrations of winter solstice. Later, as monasteries often functioned as the local brewery, some monks made the the first holiday commemorative beers to celebrate the birth of Christ. Winter beers are as much a state of mind as a style, but beers best for fending off the cold of a long winter night — such as old ales, strong ales, barleywines and strong lagers — are often associated with winter.
Most respectable breweries release some sort of seasonal beers to keep their patrons warm through the cold months. A good example is Delirium Noel from Brouwerij Huyghe in Belgium, almost redundant when you think how rich are Huyghe’s two better known beers, Delirium Tremens and Delirium Nocturnum.
Happy holidays!
I can still taste my last Noel in the back of my throat, which is all the recommendation Delirium Noel should need. But as long as the season lasts there’s no reason not to make a go at trying everybody’s seasonal beer. My ma adores the Black Chocolate Stout from Brooklyn Brewing (don’t tell her that it doesn’t actually contain chocolate) and any well-made barleywine deserves a try. Some brews you should try for the name alone. And of course, whenever possible you can hold true to the principle of act globally, drink locally. If your local brewhouse makes a knockout winter beer, give it a try and let us know. If you brew your own, here’s the chance to share the recipe.
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In honor of the dark, rich and spicy, this friday’s non-beer alternative is Talisker, made from sea-whipped peat on the isle of Skye.
This dram’ll grow hair on the back of your knees.
The sea leaves more iodine on Talisker’s peat than any other in Scotland, which gives Talisker a uniquely explosive personality that you won’t get anywhere outside of grampa jeb’s firewater. Without a doubt my favorite single malt, as long as I’m not looking for a soothing after-dinner cordial. Then it’s Highland Park or Oban.
DougJ
Sorry, Tim, but Lagavulin is peatier.
Tim F.
I didn’t say that Talisker had the most peat, only the most iodine. I’ve had Lagavulin and enjoyed it, but nothing compares with the bloom from Talisker.
DougJ
Okay, fair enough. They’re both great scotches.
Krista
Now that is a ringing endorsement. I still haven’t acquired a taste for most single-malts. I’m working up to it.
TallDave
Nothing quite like brewing your own.
stickler
Nothing quite like brewing your own, except when you think you’re brewing a barley wine but your extraction ends up pathetically low. OG = 1.060, plus fistfuls of hops.
The result is a beer so bitter that when I sampled it I think I lost a layer of enamel on my teeth. Ye gods.
Other “brew your own” disasters are really funny. Weeks after they’ve happened.
Like the time in Indiana when we had a May heatwave, and my homebrew started exploding in the basement. I ran out on the porch because I thought I heard gunshots in the street. But from the porch I realized that the “gunshots” were coming from inside the house. Blam! Blam Blam! Blam! What a mess.
Perry Como
Glenfarclas. It smells like caramel.
/devolve into Homer
John S.
Oban is a nice single malt.
When it comes to blended though, Johnny Walker Blue is like liquid velvet. Sometimes I prefer it even to single malt.
Steve
Ahhh, the Delirium Tremens! I spent an evening with that and some friends a few weeks ago. Very nice and some nice Delirium.
I especially liked the 24(?) oz bottles. Much less expensive than by the glass or by the 11.5 oz bottle.
KC
Ah, another prize winning blogging entry from Tim F. Thanks, Tim.
RSA
Tim F. is a man after my own tastes. Talisker to win, Lagavulin to place, . . . and Macallan (surprisingly, perhaps) to show.
TtexasMike
Glendronach
Macallan
Lismore
Glendronach and Macallan because I’m a sucker for the sherry cask.
Lismore because it’s impossible to find a better simgle malt for the price (twice the price even)$18.00 at the stores in Fort Worth.
Steve S
I bought some more Woodchuck this week. I still prefer cider. Cider cider cider cider
Horshu
My favorite seasonal beer (which gets harder and harder to find) is Anchor Christmas ale. Has nice spices in it, and it supposedly gets better with age (although I drink it all by the end of x-mas)
Dave Straub
Within a semblance of a budget, Sierra Nevada Celebration is my favorite holiday/seasonal beer of late. A nice, well-rounded IPA. However, I think I may have found my very favorite cold-weather brew when last night I uncorked my first-ever 500mL bottle of Unibroue’s Trois Pistoles. Magnificent.
I agree with John S. about Oban, though my first allegiance is to bourbon, especially Knob Creek.
artpepper
Just so happens I bought a bottle of Talisker on the way home from work yesterday.
A couple weeks ago, Whole Foods in DC was selling Delirium Christmas [sic] at $7.99 for TWO big bottles. Now they have Delirium Noel, correctly labeled for the US market, at double the price. War profiteers!
Bob In Pacifica
A lot of the smaller brewers are putting out Christmas beers. Anchor Steam does, I had a six-pack of that last week. I just had a couple Snow Plows last night. Not sure what brewery puts it out, but the label described it as a milk stout. It was rich and dark, but very smooth, almost sweet.
I have found that if there’s enough in the pension check I would rather an Irish whiskey than scotch. I’ve got a bottle of Laphroig based on its appearance on the palette of a character in a murder mystery novel, and while I vouch for its smokiness, I can’t say I plan on working hard to develop a taste for something so expensive. In fact, I have found the way to best enjoy a glass of it is to get mildly plastered on a few glasses of something else first. If I want to suffer instant penance for my drinking I’ll start exploring the whiskeys, or moonshine.
Stormy70
It helps to be the apple of your Father’s eye. My Father enjoys gifting me with bottles of this nectar of the gods. He is a good Da. Plus, he provides the quaichs.
stickler
That beer is from Widmer Brothers, in Portland Oregon. It’s an award-winning milk stout, and medium strength (5.5%, I think).
It’s also a commercial beer developed from a homebrewer’s recipe. Widmer has a contest every year where homebrewers from the Oregon Brew Crew submit their best brews, and Widmer’s brewmaster selects one to convert into a commercial version.
Everything those guys brew is excellent.
Halffasthero
Damn, I missed the Friday beer blog, but did want to chime in that I have never seen Johnny Walker Blue. So much for our liquor stores keeping up. Red and black is what we have and I prefer Red. I have friends coming on Christmas and one is a hardened scotch drinker. Is there a 2nd recommendation on this Talisker? I can always go with Bowmore again but wanted to try something new.
Carpbasman
When it comes to blended though, Johnny Walker Blue is like liquid velvet. Sometimes I prefer it even to single malt.
Blasphemer! (Though Johnny Walker Blue’ll do in a pinch)
I didn’t say that Talisker had the most peat, only the most iodine. I’ve had Lagavulin and enjoyed it, but nothing compares with the bloom from Talisker.
I’ve only had Talisker once, being a relativly recent convert to single malts. My impression of it was that it started out threatening you with the overpowering bogginess of Laphroig, transforming quickly into a more subtle but complex peat. It held my interest for far longer, that’s for sure.
I’ve got a bottle of Laphroig based on its appearance on the palette of a character in a murder mystery novel, and while I vouch for its smokiness, I can’t say I plan on working hard to develop a taste for something so expensive. In fact, I have found the way to best enjoy a glass of it is to get mildly plastered on a few glasses of something else first.
Smokiness doesn’t begin to describe Laphroig. As for the expense, I’ve found that a bottle tends to last me for 3 to 4 months (my bottle of Laphroig lasted 6). While I can understand wanting to dull the senses a bit before drinking Laphroig, I’ve found that drinking a single malt anywhere past the second drink is a waste of my time and good scotch. Especially if I’m drinking whisky because it tends to numb the tongue. Even if I’m drinking beer, after a couple of beers my senses are dulled enough that I don’t get the full enjoyment out of it. So, the bottle tends to be around for a while which mitigates the initial expense
My favorite seasonal beer (which gets harder and harder to find) is Anchor Christmas ale. Has nice spices in it, and it supposedly gets better with age (although I drink it all by the end of x-mas)
The alcohol content tends to fluctuate with their Christmas Brew fluctuating around 5%. Where I live, 5% is the cut off so that if its over 5% it has to be sold in a Liqour Store and if it’s under 5% it can’t be sold in a liqour store but can be sold in groceries and convenience storesd. We used to get it here a lot in the 90s, but neither the liqour stores nor the convenience stores have been in the habit of ordering it so our local distributors don’t import it any more (believe me I’ve asked). Which is shame, because it really is an excellent beer.
Anyway, that may or may not have something to do with its increasing rarity where you live, depending on your local liqour laws. It might also be because a lot fewer people drink craft brews and imports since the mid-90’s as well.
BIRDZILLA
They have a type of brew called FAT TIRE and one called GREAT WHITE we have a local brewry that has won medal and awards for some of its brews including RED PHOENIX
Gray
Hmm, one christmas my brother wanted to give something special to me. Turned out to be a bottle of Talisker. Expensive stuff, and I admit that it is really something special, but I could only have one small sip every other evening. This smoky favour really isn’t my thing, I can’t imagine having several glasses of it, alone or in company.
My favourite is Lochnagar (from the destillery owned by the queen). This is really a mild and harmonic ‘water of life’!
Jim Allen
stickler, I hope you gave your barleywine a chance to age. It may not have turned out as planned, but it may have been salvageable. I made a porter a couple years ago that came out so hoppy and bitter that I considered it good only for soaking the lables off the old bottles, and just set aside and forgot about it for about three months. I then decided to see if it was as bad as I remembered (if it was, I was going to dump it and reuse the bottles) — turned out it had mellowed considerably and was actually quite sucessful.
I’m going to agree with the positive assessments of Talisker — still my favorite single malt, with Lagavulin a close second.
Al Maviva
Ardbeg 17, folks. That’s all you know, and all you need to know.
One malt from Islay isle,
One to intoxicate them,
And if they don’t ‘get’ the Islay allure,
May the devil fornicate ‘em.
cleek
on a whim, i splurged and bought a bottle of Glenlivet 18 last month. i wish i could say i liked it better than the ol’ standby, Glenlivet 12. but i can’t.
Jim Allen
I’ve had a number of recommendations for Ardbeg — guess that goes on the “Happy Holidays” gift list (take *that* Falafel Boy!)