Someone gave me a bottle of the annual aged-for-a-year Samichlaus beer. At 14% abv it was obviously sweet, but not overly so. So it was malty and fruity and pretty good.
I’ve downloaded my year in beer from Untappd. December is my dry month so my “drinking year” runs from Jan 1 to Nov 30. I checked in 530 new beers and 66 new venues.
I had no barrel-aged beers this year. The strongest was a 9.1% peanut butter milk stout called Peanut Brother from Great Notion Brewing in Portland, OR. Had it in a tiny little pub in Preston, UK.
When looking for something new I usually look for big IPAs but for everyday drinking you can’t beat a traditional English cask conditioned bitter like Timothy Taylor’s Landlord.
A brewery near me (Conny Creek) often brews beers specifically using locally sourced ingredients.
Saturday night we were there and I had an IPA made with local knotweed, of all things. Slightly vegetal taste but really interesting.
My current favorite is Boulevard Brewing Company’s Dark Truth stout. I like the name, too.
Keeping it weird (as I am wont to do) I am at this moment sipping a Great Divide Mexican Chocolate Yeti Imperial Stout. Nice green pepper/cinnamon scent, cinnamon dark chocolate taste, very dark and rich, and quite tasty. At 9.5% it is definitely a sipping beer, though. Grocery Outlet never fails to amuse and amaze me.
I’ve been on the lookout for Kelpie, a seaweed brewed beer brewed in Scotland. One of my favorite oddities, one of my gf’s coworkers introduced me to it years ago.
I’ve not had that but have had Williams Brothers Fraoch Heather Ale. According to Untappd it’s “The Original Craft Beer; brewed in Scotland since 2000BC”. It’s classed as a gruit which uses various herbs for flavour and bitterness instead of hops.
I’ll keep an eye out, that sounds lovely.
My wife bought me a bottle of that in 2013. Definitely a unique flavor.
Cheers!