Three breweries. Ten beers. Tons of fla,vor. Breweries everywhere are coming out with their seasonal and holiday brews to warm your cockles (look it up). Below is just a fraction of what’s available but each is guaranteed to please. Happy holidays!
Samuel Adams
Ruby Mild. The company says this limited release is inspired by the English mild ales popular in the 1800s. Its ruby color and prominent malty aroma comes from seven malts, including traditional English malts like Marris Otter and its light citrusy notes are attributable to East Kent Golding hops. There also are intriguing clove and brown butter elements in the nose. This pleasant easy drinking brew (5.6 ABV, 20 IBU) sports a light sour cherry flavor, with malty and chalky notes, finishing with a nice hoppy lift. An ideal accompaniment to holiday meals.
Fat Jack Double Pumpkin Ale. With more than 28 pounds of pumpkin per barrel, accented with more of those East Kent Golding hops and malts including rye Special B and smoked malt, this selection from the Small Batch catalogue actually does show classic pumpkin pie spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. In the mouth, roasted and smoked malts deliver hints of molasses and caramel and pretty high alcohol (8.5 ABV 25 IBU) but still with a smooth mouth feel. Obviously perfect for Thanksgiving.
Tetravis. A new addition to the Barrel Room Collection, Tetravis is modeled after a Belgian-style Quadrupel – blended, aged, and cask conditioned. While brewed with low bitterness Hallertau Mittelfrueh noble hops and Special B, Carafa 1, and Munich malts, it gets its unique character from blending in a special Belgian-style sour ale they call “Kosmic Mother Funk” that is a blend of Brettanomyces yeast and bacteria aged in Hungarian barrels for a year (and is blended into each Barrel Room Collection beer in varying levels). This one also is bottle conditioned with Champagne yeast. All this results in a heady brew that variously exhibits fruitcake, plum, currant, caramel, sour cherry, earth, molasses, raisin, fig, clove, and spice! With all this complexity and high alcohol (10.2 ABV, 18 IBU), this one is best with dessert or by itself after dinner.
Deschutes
Hop Trip Fresh Hop Pale Ale. “Fresh hop” means the Deschutes team brings just harvested hops from the fields of nearby Salem to the brewery in Bend within four hours of picking. Those include Salmon Safe Nugget, Centennial, and Fresh Crystal hops that are balanced with NW Pale, Extra Special, Cara-Munich, and Carapils malts. Refreshing citrus, pine and resin notes meld with grapefruit, spice, caramel, and tropical notes. Even at a friendly 5.3 ABV and 38 IBU, it delivers solid, mouthfilling, citrusy and spicy flavors nicely balanced with malty character.
Jubelale. A festive winter warmer ale, Jubelale, now in its 26th year, actually is the first brew ever bottled by Deschutes. With six types of hops and five types of malts, I found this impressively flavorful and complex. It opened with roasted coffee and chestnut (or was it chicory?) aromas that carried into the mouth. That palate carried its 6.7 ABV well and showed excellent depth, offering mocha and malt character, with a sharp hoppy (70 IBU) lift in the finish.
Chasin’ Freshies Fresh Hop IPA. Another fresh hop beer, this one comes from the Bond Street Series (their seasonal special release program). In contrast to Hop Trip, it is made with newly harvested Bravo and Amarillo hops (note: last year’s version emphasized Cascade hops) and at 65 IBU, nearly three-fourths more IBU. These are complimented with Pilsner Malt and Flaked Oats . And it sure is fresh. There is a lot of grapefruit, fairly high alcohol (7.2 ABV), but also an earthy note and an intriguing suggestion of green grass.
The next two beers, like Jubelale, are best suited with dessert or after dinner. They also are capable of aging for up to a year.
Black Butte Porter XXV. This 25th Birthday Reserve of Deschutes’ flagship beer uses cocoa nibs and roasted coffee from local producers. A final aging in whiskey casks imparts intensity and complexity. This well structured drink has so much going on I picked up layers of chocolate, coffee, anise and dried fruit – fig, currant, berry, plum, cherry, and date. And it packs quite a punch with 11.3 ABV and 65 IBU.
Abyss 2013 Reserve Imperial Stout. The eighth vintage of this extreme stout is a powerhouse – note its 11.0 ABV and 70 IBU. It is made with licorice and blackstrap molasses, vanilla bean and cherry bark all aged in bourbon, pinot noir and Oregon oak barrels. What you get out of all this is a concoction that offers hints of molasses, licorice, chocolate, and caramel in a frame of great depth and complexity.
Oskar Blues
Old Chub. A really fascinating Scottish strong ale, its generous amounts of malted barley and specialty grains, with a dash of beechwood-smoked malt result in a full flavored brew – also evidenced by it 8% ABV and 60 IBU. Earthy aromas of mocha, date, caramel, and toasty brown sugar are followed by flavors of roasted grains, sweet malt, caramel raisin, cocoa, blueberry, mocha, and spice. Whew!
Ten Fidy Imperial Stout. And then there is this, an impressive stout, large scaled in every way (10.5 ABV 98 IBU). It is strong and full and complex but not heavy. Start with an opening blast of resin, molasses, roasted barley, oat, chocolate, caramel, and coffee balanced with strong hoppy character. In the mouth there is more of the same but you will immediately notice a roasted malt flavor (likely from the two-row malt and chocolate malt) finishing with a nice bitter note that actually seems understated given its high IBU.