The Twelve Brewers of Christmas 11: YellowBelly

There was a palpable change of gear for YellowBelly during 2019, with the pace of new releases slowing right down. It didn't stop, though, so I still have a handful of new ones to cover off.

They produced something called a "micro sour" which I found at the Rascals taproom: 1.5% ABV and called Han So Low. It's a hazy orange colour and even smells watery. There's a vague tartness, some grain husk, and a sweet mix of orange cordial and vanilla. It doesn't really work as a beer beer, but as a non-alcoholic substitute it's great.

I was suspicious of the next draught special I found: Elysium. This claims to be a weissbier but is only 3.5% ABV. A leichte weisse, then. Nevertheless it's convincing for the strength, with a proper weight and rich fruitiness. It's very fizzy, which adds a pleasingly champagne-like crispness, and an edge of toasty pale malt goes with that. The surprise finish is a generous slathering of strawberry jam which makes it almost too sweet to be easily drinkable. It works, though. Another passable low-alcohol number, this one sufficiently beery.

More recently, and based on a semi-original idea by Ben Clifford, Sky Tigers is an amber ale. As one would expect for the style it shows a rich and warming toffee base overlaid with fruity and floral hop notes. I get strawberry, predominantly, but also red cherries, roses and apricots. Maybe it could do with a heavier hand on the hops, introducing more of a citrus tone, but as a red ale it does the job well. At 5.5% ABV it's on the right side of sessionable, and winter is the ideal season for its gentle malt warmth.

For Beer Club members, the next release was a fruited ale called Memberberries: a simple recipe to which blackcurrants, blackberries and raspberries have been added. It's an easy-going 4.2% ABV, pouring a hazy orange-pink with a tight head on top. The aroma was a little off-putting, being dry and grainy, like rye bread or cream crackers. However, that simply serves to magnify the rush of berry juice which floods out from the first sip. I'd probably have guessed there was cherry in this: it's richer than what you usually get from raspberries. Mixing raspberry and blackberry also gives an effect like loganberry, which shouldn't be surprising. While it's certainly sweet, there's enough fizz to cleanse the palate afterwards, leaving behind the fruit flavour without the attendant sugariness. This is extremely quaffable and I'm glad I got six of them because a second needs to follow quickly after the first.

The final chapter of Beer Club 2019 (and possibly Beer Club Ever as they don't seem to be running it again) is called The Last Stand. The stress of getting these releases out on time is perhaps apparent in the lack of a proper label. It's 8.2% ABV, a dun brown colour and hopped with Columbus, Citra and Cascade. I was expecting Bigfoot. It's quite a bit different, however, and a lot sweeter. There's an oily orange rind taste up front, and some rosewater high notes, all backed by lots of caramel. The bitterness arrives in the end, tasting quite old-world (I guess that's the Cascade): grass and boiled veg. This is filling, warming and nicely balanced between hop and malt flavours. Just what you want from a barley wine, and a fitting end to the two-year series.

And so: it's almost Christmas Eve and I have just one more of these posts to do. Who will it be?