The Twelve Brewers of Christmas 12: twelve more brewers

Surprise! I couldn't go out without one more random round-up for 2019, and here it is: all the beers that, through absolutely no fault of their own, I drank recently but couldn't fit into the previous 11 posts.

We'll start light, with a 4.3% ABV Dry-Hopped Lager from Dublin client brewer Crafty Bear. Although it's quite low in strength, it's a rich deep golden colour with a slight haze. I'm always worried when I see "dry hopped" on a lager from the anglophone world as it tends to imply citric American hops, which rarely works well. This isn't one of those, and tastes authentically noble and Germanic: celery, white pepper and nettles. The downside is that it doesn't taste or smell strongly hoppy in any direction. This is a rather plain affair and to be brutal, you'd be better off with a mainstream German lager than this attempt at brewing one in Dublin 12.

Galway Hooker released this slightly odd geopolitical art project, Four Horsemen, a session IPA of 4.8% ABV in 33cl bottles with four different world leaders on them. I got to it so late my bottle was a prime minister behind. It looks much like the brewery's flagship pale ale: a bright orange-red with a generous head of white. The parallel continues in the aroma: that classic earthy zest of Cascade on a base of crystal malt. The texture is softer, though: a gentle fluffiness rather than a hard west-coast bite. It's very decent: balanced between fresh hop zing (remembering my bottle probably wasn't even the freshest) and smooth malt-driven warmth. There's maybe a little more impact than the pale ale, given the slightly higher ABV, but everything you go to Galway Hooker for is right here too.

At Galway Bay, meanwhile, the latest new one is a double IPA called Comet on Fire. 8% seems to be the going rate for DIPA ABVs these days, though they have to be opaque yellow if you want to be down with the kids and this is merely a pale orange. The aroma is understated, even in one of the brewery's beautiful nosing glasses: a sweet and slightly hot orange liqueur effect. It makes up for it in the flavour, however: a delicious blast of fresh tangerine set on a malt base that's thick and warm but complements rather than interrupts the hop action. A hard citrus-peel bitterness arrives in the fade-out, but the finish is clean, that tangerine spritz being its last echo. This is a beautifully constructed double IPA: fresh, bright and packed with fun flavours.

A couple of cans of Vancity west coast IPA arrived courtesy of Kildare Brewing, a beer that harks back to the brewer's time living in western Canada. It looks good in the glass: a slightly hazy gold, the substantial head doubtless helped along by the nucleation points in the base. The aroma is straight from the spice rack: minty, with a pinch of nutmeg. The bitterness is low and the texture smooth, which is not what I'd automatically think of when it comes to this style. Its flavour is quite savoury: green onion and rye crackers. That's rendered extra chewy by a big texture and a warming 6.5% ABV. I think I wanted more zing from this; even though it was delivered direct from the brewery it tastes like it's not quite fresh. It may match perfectly the tastes of Vancouver, but not mine.

Kinnegar's Brewers At Play Series has been reset with a new numbered sequence. Here's the first two.

Trouble Brewing went up to Letterkenny to brew the first one: Trouble in Paradise. It's your standard coconut orange porter and tastes like the brewers stood over the kettle daring each other to add more orange. It's incredibly orangey, to the point of turning sickly. Citrus oils bring scented candles and floor cleaner to mind. The coconut is present but as little more than a seasoning. And the porter? It's a thick beast at 6.5% ABV, slickly textured and exuding chocolate sauce and espresso. I can't help thinking that the headline flavourings add nothing positive to this. It's not bad, but you'd really want to like your novelty porters.

Hefeweizen is number 2: 5% ABV and designed to be in the classic style. It's a bright and cheery orange-yellow and tastes of green banana with a clove spice, finishing on a slightly hot note of candyfloss and butane. Though the strength is a little on the low side compared with how the Bavarians do it, it's full and firm, delivering all the requirements of the style. It's a bit odd for a series of one-off specialities to includes something as on-the-money as this, but Irish-brewed authentic-tasting weizen is thin on the ground, so why not?

Make Hay from 12 Acres has been around since mid-summer. Still tastes plenty fresh though. It's a pale yellow colour and quite hazy. There's a sweet tropical foretaste with mango and guava, leading on to an invigorating kick of lime in the finish. All this is set on a dry mineral chalk base. There's a lot of flavour for just 3.8% ABV. My only real criticism is that the citrus pithiness comes on a little too strong, but that might be down to the can's age. It's hard to argue with bold and flavourful sub-4% ABV beers, though, and this is a really good one.

Props to whoever it was at Hope decided to make their winter seasonal a black IPA. Hope Winter Seasonal Black IPA is a relatively light one at 4.9% ABV. The aroma is a promising mix of sharp pine and rich red cabbage while the flavour is equally on point for the style, beginning on a note of dry burnt toast. The hops come in behind that, mostly bitter in a tangy and metallic way. Alas it all ends there. I was waiting for a bigger hop flavour: the oiliness, the resins, the citrus and veg; I even let it warm up to allow them unfold, but beyond a faint chocolate and nutmeg they left me hanging. I blame the strength, there's just not enough substance to carry the flavour the style demands. It's a perfectly decent beer but didn't give me the warming hoppy hug I wanted.

Hopfully jumped on the dark and strong bandwagon with 12 Lovers, a Baltic porter brewed at their former parent brewery Metalman. It's a weak example of the style at only 6.5% ABV and there's a very unorthodox inclusion of vanilla: not how they do things in Poland, that I've tasted anyway. As a result, it's missing the intrinsic properties of lager, coming across sweet and thick. Not that it's a bad beer: it's quite sumptuous, tasting of caramel wafer biscuits and chocolate and nicely warming with it. There's even a teeny twang of Baltic porter liquorice buried deep and just about perceptible if you squint. Partial thumbs-up for Hopfully, but mostly this made me want a properly clean, full-strength, version.

They followed it with a big-hitting Belgian-style dark ale called Van Damme, It's not especially dark, showing a clear ruby colour in the glass. Although it's all of 9% ABV it lacks the dense pudding feel of dubbels or quadrupels -- no figs or prunes here. The Belgian esters are lighter: peach and honey, with a pleasant tea-like finish. Although it's viscous, it's not especially hot, and tasted blind I doubt I would guess the ABV correctly. I'd probably also think it was a blonde ale. It's an enjoyable, complex and clean effort, well-suited to dessert without going overboard on the sweetness.

I was pleased to see a new canned beer from Metalman itself in Baggot Street Wines on my last visit. They've described Tiptango as a "super session IPA" and it's their entry into the low-to-no segment, being just 2.5% ABV. It pours a bright pale amber colour, fizzing busily before losing its head quickly. That's the first indication of a lack of substance, something that detrimentally effects lots of this sort. That said, the aroma is promising: a smooth and slightly sweet peach tea effect. The hops that create it are even busier in the flavour, bringing a fresh and spritzy zing, all tropical juice and citrus zest. An aspirin twang is another common defect with these, and this has it in the background, but not strong enough to harm the experience. Overall this is an excellent take on the hoppy low-alcohol style; at least as good as Mikkeller's Drink'in The Sun and, to my palate, considerably better.

Lacada's Simon kindly brought a sharing bottle of their new imperial stout, Elatha, to the Beoir Christmas party in Rascals. Thirteen different malts went into this 9.5%-er, and it was left to age for thirteen months. That has produced a somewhat autolytic aroma, giving a waft of Bovril from the get-go. All that dark malt brings a serious high-cocoa chocolate and dark-roast coffee character. The finish is lighter, fruitier: chocolate coated raisins, perhaps. The smoothness, richness and complexity on display here are not very different to what you'd get from a barrel-aged imperial stout. I enjoyed it, with only that twang in the aroma letting it down a little.

Next, an 11.2% ABV imperial stout (though the brewery insists it's metric): Black Ball, last of the Eight Degrees Rack 'Em Up anniversary series. Pouring was a bit messy as the can was filled right up to the lid, and it was very foamy as it poured. It's heavy to the point of sticky with a strong cereal dryness and a lacing of honeycomb from the Jameson barrels (via a company described as "our friends in Midleton", rather than "business daddy"). There's a mild tang of putty in the finish, which I'm guessing is the residual hop bitterness. Smoothness seems to have been the goal here, but it comes with a lack of complexity as the price. As a big imperial stout it's a bit short of character and only the whiskey saves it.

Larkins has been laying it on strong for the season, the lesser of this pair being a 10.5% ABV quadrupel called Quadditch. It hits the style points spot on, giving me a fruitcake mix of plum, raisin, date and treacle, plus a slightly sharper twist of orange peel or lemon zest. The can states that real plum has been included, though that blends into the authentically low-countries-tasting ester-driven flavour and I couldn't detect it specifically. This is a great take on quadruple, and it feels weird to be drinking it from a can rather than a bottle. Nevertheless: juicy dark fruit, a sharp acidity, a fresh-baked warmth -- this is quadrupel as it should be, whether brewed in Wicklow or west Flanders.

The topper is a little weaker than the Eight Degrees offering, at just 11% ABV: Morrigan from Larkins. It's another whiskey-aged imperial stout but this time it's bourbon. Less subtle, unsurprisingly, but all the better for that. There's a veritable sweet trolley of coconut, tiramisu and truffles, with a more savoury oak sap for balance. The whiskey brings a certain heat to the taste, but its main contribution is in the aroma: all the bright vanilla notes bourbon is known for. Lots going on, but it's every bit as smooth and integrated as the Eight Degrees one. This is a more ambitious recipe, I think, and it pays off beautifully.

I trust that has given you some inspiration for today's last minute beer shopping. Be careful out there.