The Twelve Brewers of Christmas 5: DOT

Things had been a bit quiet at DOT, until this set of new releases beginning  in early November. Forage & Rescue is a kettle soured wheat beer with added sea buckthorn. It's only 4% ABV and feels even less, with low carbonation and a very thin texture. The flavour is good – a refreshing orange and lemon cordial with a tang of salt in the background – and the tartness is teeth-squeak clean, adding a mouth-watering effect but not overdone. It's not one of your complex and involved sour beers, but is a perfectly acceptable session-starter.

And then the second in the foraged beer series turned out to be even lower strength: 3.2% ABV! Windfall is a wine-barrel aged table beer featuring gooseberries and blackcurrants foraged from the former DOT allotment in the Liberties before the bulldozers gentrified it. It's a hazy reddish-orange colour, stained by the berries I assume. There's a spritzy kir-royale aroma and the first taste brings a rush of delicious juice, which is a little bit Ribena but also shows a lot of dry and oaky white wine, presumably a combined effect from the barrel and the gooseberries. The finish is understandably short, but it's not thin or watery and has already put in some serious graft in the foretaste. I was thirsty when I came to the 75cl bottle and emptied the whole thing by myself, but I can see it working in smaller quantities too. Break out the champagne flutes and pass the canapés.

I wasn't going to attack its companion piece by myself, however: Cellar 8 is a main course at 14.4% ABV. A rye amber ale was the start of it, given two years in a combination of ex-rum and ex-sherry whiskey barrels. "A beast of delicate complexity" is the oxymoron promised by the label. Unfortunately for me I put the bottle in the kitchen fridge and forgot about it, so when it was time to pour the beer was much colder than it should have been. It looked good though: the burgundy shade of a ruby port. There's no head but there is a pleasing sparkle in the mouth. The sherry-cask whiskey is very apparent in the aroma. I even poured a glass of Black Bush to nose side-by-side. Any excuse. When it warmed up I found a very gently-flavoured, nuanced beer with no loud or brash elements. It doesn't even taste boozy, bringing no more than a gentle warmth to the belly when swallowed. The whiskey malt is still there, joined by rum-soaked raisins, plum pudding and that fancy hot chocolate at the back of the cupboard waiting for a special occasion. Temperature makes a huge difference here, transforming it from a rather bland and flat affair to a subtle sipper, worthy of your full attention.

Not that it's a competition, but I think I preferred the spritzy style of the table beer. Both are masterful, however.

To smaller bottles next, and a year ago DOT released a collaboration with 12 Acres called 12 Dots. Today there's a sequel of sorts: DOT 12, a barrel-aged imperial rye ale. It's 9% ABV and a murky amber colour. A vague berry aroma opens out into a very vinous taste: fruity summer whites come immediately to mind; notes of stonefruit and cantaloupe. There's a wholesomely bready body and a spike of bitter citrus in the finish. Quite an odd combination of flavours, all told. It works, though. A lightness of touch belies the strength and it never gets too busy. I think this will be an interesting one to age and see what happens when those bright and spritzy fruit flavours mellow out a little.

Two special DOT beers created for Redmond's off licence in Ranelagh arrived in November. The paler one is called Round Trip and is a pale ale aged in Madeira barrels, finishing at 7.8% ABV. The aroma is an odd mix: rich warm oak, light stonefruit and a sharper sourness. That spicy-sour mix forms the centrepiece of the flavour, along with more of a burn than you'd expect at the strength. It's an unsubtle beer, going heavy on the booze and wood at the expense of everything else. I found it quite rough, on balance. The initial promise of fruit never really delivered.

2019 Barrel Aged Imp Milk Stout is the companion piece: fairly self-explanatory from the name, except I don't think they used real imps. Held up to the light it shows a cola-coloured reddish brown: I thought 10.7% ABV would produce something denser. I was also expecting something sweet, but this has a burnt dryness and a sour touch from the use of bourbon barrels, meaning it's no candy bomb. More Madeira barrels add a dark sherry quality. The third dimension is the milk chocolate effect from the lactose. It's quite an intense combination, verging on busy and demanding one's attention. I wouldn't recommend this for relaxing fireside sipping: there's too much of an edge. But it's complex in a unique and fascinating way, drawing on wine and whiskey elements, as well as beer, which I'm sure was the point.

No straight IPAs this time round, and to be honest I'd be perfectly happy if DOT left them to other brewers. More barrels please.