The Twelve Brewers of Christmas 9: Eight Degrees

For 2020, Eight Degrees picked Ireland's munroes as the theme to their special beers. There were six in total, the first three scattered through earlier posts but I've ended up collecting the second half into the below.

Fourth in the series was a Belgian IPA, no less. Remember those? Loral and experimental hop HBC 522 feature in Fort of the Fianna, a mostly-clear golden number, at 5.4% ABV. The aroma is modestly Belgian: honey and spices, rather than fruit and funk. There's a lovely citrus kick in the foretaste, with a rub of lime wedge and some lemon zest, before the smoother Belgian side takes over. Peachy esters arrive in the middle, and then the incense and allspice effect I associate particularly with tripel. The hoppy side could stand to be more pronounced: my preference for Belgian IPA does lean towards the American takes, while this tastes more Belgian. I have to damn it with the faint praise of being enjoyably understated. Part of me feels current extreme beer trends mean I should talk up the calm and balanced ones more, but at the same time I know Belgian IPA can be done better than this.

I thought that, as with last year, the series was concluding on a dark one, this time a 6.5% ABV porter called The Black Road. They've used smoked malt in this, and sure enough there's a faint hint of fiery roast in the aroma, while the flavour tails off on a note of peaty phenols, but otherwise the smoke is very much on the down-low. You'd hardly notice it. For the most part this is a straightforward medium-strong porter, big on dark chocolate, Americano coffee and creamy tiramisu. At first I was disappointed by the lack of novelty but then very happy with how solidly enjoyable it is. This is no-nonsense fun, albeit something I'd prefer to have by the pint or three rather than 440ml. But while we're all treading The Black Road, a can will have to do.

I was wrong about that being the last in series, though. It didn't finish dark but it did finish strong, with an 11.5% ABV sherry-barrel-aged tripel: Devil's Ladder. Back on that Belgian kick. You don't see barrel-aged tripel every day, and certainly not from Irish breweries, so I was expecting something special when the brewery kindly sent it out to me with a bunch of other Christmas goodies. It's a deep orangey gold colour in the glass with a gelatinous haze. The aroma is very vinous, in a sweet and dessertish way: tokaji, shading to mead and into hippocras. That spiced medieval feel is all over the flavour too: the pepper and clove of a real Belgian tripel but with added grape and honey and, to put not too fine a point on it, booze. It stays clean and quite crisp, though. Other supercharged tripels can burn and cloy; this one brings only a gently relaxing warmth. It was a daring experiment, but they've pulled it off, taking a good example of the base style and enhancing it without resorting to gimmickry.

I'm sure the creative theme for 2021's specials is already ready to go. Did someone say 10th anniversary? Ready when you are, Eight Degrees.