Pudding it out there

It's important that every day on the calendar has a beer or beer style assigned to it. Today, the last pre-Advent Sunday, is known as "Stir-up Sunday", though nobody knows why. Brehon has us covered for an occasion-worthy beer, described as a Christmas pudding stout and containing cherries, sultanas, nutmeg, cinnamon, cacao nibs and lactose. The wax top sent a signal that it would be strong but it's only 5% ABV. I guess I should consider that a mercy.

The spice mix makes its presence felt immediately from the aroma, though it's much more the rawness of the cupboard than anything mixed and cooked. On the flavour, conversely, the chocolate is foremost: bright and sweet, given a Dairy Milk character presumably by the lactose. The spices arrive late and, rather than playing up as silly novelty, help to balance the sweetness and dry the beer out. No one of them dominates, and the peppery nutmeg and warming cinnamon are both very discernible individually. I can't say the same about the dried fruit: that seems to be just making up the numbers. The effect is more mince pie than Christmas pudding however.

Regardless, this is lovely. Sure, they could have done it at a higher gravity, and it would have benfitted from the resulting extra richness, but that would have made it a different beer. I'm not sure it's made for the session, exactly, but it's light and accessible while still full of seasonal character. More than anything it reminds me of the Christmas beers that good traditional English breweries put out. I see no harm in an Irish one doing likewise. A big thanks to the brewery for sending this freebie bottle my way.