Holiday beers

Halloween beer and it nearly Christmas? My beer backlog is a shame and a disgrace, so I beg your pardon for my tardiness during this season of goodwill.

The White Hag's Samhain series got another makeover this year, transforming under the full moon into a Blood Orange Pils. I wasn't expecting it to be actually red, but it is: a vibrant scarlet, thanks to the inclusion of that established craft ingredient, anthocyanin. It still smells like a pilsner, though: lightly crisp with a hint of herbal hops. There's a faint suggestion of orange too, but nothing overdone. In the flavour the orange (zest, puree and whole fruit) adds an extra dimension of bitterness, rather than tacked-on fruit taste. It's a very dry beer and quite highly carbonated, but refreshing for all that. The hops still deliver a grassy punch and there's been no attempt to sweeten it. I haven't been a big fan of the brewery's lagers in the past, but this one is charming and not at all the novelty it presents as.

Manannán, a mango IPA, was a summer release. And I did drink it on a sunny day, albeit one where the sun was setting by 4pm. It's a lightly hazy yellow colour and smells brightly fruity and quite sweet, plainly designed for summer. Though 6.5% ABV, it's quite light bodied and worryingly easy to drink as a result. The flavour isn't a big one: I was expecting something a bit sticky but instead there's a gentle fruit-chew sweetness and a twist of orange peel but that's about your lot. I'm also pleased that they haven't attempted to hop it up. While it may be an IPA in name only, there's no clash between the hopping and the mango. So this is quite plain fare, and I think it would work best on a very hot day, albeit in moderation.

Finally something a little more seasonally appropriate: a new version of the brewery's (in)famous oatmeal imperial stout: Black Boar Rum Barrel. Rum ageing often leaves me cold; even more than busy bourbon, the cask can dominate a flavour unpleasantly, in both beer and whiskey. I'm happy to say this isn't one of those. There's lots of real dark rum flavour for sure, but none of the excess heat and sweetness that often blights these. Instead, the taste is more akin to rum and raisin ice cream, at a remove from raw spirit, and with an invigorating shot of espresso on the side to add bitterness. That's about as complex as it gets but it will absolutely do. More iterations are promised and I sincerely hope they change nothing.

Thus concludes my last post before the big day, so I'd like to finish by wishing all my readers a very merry and joyful Halloween.