An epiphany

I've just managed to catch Hopfully's Christmas 2022 release before the season officially ends. This is Jingle Juice, a single-hopped Strata pale ale, which is 4.5% ABV and exclusive to Molloy's off licences, presumably intended as a casual fridge-filler or party beer. It's quite a pale hazy yellow and does indeed smell juicy, sweetly of jaffas with a hint of vanilla and a drier savoury edge too. It's light-bodied without seeming thin and the juice carries over neatly into the flavour: big firm orange segments, bursting with bittersweet citrus. Don't expect much complexity beyond that. There's maybe a tiny hint of garlic in the finish, but I'm hypervigilant for such things and it's barely noticeable. At €2.50 a can (and a free Christmas jumper if you buy 24), this is a cost-effective crowd-pleaser.

Something perhaps a little more seasonally suitable follows next: Nightwalker, a Baltic porter. I'm not usually a fan of breweries messing with the basics of this style so was sceptical about the inclusion of chocolate and coconut in this one. It's quite pale too: a reddish cola brown rather than black. The ABV is just about acceptable at 7.5%. The coconut is present in the aroma but not overwhelming, and there's still some more traditional bitter liquorice in the mix next to it. There's more coconut in the flavour, all the way through from fore- to aftertaste. Unfortunately there's not much else. I guess they were aiming for a clean lager base, but it's so clean as to be almost characterless, leaving you with just the coconut. There's a tiny hint of that liquorice, but no chocolate and not much dark malt either. It took me a while to make my peace with it, and it's definitely another example of why you should never try and improve on Baltic porter with novelty ingredients. That said, it's not a bad or unpleasant beer. If stout with coconut normally floats your boat, here's a slight variation on that which is worth your while.

We say goodbye with Howdy, an IPA in which the Strata is joined by Citra and Comet. It's hazy, as is Hopfully's wont, and the same shade of bright yellow as the can. Oranges and lemons says the aroma, though more diluted cordial than fresh fruit. The body is a little thin for something at 6.5% ABV, and there's a sweet vanilla aspect to the flavour which is a bit odd without a matching density. In the flavour the Citra is doing most of the heavy lifting, setting a sharp lime bitterness at the centre. Around that there's softer orange and a tang of spring onion. I guess this is one for those who enjoy hazy IPA but find their cloying sweetness unattractive. If that means they're better when thinned out, here you go. It failed to spark any fireworks for me, however.

Turns out the dinky seasonal sessioner has the beatings of both the big IPA and the Baltic porter. That's not how I expected this to go down, but it's Christmas, Theo. It's the time of miracles. Just about.