Today is the final day at the Holiday Ale Festival in Portland, Oregon. Time for me to get back to the North Pole, but first here are 5 more winning Christmas beers. Stickmen Brewery of Lake Oswego, Oregon and Alameda Brewing of Portland are new to me.
Stickmen Brewery The Twerking Elf (2013) is a Sour Brown Ale. It pour brown with a lacy tan head. It smells sour with plums and cherries. It tastes slightly sour with malts, Granny Smith apples, sour plums, and dark fruits. I find it refreshing. The 7.2% ABV will catch up with and have you twerking.
Alameda Brewing Admiration IPA. Admiration pour amber with a thin lace head. The nose is pine, orange zest and resin from the hops. It tastes like a double IPA with strong earthy pine cones and stewed orange peels. The bitterness derives from Centennial, Cascade and Chinook hops. The malts on board bring balance to the smooth, surprisingly non-bitter finish. It’s 6.8% ABV and 65 IBU, which you can taste every bit of.
Bear Republic Brewing Prepare To Be Boarded 2012 is an epic Spiced Stout, more spice than stout. It pours muddy, dark brown with a chocolate head. It smells like a European Christmas ale with strong cloves, allspice, ginger, cinnamon, on a sweet malty backbone. The flavor is very strong spices, the same as on the nose. Although it is barrel aged I don’t pick up the barrel notes over the spices. The carbonation is strong with a warm finish.
Bear Republic Brewing Do You Want To Build A Snowman? This is a barrel aged blend of four differ beers, Cuvée de Bubba, Pinot Noir refermented Kolsch, Tequila Barrel Aged El Oso Lager and Demolition Derby. These beers come together and present tropical fruit notes. It has a mild tart flavor with fruit and spice from the barrels. It’s 6.8% ABV and only 20 IBU reflecting the light nature of this before-dinner beer.
Burnside Brewery Jingleberry Imperial Stout is a huge stout. It pours black with a chocolate brown head of foam. It’s brewed with cranberries which show up on the nose. The state is all Imperial Stout with full-died toasted malts, slight coffee notes, with dark chocolate cake with milk chocolate frosting on the finish. This is a really good stout with 53 IBU and weighing in at 8.3% ABV.
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