Beer: Harp Lager

Brewery: Diageo (Great Northern Brewery) Dundalk, Ireland

Overview: Harp Lager is a bit of an anomaly in ale-rich Ireland, but was developed in the 1960s as a response to a market trend towards lager-style beers.  As such, it does not particularly fit in a classic category, but its brewery location in Ireland makes it surge in popularity for celebrations aside its big brother, Guinness.

Aroma: Light malt smell along with a meadow breeze rising off of wet grass.  Some lime and lemon in the background.  Fresh and clean.

Appearance: Crystal clear very pale yellow.  Giant frothy head that sticks around the center of the surface and leaves some lacing on the glass.

Flavor: Malty sweet, but very light in overwhelming tones, with some of the light citrus notes carrying over.  Very little hop bitterness at all, perhaps a slight freshness, like cut grass or a Spring garden sprouting in your mouth.

Overall Impression: Highly drinkable and pleasant.  Not a complete standout in the history of beers by any standard, but a good stock party beer to work your way through, particularly towards St. Patrick's Day in an attempt to get something "authentic."  More like a generic light pilsener than anything else.  Good, and fun to drink, but I think I'll stick to the stouts on March 17.

Vitals:
Style Irish Lager (no classic defined style)
Price $7.99/six-pack
Found In Grocery Store Beer Aisle
Alcohol Content 3.5% by volume
Availability Year-round


Rating: 91

Beer: Belhaven Wee Heavy

Photograph by
Cameron Mathews

Brewery: Belhaven Brewery Dunbar, Scotland

Overview: Belhaven Wee Heavy is the strongest offering from Belhaven Brewery, and carries with it the classic Strong Scotch category.

Aroma: Heavy aroma of dark fruits with raisins.  Malty sweetness with a hint of brown sugar.  Some light smoke underneath.

Appearance: Clear brown with amber highlights looking slightly orange around the edges of the glass.  Thin greyish-tan head with superfine bubbles.

Flavor: Malty sweetness up front with some evergreen hoppy notes on the sides of the tongue.  Figs and other fruits hanging out.  Somewhat of a dry finish with a hint of smoky ash, and a tonic-like end in the throat.  Some cocoa bitterness throughout.

Overall Impression: One of my all-time favorite Strong Scotch Ales, the Wee Heavy is appropriately named.  Not strong enough to punch you straight in the teeth, but with enough alcohol hiding in there that this may cut your drinking session in half.  Overall the sweetness is delicious and blends well with the smoky and peaty characteristics that are typical of the Scotch ales.

Vitals:
Style Strong Scotch Ale
Price $3.99/20 oz. bottle
Found In Local Liquor Store
Alcohol Content 6.5% by volume
Availability Year-round


Rating: 96

Beer: Lindemans Kriek

Brewery: Lindemans Vlezenbeek , Belgium

Overview: Lindemans brews the most widely distributed variety of lambics that I am aware of.  I have heard anecdotally that they are not the prime examples of lambic beers, which is a style of fermenting beers with naturally occurring wild yeasts and resulting in a souring effect on the beer.  The Kriek is a cherry-infused fruit lambic, and my first choice to see how Lindemans stands up to my own palate.  I scheduled this review for Valentine's Day, because a delicious cherry pink beer seems to perfectly fit the occasion.

Aroma: Ludens Cherry cough drops with a mild hint of the tart sour undertones.  Like cherry sours from an old time candy store.  Get more of the sour malt flavor when nose tires of the cherries.

Appearance: Pours red like cranberry juice with an enormous frothy pink head like the top of a thick strawberry milkshake.

Flavor: Smooth cherries, like a juice.  Carbonation understated, and lends to an easy drink and soft mouthfeel.  Tartness there, but not overwhelming, and sour notes very understated, unlike a gueuze.  Tart cherry leaves some drying on the tongue.

Overall Impression: Absolutely delicious as an after-dinner beer.  Sweet and smooth with a delicious cherry flavor that would easily complement any chocolate desserts or other sweets.  This is a beer for non-beer lovers, who want a sweet and yet refreshing beverage that still packs some kick.  Clearly more reminiscent of a cherry wine or champagne than a heavy beer flavor, and one of the best tasting beverages I've reviewed.

Vitals:
Style Fruit Lambic
Price $10.99/750 ML bottle
Found In Regional Liquor Store
Alcohol Content ...
Availability Year-round

Rating: 98

Beer: St. Arnold's Christmas Ale

Used with permission
St. Arnold Brewing Company

Brewery: St. Arnold Brewing Company Houston, Texas

Overview: St. Arnold Brewing released the Christmas beer early in their brewing history, and this is the result, a traditional malty old ale that persists year after year. 

Aroma: Fresh malty aroma, with a hint of spice underneath floral aromas. 

Appearance: Pours a clear copper amber color with a white head that quickly dissipates.

Flavor: Malty up front with an almost caramel sweetness and has a very nice spice profile all around with balanced spicy hop flavors that may hide some hints of cinnamon-like spice.  Some carbonation evident, with late bitterness in the finish.

Overall Impression: Not the most "Christmas-like" of Christmas beers, but definitely a good winter spiced beer.  I enjoy the good balance of hops versus malt.  While I generally expect this sort of flavor out of a beer marketed as a "winter" beer, with more fruitcake, evergreen, and spices associated with a "Christmas" beer, this is still quite an enjoyable seasonal.  I suppose that St. Arnold's really just planned on brewing an old ale as a seasonal, and this is the result, a pleasing strong ale with a good balance of taste, and some spiciness in the hops.  Not what I generally look for in my December beverages, but good for holding on to until March for drinking during a Spring shower.

Vitals:
Style Old Ale
Price $9.99/six-pack
Found In Regional Liquor Store
Alcohol Content 7.0% by volume
Availability Winter Seasonal (November until sellout)
Bitterness 35 IBU

Rating: 93

Beer: Rogue Santa's Private Reserve Ale (2009)

Brewery: Rogue Brewery  Newport, Oregon

Overview: Santa's Private Reserve Ale is, as Rogue describes it, a special over-hopped version of a red ale, with 10 ingredients: Malts: Great Western Harrington, Klages, Munich & Hugh Baird Carastan 30-37 & 13-17, Crystal 70-80. Hops: Chinook & Centennial.Yeast & Water: Rogue's Pacman Yeast and Free Range Coastal Water.  Offered annually, I managed to score a bomber of last year's 2009 batch.

Aroma: Hops oh sweet hops.  Grapefruit and some evergreen forest elements mixed in.  Fresh.

Appearance: Amber with some orange and light red highlights.  Large frothy tan head that sticks around and leaves substantial lace on glass.

Flavor: Big hop bitterness up front, with heavy roasted malt flavors adding to the bitter profile.  Oddly enough, the malt cuts the bitterness if you hold in your mouth then it reappears as a clean hop bitterness in the finish.  Frothy mouthfeel.  No slickness.  Some caramel undertones in there.

Overall Impression: This is most definitely the hophead's Christmas beer.  With flavor purely resembling a hop-o-matic IPA, Santa's got a whole lot of Chinook and Centennial hops growing at the North Pole.  This is an excellent beer, but it doesn't really fit the bill for me with regards to "Winter" beers, so I'd move it more into the specialty category.  And if you happen to pick some up, you might consider saving a few bottles for summer, or toss it down with some spicy foods.

Vitals:
Style Specialty Beer
Price $5.99/22 oz. bottle
Found In Regional Liquor Store
Alcohol Content Not published
Availability Christmas season 2009
Bitterness 44 IBU

Rating: 90

Beer: Anchor Christmas Ale 2007

Brewery: Anchor Brewing San Francisco, California

Overview: Anchor brews a unique and different Christmas beer recipe every year, with some better than others.  I have occasionally (like this year) been able to stumble across someone who has prior year's blends stored in the back and procured some extras for the holiday season.  Other than that, you're lucky if you have a bar like the Flying Saucer who might be able to procure some prior years' vintages and stored them.

Aroma: Smells like a Christmas candle shop.  Cinnamon is predominant with some nutmeg and allspice floating underneath. Some brown sugar and chocolate as a last hint of sweetness.

Appearance: Pours an extremely dark garnet with shiny red highlights around the edge.  Head is thick and tan.

Flavor: The malt reminds slightly of roasted almonds (or maybe chestnuts on an open fire?).  Cinnamon settles around the edge but does not overwhelm the balance of the malt and hop bitterness.  Some malty sweetness and roasted flavors persist into the finish.

Overall Impression: The 2007 is one of my favorite Anchor batches.  I lucked out in finding a store by my office with a cache of them in the back and even scored a little deal on them to help them move the old product.  From start to finish, the Anchor 2007 "Special Ale" is extremely well balanced, with a good blend of spices and sweetness to counteract the hop bitterness.  Overall leaves me with a nutty, roasted beer with cinnamon liberally applied throughout.  I will most definitely enjoy my remaining stash.  Good luck finding yours (and tell me in the comments if you find some!)

Vitals:
Style Christmas/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer
Price $10.99/six-pack
Found In Regional Liquor Store, Occasional Large-Selection Bar
Alcohol Content 5.5% by volume
Availability November 2007 until January 2008 (or wherever else you can find it)


Rating: 94

Beer: Bad Elf

Brewery: Ridgeway Brewery, Oxford, England - Imported by Shelton Brothers


Overview: I have no idea what this is.  It is marketed as a hoppy, golden ale.  We shall see.  The Shelton Brothers site calls it an IPA, so that's how I'll judge it.

Aroma: Malt, Malt, Malt.  In fact, it smells like wort (unfermented beer).  There is a tiny bit of fresh hop aroma, but it is a totally unbalanced smell.

Appearance: Orange gold with a frothy thick white head.

Flavor: Malty with just a tiny hint of bitterness in the finish.  Ultimately, there's very little that's unique about this beer.

Overall Impression: I'd pass on this one.  I guess it is a strong blonde ale, but I just can't find much about this beer that is worthwhile, other than the marketing.  They had it front and center at World Market with a really good label.  It's drinkable, but wholly unremarkable.  They call it an IPA, and if that's how I judge it, it fails miserably.  It is extremely weak on the hops, the alcohol is not noticeable, there's no clean bite to the flavor...etc. etc.

Vitals:
Style English IPA
Price $1.99/1 pt 0.9 oz single
Found In National Import Chain
Alcohol Content 6.0% by volume
Availability Seasonal

Rating: 77