>>167240
Oh, time flies!

>>167320
>>167321
>pine and birch
But I want karjalanpiirakka and korvapuusti!

December is the time for Christmas, and it starts with the first of advent, which this year brought the teaser seen in >>167258
This year, we're having beer from A Good Case, a company which sells beer which are almost at their best-before date, and beer which other companies no longer could sell, and thus sell for cheap.

This year, we're starting off with a Christmas Ale from Undercover Brewing Company. Ales are top-fermented, which brings forth more fruity and flowery flavours than what you'd find in bottom-fermented ales such as lagers, where the flavours are often more subtle.

The ale pours a pretty dark-brown to orange colour, yet it has no real distinctive smell. Nevertheless, not necessarily a bad thing but it takes away some of the experience. For a Christmas ale, you'd expect some seasoning to come through, but there's none worthy to write home about here.

The taste is well-balanced with a slight taste of flowery hops. Nothing distinctive as with an IPA. It is more like the hazy kind, where it acts as a refreshener. The beer has a great body, giving the beer flavour which you can taste everywhere in your mouth from the back of your throat to the tip of your tongue.

A pretty good experience to start this Christmas off with, and a damn good fyraftensøl.

Merry Christmas

Happy Hallowed Christmas,

Today, on the second of December, we have unwrapped Reality Break, brewed by Sudden Death Brewing Company.

This ale is a West Coast IPA, which is one of the more bitter styles of IPA.
The ale pours bright yellow and is very clear, exactly what should be expected from a Pale Ale. Compared to the ale from yesterday, this smell quite strongly of the hops, making it clear to you that this is indeed an IPA.

The taste may surprise some however. The ale from yesterday left behind a more strong and distinct bitterness than this IPA does. The hops instead provides very fruity notes and a refreshing, clean mouthful of a balanced full-bodied ale that feels closer to a finely blended fruit smoothie spiced with fresh lemon.

If you wonder why someone would willingly drink bitter IPA, then this ale is worth giving a try as it provides you with plenty of the fruitiness you get from the miraculous flower that is hop, while keeping the sharp bitterness down to a minimum.
The VOL of 7.3%, likely plays a part in this, since the more alcohol an ale has, the more hops you can add without the bitterness coming through to bite you in the arse

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas,

The third of December brings a Rauchbier. This is a German style bottom beer. Rauchbier, as the name suggests, is a smoked beer where the intention is to bring forth smoke-like flavours. If you like a smoke, then this is a beer style for you.

The beer of today, is Vinterbloss from the Swedish brewery of Stigbergets.

The beer is a meager 5% VOL, which is not out of the ordinary for this type of beer.

The beer is dark and leaves a lightly brown head. Similar to coffee, the more roasted your beans, or malt happens to be, the more smoke and bitterness you get.

The smoke, is also all you can smell from this beer. Though the smoke is closer to that of salami, than cigarettes. Yes, you can get this style of beer which both smells and tastes like cigarette buds

Pleasantly surprising for one who do not wish to lick an ashtray, the taste of the smoked beer is not overpowering. The smoke does come to light, but just like when you eat salami, you also get different flavours mixed with it. This may be caused by an increased amount of hops to bring fourth a deeper complexity, yet surprisingly it doesn't make it more bitter.

Regardless, I don't smoke nor am I the biggest fan of salami, so this one isn't one I'd get again. Despite that, it still is very drinkable.

Merry Christmas