#364: Bock Unsteady

 I don't know quite what it is that distinguishes Ayinger Winter Bock from it's big little equal sibling, the celebrated Celebrator; both are 6.7% ABV, both pour a mahoganey so dark as to almost be black and both promise fulsome comfort for long winter evenings.

The Winter Bock promises 500mls of said comfort, and, while I regrettably don't have both beers in front of me to compare, I immediately detect more roast in here than I remember from the Celebrator. Think whole coffee beans and the slight scorch of black malt, and only a shade of the rich, jammy fruit cornucopia I associate with the Celebrator. 

The beer I did have alongside this one is an old favourite from the same brewery, the Altbairisch Dunkel. It may be a more sessionable 5%, but I can't help but be more seduced by its raisiny, malted biscuit Munich character than by the comparitively heavy and abrasive Winter Bock. That may sound harsh but if all three of the aforementioned beers are on the shelf before you, The Winter Bock might be the last one to reach for, the others doing a similar job to a higher standard. When you factor in the iconic and stunning Celebrator packaging and the multi-seasonal sessionability of the Altbairisch, you'd have to wonder; what is the point of the Winter Bock?

#363: Pulling Ranke

 In celebration of my first full year without a post, here's a post!

I didn't know what it was that puts the noël in De Ranke's Père Noël until I deigned to tread the label halfway through my glass, and by jove it's licorice[sic]! I am no friend of liquorice but have found it a beautiful flavour characteristic in coffee and some (usually) darker, stronger beers, no doubt the phenolic offshoot of some roasting process, but how does it fare as an out and out addition to a pale beer of a moderate 7%?

Quite well, actually. The beer is bone dry and effervescent, with scouring bubbles and an initial gentle touch of tripel-like spice, not unlike an aromatically souped-up Duvel. There's a bracing leafy bitterness that cleans up a rather charming crystal centre, and the lingering, light menthol effect of what I would have guessed was a hop and yeast interplay but may indeed be the liquorice. In any case, it does not taste much like liquorice, but there's plenty of herbal, floral and light spice white noise in here to allow for interpretation.

At 7% it is no table beer, but all of its other characteristics would make Père Noël a fine one; dry and refreshing, moreish, bright and versatile for food pairings, and all the while interesting enough to just drink on its own.