Advent Ale
Hog's Back Brewery

This smells delicious in the bottle - biscuity, smoky, and reminiscent of how i remember Jenning’s Sneck Lifter, which i haven’t had in many years. It pours burnt sienna in colour, with a thin magnolia foam. Aroma is sweeter and fruitier, with red berries and pomegranate seeds. The malt hits the mouth with toasty richness - wholemeal jam sandwiches, sweet liquorice, plenty of smoke in the aftertaste, and a gentle sour finish which begins lightly pithy and ends pulpier. The chief development in the second half of the pint is yeast extract in the sustain, and powdered chocolate in the release. The mouthfeel is creamy but avoids cloying thanks to well-judged carbonation and acidity in the finish. The body is reflective of the mild strength, and this feels closer to a moderate porter than a real winter warmer. Though this ticks all of the boxes for a seasonal english beer, it would be a tasty dark ale for any time of year, and i feel rather less foolish for buying this in mid-March. A delicious beer of decent intensity and wonderful balance.

Bottled in a dark brown glass receptacle and purchased from budget supermarket Lidl
Pours a near black very dark brown body with decent enough tan head
Aroma is Christmas spice
Some cinnamon with dark mild flavours
Thin though

 

 

500ml bottle. Thanks to bluebetty for organising the order through Cellarbrations Carlisle. Poured into a Mikkeller tulip.

When pouring it looked thin. Light penetrating, but some streaks of darkness. In the glass it is a quite dark colour, not brown, darker than that, but not black. Short lasting, small, head of off-white foam.

Smells fruity, some citrus along with sweet British malt. Basic, different and nice...what you want in a winter warmer, except maybe the basic bit. More spice wouldn't hurt.

Taste has a good deal of chocolate, along with sweet malt. Despite these two shining and not a lot of spice to counteract it, it isn't over the top or cloying. Seems to really work.

For 4.4% ABV, the body is big enough. The feel is beautiful. Very smooth and consistent. No booze, not a lot of bitterness, not that this was sought or expected. I really do seem to like the darker beers out of this Surrey brewery.

A - Dark-chestnut in colour, slight head, looks a bit like cola only a shade or two lighter.

S - Brew malts, buttery toffee, mixed fruits.

T - The same as the nose except more cultivated and pronounced. There is also a sticky dried fruit, raisins, dates, and the like, sweet fruit cake, liquorice, a little cocoa and dark chocolate. It really does taste like a Christmas day desert!

MF - Medium body, with low to mid carbonation, makes for easy drinking.

D - A very decent 'dark festive ale', I wouldn't mind having one every day of Advent :)

Coming in a 500ml brown bottle, BB 09/2011, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

A: pours a dark reddish brown colour, coming with light fizziness and fast-dissipating tan foamy head.
S: the aroma is full of Chinese dried red dates, raisins/dried berries, with milder citric hints, on top of a deeper aroma of chocolaty malts, molasses and melted black sugar. While it is quite refreshing, the fruitiness seems to overpower at the expense of an overall balance on the nose.
T: the foretaste is very light in texture, featuring chocolaty & treacle-ish maltiness in the middle, coated with much milder (than on the nose) dark stone-fruits (esp. prunes + sour dates), old wood sprigs, powdered root herbs, licorice candy and melted black sugar. The finish continues to be sour-ish, with very restrained notes of hop flavour and hop bitterness lagging behind.
M&D: faintly carbonated (actually not very refreshing, due to the BB date approaching I guess) against a rather light body, but the overall balance seems to hold ok. The flavour profile simply is overly sour-fruity for my taste. It might taste better on cask, or in a fresher bottle. But this encounter of mine is not that encouraging.

500 mL brown/black bottle poured into a pint glass.

A: dark brown in color with hints of ruby red; thin beige head; clarity in the glass, not cloudy, not black like a stout.

S: nutty and some mild sweetness, very appetizing

T: this is where the surprise came in--I was expecting fruity flavours (dark and/or dried/ripe fruits) but instead found the nuts hinted at in the scent plus a bit of liquorice and other spices--surprising but in a nice way

M: nice and mellow with a rich mouthfeel

D: would definitely drink again--very suited for a winter ale