Blitzen
North Cotswold Brewery
- From:
- North Cotswold Brewery
- England, United Kingdom
- Style:
- Winter Warmer
- ABV:
- 6%
- Score:
- +7 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 3.36 | pDev: 3.27%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 1
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Dec 20, 2025
- Added:
- Sep 30, 2009
- Wants:
- 1
- Gots:
- 0
NO SCORE
-
-
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by biegaman from Canada (ON)
3.32/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
3.32/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
A gingerbread coloured body and nutmeg-tinted head makes for a great looking Christmas seasonal. The thick sludgy complexion and sunken shreds of sediment, however, are not visually appealing in any style of beer (but at least we know the claim that this beer is bottle-conditioned must be true). Lacing would have boosted the score up a peg.
Blitzen also smells the part for a winter seasonal: a pumpkin pie-type blend of spices flutters up the nasal passage, gracefully depositing a pinch of brown sugar, a dash of nutmeg and a smidgen of allspice. A modest but sufficiently toasty, fruity malt base ensures this perfumy spiciness is in no danger of ever becoming cloying or nauseating.
North Cotswold Brewing describes their beer as "liquid Christmas pudding". I might rather suggest pumpkin pie but regardless of which is more accurate both are correct at least in so far as capturing the spiciness that this taste abounds with. It's as if they dumped a kitchen pantry worth of allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon. Yet curiously, it's not too much.
The patented English figgy pudding-like flavour contributes a more than complimentary sweetness that, along with maybe the odd indication of alcohol, does indeed create a warming wintertime tipple. The only thing detracting drinkability is an overwhelming sourness that stains the beer with a scratching, acidic, lemony character.
And if it weren't for that sourness this would be a darn fine yuletide treat well suited to a cozy chair by the fireplace. Unfortunately that sourness cannot be overlooked and, judging from their other offerings, seems to be endemic of this brewery. I doubt the winter warmers that guide my sleigh will let Blitzen join in any of their reindeer games.
Sep 30, 2009Blitzen also smells the part for a winter seasonal: a pumpkin pie-type blend of spices flutters up the nasal passage, gracefully depositing a pinch of brown sugar, a dash of nutmeg and a smidgen of allspice. A modest but sufficiently toasty, fruity malt base ensures this perfumy spiciness is in no danger of ever becoming cloying or nauseating.
North Cotswold Brewing describes their beer as "liquid Christmas pudding". I might rather suggest pumpkin pie but regardless of which is more accurate both are correct at least in so far as capturing the spiciness that this taste abounds with. It's as if they dumped a kitchen pantry worth of allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon. Yet curiously, it's not too much.
The patented English figgy pudding-like flavour contributes a more than complimentary sweetness that, along with maybe the odd indication of alcohol, does indeed create a warming wintertime tipple. The only thing detracting drinkability is an overwhelming sourness that stains the beer with a scratching, acidic, lemony character.
And if it weren't for that sourness this would be a darn fine yuletide treat well suited to a cozy chair by the fireplace. Unfortunately that sourness cannot be overlooked and, judging from their other offerings, seems to be endemic of this brewery. I doubt the winter warmers that guide my sleigh will let Blitzen join in any of their reindeer games.
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