Holiday Beers Tasting (Dec 13 - 15)

Just an FYI update to all interested -- our local big box retailer sent out their weekly email on the new beers available and it appears HB is now labeling the Winter Spezial as Delicator Doppelbock -- which it always really was, if you read the fine print on the back label of the bottles. But just so no one misses the seasonal on the shelves.

Still tying to figure out how to update the BA listing since there's a previous entry for the Delicator.

@Todd
@grantcty

 

I had seen the same newsletter. My opinion is to merge the Winter Spezial entry into the Delicator entry. The latter already has a note mentioning "Also know as Hofbräu Winter Spezial" which should cover it fine or maybe add some more details here. Seems a lot of reviews in the Delicator entry are for the Winter Spezial anyway. No need to have two entries for this in BA imo. Only thing then would be possibly updating the ABV on the Delicator entry to 8.4?

ETA: updated label



old label for comparison

 

@Jaycase

I was thinking that the WS entry should just be retired, since the HB label seems to be gone.

@Todd ?

 

Only trouble is, it seems like the Delicator is available on draft at a lot of places and it's listed as 7.5.

Of course, the odd thing is the HB website doesn't even list Delicator. Export only? US export only?

https://www.hofbraeu-muenchen.de/en

 

The approved keg label lists it as 8.4% as well.

You need to go to the US site for beer details.

 

I looked there too with no luck (or I saw the HB sanctioned, pub-brewed beers) -- but again, export only?

As to the keg label, it must have changed. There were a lot of past reports of it being 7.5. Guess we can change that too.

 

https://hofbrauhausimport.us/beer/delicator/

 

Yeah, and they haven't caught up with the bottles, either -- so who knows how it may read tomorrow.

https://hofbrauhausimport.us/beer/winter-spezial/

Strange that we're getting two different sites.

Here's the top page I found through Google... I think they need a better web master!

https://hofbrauhausimport.us/beer/

 

Nothing to do with holiday beer tasting, but that Perdue Chicken popup ad at the bottom of the page is annoying as hell.

 

Join the respect beer society; I don't even know what you're talking about, haven't seen ads on here for a long time now.

 

This seems to be a trend over the last couple of years. There's a fine line between paying tribute and ripping-off another's success. Things get even trickier when people see things in terms of "styles." In my opinion, it's a (Christmas?) miracle that Celebration Ale still exits and is still beloved. It's even weirder that brewers (both bigger and smaller than Sierra Nevada) are doing their own takes on it over the last half decade. I hope Sierra Nevada tries to keep Celebration singular (by resisting any further temptation to create "variants") and that the waters for Celebration and this "type" do not become volatile or tainted with the contemporary craft beer touch.

 

I was thinking of AB InBev's Goose Island Christmas IPA. Unlike a local brewer, they obviously didn't do some sort of cheeky tribute name, but their description stated: "an old-school feel that pairs great with holiday nostalgia. The caramel malt makes this beer balanced, dry, and just a tad fruity. Flavor: Citrusy, Piney, Old-School"... which seems to point in the Celebration direction without being explicit. I never tried them together for a comparison. I don't know if Honkers replaced it this year... which makes the reverse direction even weirder (albeit better). I'd be a little surprised if we see Honkers as the 2025 winter seasonal.

Anybody remember CeleBRUTion? It was Sierra Nevada's Brut IPA variation of Celebration. The caps in the name were theirs. I hope Sierra Nevada keeps these variants as keg only.

 

@zid -- Goose has been flipping their Winter seasonal around for years -- you never know what's going to be next.

FWIW -- That IPA wasn't bad, but it was no Celebration.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1146/447153/?ba=steveh#review

 

I see your review stated:
"An IPA in the Celebration image, but just not as complex in its malt character and balance with its hops."

 

Right? But doesn't that equate to not quite being Celeb?