Advent Beer 20: Original Schlenkerla Smokebeer

Or in the original German, "Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier", is another type of marzen, but one in which the malted barley is then smoked, imparting a very distinct taste and aroma to the beer.

Some years back, I got to try Alley Kat's Smoked Porter, and it was very good, but far more subtle in aspect. Whereas in Alley Kat's you had to search for the smoke, and found it more in the head and the aftertaste than in the beer itself, the Schlenkerla brings it right up front. It pours a dark coppery brown, with a beige head that regrettably doesn't stick around. Another great winter evening finisher, as opposed to a session beer like the other marzen.

The 500 mL bottle makes for a perfect serving size, and I would definitely pick this one up again if I stumbled across it at Sherbrooke.

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Advent Beer 19: Horny Betty

"(Snort) An advent beer calendar? Seriously? How many varieties of Pabst Blue Ribbon do you get?"

It's not like that! They're craft beers! European! It's pretty classy, actually...

"Yeah? What's tonight's beer called?"

... uh...I'm not sure, it's in another language and tricky font...

Horny Betty is a "tripel bockbier" from Austrian brewer Brauhaus Gusswerk. It pours a deep, rich-looking golden brown, with almost no head to speak of. At a staggering 9.2%, I anticipated it being a little sweet, and it was, but not offputtingly so. Very aromatic, and not too heavily carbonated, with more of the taste appearing in the nose than on the palate. Overall, a pleasant and warming beverage on a chilly night.

Also, full marks on a compelling and label design that I find somewhat evocative of the saucy old Monster Manual 'Succubus' illustration...

But that might be the 9.2% talking...

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Advent Beer 18: Schleppe Marzen

Marzen, or March beer, originated in Bavaria, but is Austria's most popular type of beer. A light coloured lager, compared to the darker German version (apparently), Schleppe is another passable beer, but not compelling enough to make me seek it out again. Still, it is great to try a new style, and now I want to try the darker Munich variety.

 

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Advent Beer 17: Hirter 1270

There is nothing particularly distinguishing about this beer, but it pours a delightful amber colour with a wispy head, and is a smooth, malty lager with a nice mouthfeel. The malt gives it that nice 'liquid bread' character I love about German and Austrian beers, but there is a hint of caramel near the bottom of the glass as it begins to warm.

Austria has been extremely ably represented in this advent calendar, and this beer continues this trend. A nice sampling from a brewery big enough to have its own iPhone app.

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Advent Beer 16: Eggenberg Festbock (+ Dave's DIY!)

The more of this style I try, the more I like it. Maybe it's the festbock's seasonality; I'm festive... Or the esthetic afforded by the golden amber pour... or possibly the 7.1% alcohol content. Whatever the reason, I intend to seek out more festbocks after the calendar is done.

You can usually count on the higher abv beers to have a bit of sweetness about them, but the Eggenberg Festbock is pretty well balanced, and a great way to finish a meal, rather than accompany one. I'm also a big fan of the black typeface style they used for the name of the beer.

We can also take a third look at the do-it-yourself advent calendar Shari and I put together at the end of November. I'm not too familiar with the specific MkKeller she picked out, but that is a brewer with a strong rep, so it probably doesn't even matter which one she got!

Yasigi is the third in Paddock Wood's 'Beer Gods' series, and despite the African name, is a spiced Belgian style of ale. I have never had Yukon Gold, but Yukon's Deadman's Creek cranberry wheat ale is a great holiday tipple. Bad Attitude was added for the label, but I believe it is from the same brewery that makes Dude Oat Soda, so it should be interesting. Lastly, Lakeland lager was selected for having the same a similar name as Dave's university in Ontario, which is as good a reason as any.

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Advent Beer 15: Core Kurbiskernbier

Well, back to the dark beers again! The back label describes this as a stout, but also lists amongst its ingredients "specially selected pumpkin seeds from the STYRIA" , which it turns out is a state in the southeast of Austria. I was not altogether sure what to expect; well, other than a bit of pumpkin seed flavour, that is.

It pours as a deep, chocolatey brown, with a small head that dissipates all too quickly. First impression is that it is just a touch on the sweet side, but with representation from some of my favourite porter notes: roast coffee, bitter chocolate, and maybe even a hint of molasses or toffee. It doesn't have a pronounced pumpkin flavour, unlike some of the other pumpkin ales I've had, but this has a nuttiness at the base of the finish that distinguishes it from many other stouts I've sampled.

This Austrian pumpkin seed beer is a real treat, and I would happily sample it again.

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A Welcome Return to Middle-Earth: The Hobbit

I had an opportunity today to watch The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and while I am not quite up to giving a full review, I did want to relay a few of my thoughts about it.

Three movies? I was very glad to hear Peter Jackson would have more than one movie to fit this epic tale into, but three seemed a bit excessive. So far so good though; the extra film means we can spend more time meeting the dwarfs of Thorin Oakenshield's company, and actually get to hear a couple of songs sung before the journey even begins. I think three movies will work out just fine; this one certainly didn't feel like it suffered in any way, and the running time flew by.

I don't remember another wizard... Because you never meet him. But where Radagast the Brown gets mentioned almost offhandedly in the books, you not only get his perspective on trouble in the Mirkwood, but he even gets to lend a hand at a critical point. Trading luck and coincidence for another (ahem) colourful character seems like a good deal to me.

Why does it look so different? Probably due to High Frame Rate projection, where the movie is shot and shown at 48 frames per second, as opposed to the traditional 24. It does give things onscreen a somewhat crisper look that will be all to familiar to people who transitioned to 120hz televisions and found everything looking a bit soap opera for a while. It really works well with the 3D, and I stopped noticing it fairly early on, but it does make a lot of the computer composite effects very discernible. I hope to see it again in IMAX so I can get a comparison (and watch 9 minutes of the new Star Trek...).

How's the new guy? Martin Freeman as Bilbo? Brilliant. He brings a lot of the same endearing and sometimes infuriating qualities to the role that Ian Holm did in LOTR without being a copycat. I can see why Peter Jackson suspended production for two whole months to allow Freeman to shoot season 2 of the BBC's Sherlock rather than try to find another actor.

And the old guys? Ian McKellen is awesome, as always, and it was great seeing (or more importantly, hearing!) Christopher Lee as Saruman as they expand the back story of The Necromancer of Dol Guldur.

The best part? The dwarfs, no question. With a baker's dozen of them, even three films won't be enough time to make well rounded characters out of all of the company, and Gandalf himself is reduced to counting them at a couple of points. A good and entertaining job is done in establishing the range of experience, prowess, and couth they all bring to Bilbo's table, made all the more compelling by their tragic backstory and lack of a homeland. (In fact, I found myself wondering if there were any intentional parallels between them and the biblical Israelites...)

The biggest surprise? That, given the differences in both tone and scope between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, that there would be so much consistency between the films, especially having been filmed a decade or more apart. Having the same director, location, art direction and film score are a big part of that, but the blending of danger and whimsy, of beautiful fantasy and daunting reality, is done so deftly, that this movie feels like a real return to a place we've never been. I'm looking forward to going back for the next two instalments!

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