2014 Advent Beer 12: Biere De Noël

(Sigh) And so, we reach the halfway point of this year's calendar, with a beer from quite a bit closer to home: Big Sky Brewing in Missoula, Montana. And with a big name, we get the biggest ABV to date at a whopping 10.1%. I'm glad this one turned up on a weekend!

It pours out as a rich, dark copper colour, and the alcohol sweetness is clear to the nose, but it also smells of yeast and spice.

Now, I know a big beer like this deserves to be sipped and savoured, and I am ashamed how quickly I devoured it, but for such a strong beverage, it was amazingly drinkable. Smooth, with no bite or bitterness. A slight caramel aftertaste, but not overly sweet; it still tastes like a beer. This is one of the best >10% beers I think I've ever had the pleasure of tasting, so Biere De Noël is definitely in the running for best of show, and a great exemplar of an over-strength winter warmer.

 

 

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2014 Advent Beer 11: Tropical Christmas Saison

The calendar heads south of the Equator for the first time to fetch this Belgian farmhouse style ale with both a seasonal and geographic twist. Brazil may not be the first place you think of when you think of beers, but like many of the New World brewers, they they mix an affinity for tradition with a disregard for restrictions.

Saisons are normally characterized as light and refreshing, and the pale gold liquid and its tart aromas meet that expectation. Not so much a head as an effervescence arises from the pour, and only moderate bubbling after that has disappeared.

In terms of taste, there are the fruity and spicy aspects that saisons are known for, but the 7%ABV brings its own sweetness to the party. The ingredients listed on the label include raisins, figs, coriander and orange peel, but my palate has a hard time discerning anything beyond general fruitiness and the coriander; the latter being something I think may have been better left out.

All in all, not an unpleasant drink at all, but previous forays into Christmas beers has left the bar pretty high!

Serenity Gulch: Phase I Complete!

Having drybrushed the bases and varnished the buildings, it is time to call the first four buildings of Serenity Gulch done. It's only half a street, but it is more than I had before, and I am fairly pleased with how they have turned out thus far.

My one complaint at this point is that I think I left too much room between the buildings, whereas a 'proper' Wild West town should have them more shoulder to shoulder, with only a handful of alleyways to allow escape from whatever reckoning awaits on Main Street. I think I will try to build a block of 2-3 stores side by each as a single piece during Phase II.

I'm not at all sure where the private residence is likely to end up in the final arrangement, but the outskirts seem likely. The temptation to add a garden or mailbox was hard to resist, but I managed. The hardware store is likely to serve as template for more buildings when I begin scratch-building them out of foam core and the like, but the three doors give a lot of tactical possibilities.

After I found some printable wallpaper patterns online, I found it impossible to look at the plain white walls of the domicile, and took a crack at interior decorating. I was also grateful for the board patterns that kept the floors from looking too boring. Not too bad for a first effort, I figured.

All the buildings thus far feature removable roofs so the action isn't limited to the street. I'm not sure if I will be able to pull this off in Phase II or not, but it seemed a shame to waste the potential.

I'm actually a little torn about the awning on the general store; on the one hand, it adds an awful lot of character to not only the building but also the street. On the other hand though, it makes it a little more difficult to move miniatures around the area, and also takes up quite a bit of space where a large sign could go. In the end, though, I think it looks much better with than without.

The Emporium Saloon is by far my favourite building in Serenity Gulch, due not only to its size, but also its character. The five sided design will help create a town square suitable for dramatic showdowns and vignettes, while the terrace will undoubtedly provide good line of sight for vigilant citizens attempting to stop desperadoes from escaping the town.

The signage was done by downloading some thematic fonts (the Emporium sign is done in Coffee Tin!), printing them out and then gluing them to pieces of balsa. I couldn't bring myself to put conventional doors on the saloon, so I carved a vulgar facsimile of the ubiquitous swinging doors out of balsa wood and glued them into place instead. Alas, hinges at this scale are far beyond my meager crafting skills!

Thankfully, they were just sufficient enough for me to mount a partial second-story in order to facilitate the inevitable close range balcony showdown.

Phase II will likely have to wait until the new year, what with all the holiday madness encroaching, but it feels very satisfying to have these first four buildings out of the way, and more importantly, out of the closet after so many years!

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2014 Advent Beer 10: Gædingur Stout

Day 10's beer comes to us from Skagafjordur, Iceland. Gædingur is the name of the brewery, which, as near as I can determine, is not very large, and only has about four different styles to their name. This is an incredible validation for the Advent Beer Calendar in my eyes, because the odds of my having a chance to taste this beer without it would be pretty low, even though I would love to visit Iceland on my way to Finland or the Faroe Islands at some point.

 

Gædingur Stout pours an inky black, as anticipated, with a bit of caramel coloured foam that does not linger. It smells of bitter chocolate, coffee, and...licorice? Yes, a quick check of the label reveals that in addition to water, malted barley and hops, this stout also contains licorice. Now, this isn't going to sit well with everyone, but as a fan of both licorice and stouts, and having seen them work together before, I am excited about the prospect.

 

A smooth, creamy mouthfeel, accompanied by the familiar coffee and dark chocolate notes, but the licorice presence very quickly asserts itself. There are just enough hops to balance out the maltiness, so there is very little bitterness in either the taste or the aftertaste. Delightfully crafted, but those who are not fans of black licorice are unlikely to have their minds changed by this beer.

 

It is a much lighter beer than my previous foray into licorice beer, the vaunted Imperial Megadestroyer from Howe Sound in B.C; Gædingur clocks in at a respectable but still modest 5.6% compared to their 10%. Both the licorice and alcohol are more subdued in Gædingur's offering, making the prospect of having a couple of these at one go far more realistic.

 

Gædingur Stout is definitely in the running for my favourite thus far, and I would love to try it again.

 

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2014 Advent Beer 9: Cucapá Honey Amber Ale

In light of the horrendous chest cold that kept me away from work today, as well as the impending use of codeine cough syrup to actually let me get some sleep, tonight's tasting will be, regrettably, postponed.

As a placeholder, I can tell you (and show you) it is a Honey Amber Ale from a brewery called Cucapá in Mexico. They had a beer in last year's calendar, and have a splendid reputation for craft beers that sometimes include Mexican influences. In terms of honey ales, one of my faves is Killer Bee from Tin Whistle Brewing in B.C., but a German entry from a previous calendar left me completely underwhelmed, so I am approaching this one with a degree of trepidation.

But not until tomorrow.

UPDATE:

Got to try this at dinner tonight, and it was delightful.  A clear, golden yellow, with moderate carbonation and only a bit of head, and scents of mustiness, bread and mmmaaaybe a hint of honey.

A very smooth drinking beer, more malty than hoppy, and yes, the honey does make an appearance in the after taste, but doesn't impart too much sweetness.  At 4.5% ABV, this is one of the more moderate beers from this year's calendar, and the first decent candidate for a session ale.

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2014 Advent Beer 8: Weltenburger Kloster Anno 1050

Back to Northern Europe for today's beer from Germany; a Marzen or Oktoberfest style, so, in a lot of ways, just a straight-up beer beer. Which, frankly, is what we are most due for, although I am looking forward to when the stouts and porters begin showing up.

 

Anno 1050 pours a lovely copper colour, with a decent, foamy head of 1-2 fingers. The aroma is far more malty than the hoppy selections we've had of late, with a distinct breadiness to it.

 

This might not be a particularly creative or imaginative brew, but it may be the easiest drinking selection to date. Tremendously smooth, with a silky mouthfeel and almost no bitterness to speak of. Not much in the way of hops, although I checked, and they are on the label, but the beer does not feel unbalanced. A slightly higher ABV (5.5%) means this mightn't be an ideal session ale, but it could be fun to put that to the test.

 

A wonderful beer from what is reputedly one of the world's oldest breweries!

 

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Choirs and Capes

Today was the annual Cantilon Winter Concert, Salvator Mundi. A tremendous performance, as always, and although Fenya had no solos this time around, she was one of 13 girls selected to sing the Irish carol, "The Holly and The Ivy Girl". This is a highly coveted song, not so much because of the content, but because the singers are entitled to wear elegant capes over their choir uniforms, and had become an established tradition over the years.

One problem is that this year, they were looking to be a cape short, and because it had been almost six years since this song has been performed, there was a significant amount of concern regarding exactly who would be allowed to 'cape up'.

One of the more senior girls explained that since the older choristers had been given precedence last time, and this had left her out, this meant a) she was going to wear a cape, b) the other high school girls should be wearing them as well, and c) one of the junior high girls should do the right thing, and volunteer to go capeless, since there weren't enough to go around, and they would be likely to get another chance anyways.

Sure enough, one of the younger singers said, "okay, I'll do it", and was widely lauded by the others for her selflessness.

However, this did not prevent her from breaking into tears later, presumably once she realized that it might be another six years before the capes came back into rotation, if they did at all!

Thankfully, a piece of similar material was found, and no one in the audience was cognizant of the fact that a dozen girls wore capes, while the thirteenth was wrapped in a shawl. The video is below, but here is the link in case the embedding is problematic: http://youtu.be/Wbwzy8RlHgs

The iPad takes pretty crappy video in low light, and I doubt you will be able to distinguish Fenya (she is front row, second from the right), but the song itself comes through nice and clearly, and that is the most important bit, capes or no capes.

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