Mayor Parker to Announce Big Brew DestiNATION

I received a media alert this morning indicating that Mayor Parker will be holding a press conference on Tuesday, January 14th to officially announce the Big Brew DestiNATION, a week's worth of craft beer events from Oct 20th to the 26th. I guess we'll learn more on Tuesday, but the BigBrewHouston.com website indicates:

One full week packed with fun and engaging events all over Houston culminating at the George R. Brown for three Big Brew Days.

The Events section on the website already lists a few events including a beer and food pairing, pub crawl and tasting sessions.  I assume more information will be announced and released at the event on Tuesday an in the months to come.

We've certainly come a long way from years of having no beer festivals in Houston.

Twelve Beers of Christmas - Beer Twelve

Brasserie Dubuisson - Scaldis de Noël (2008)

When it became obvious I was not going to post the twelfth beer by Christmas Day, I decided not to rush it. I actually went through a couple of different beers that I thought would be the final beer, but neither turned out to be very good, so I decided to pass on posting them. I finally decided on the little bottle of Scaldis de Noël that has been in the beer cellar since 2008. Brasserie Dubuisson was created in 1776 and is the oldest brewery in Wallonia, Belgium and is actually still in the same location. What is even more remarkable is that it is still a 100% independently owned brewery.

For a five year old bottle of beer, there was still a good amount of life in this Belgian Strong Dark Ale as I poured it into the glass. A nice dark mahogany colour with a thin layer of carbonation. It was definitely time to drink it though, as there was visible particles floating around in the beer. However, they didn't affect the aroma or flavour. Molasses, caramel and dark fruits noticeable in the aroma. Flavour was similar but with more of the dark fruits like figs, raisins and dates coming through at the start. Those gave way to toffee and and a roasted malt sweetness before finishing light and surprisingly a little bitter. It also left a little residual tangy sweetness across my tongue. The 12% ABV was still enough to provide a noticeable warming affect.

Although it was sometimes a little difficult to find the time during the holiday season to write the posts, I did enjoy creating this Twelve Beers of Christmas series and I'm glad I finally got around to doing it. Hopefully I can continue it next year with an all new round of holiday seasonals. Cheers!

Twelve Beers of Christmas - Beer Eleven

The Bruery - 5 Golden Rings

The fifth beer in the 12 Days of Christmas series from The Bruery. As indicated in the post for Beer Six a few days ago, the beers typically take their inspiration from their corresponding version, so 5 Golden Rings was brewed as a Belgian Golden Ale.

Poured out a clear golden colour in the glass with a thin white head. Wonderful sweet aroma of golden fruits like pineapple, banana, pear and Belgian yeast. Juicy is one of the best ways to describe the flavour. Lots of pineapple, citrus and grape with notes of pear and grapefruit. Bready malts and caramel come through in the middle followed by cloves and allspice.  Finish is semi-dry and slightly bitter. I think it could benefit from a little more carbonation as the mouthfeel is a little heavy and syrupy. The 11.5% ABV comes through in full force, giving a rather strong warming and almost burning affect.  We'll see how this one ages and turns out in 2020.

Twelve Beers of Christmas - Beer Ten

Affligem - Noël (2008)

From what I found, it appears that the Affligem brand of beers was actually brewed by the Op-Ale Brewery in Opwijk, Belgium under license from the Affligem Abbey. The Op-Ale Brewery also produced beers under their own brand name but was eventually purchased by Heineken who later renamed it to Affligem Brewery. That was all news to me, same with the fact that Heineken owns about 190 breweries around the world is third largest after AB-InBev and SABMiller.

Affligem Noël is another beer that I typically purchase during the holidays, although I don't think I've seen it this year. The one I'm enjoying right now is actually a bottle that's been sitting in the back of my cellar since 2008 or 2009 (I'm not exactly sure, I have two different dates written on the bottle). Anyway, still a great beer that's aged very well. Carbonation is light, but still present. Aroma is sweet caramel, toffee and dark fruits with some bready Belgian yeasts coming through. Flavour is along the same lines as the aroma to start, but then I also get the addition of what to me tastes like coconut with a little pineapple. There's a citrus bitterness in the semi-dry finish and a hint of spices start to come through in the very end with notes of cinnamon and little light pepper at the back of my throat. Considering it's four or possibly five years old, there's quite a strong warming affect from the 9% ABV that I expected to be more mellow. I may have to try and hunt down a few bottles from this year (assuming we got any here) and see how a "fresh" one compares to this one.

It appears that Christmas Day is fast approaching, so I'll go ahead and push out two posts today with hopes that I'll complete the 12 part series by the 25th.  However, I still have a quite a few more bottles of Christmas Beers in the fridge (and will most likely buy more), so I may do a few CD+ (Christmas Day plus #) posts as well.

Twelve Beers of Christmas - Beer Nine

Jolly Pumpkin Aristan Ales - Noel de Calabaza

Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales was founded in 2004 and quickly gained notoriety for producing fantastic farmhouse ales using traditional methods. Fermented in open vessels with a variety of French and Belgian yeasts, the beer is then aged in oak casks for months where it undergoes a secondary fermentation with wild yeasts in the barrels. After aging, the beer is bottled with additional yeast and left to bottle condition (develop further flavours and carbonation in the bottle). All of that fermenting and aging results in beers with complex and unique flavour profiles.

The Noel de Calabaza is the first and only farmhouse or sour beer on the Twelve Beers of Christmas list. Not because I don't like them, but because I don't think I have any others. The aroma is surprisingly light, but the smell from the wild yeasts definitely let you know that this is not a traditional Belgian dark Christmas ale. If you can get past the funky yeast smell, you can also get hints of oak and dark fruits in the aroma. Although the flavour is predominantly tart and funky from start to finish, it's not overpowering. If you take the time, you can get a lot of different flavours out of this beer. Dark fruits like raisins, figs and plums with maybe some green apple, grapes and sour cherries. Some of the oak even starts coming through in the dry and tart finish. The alcohol is 9% ABV, but it really doesn't even come in to play. This was definitely a great change of pace from the traditional sweet and spicy Christmas beers and I savoured it down to the last drop.