Beer of the Weekend #309: Santa's Butt
The holiday/winter beer tonight is Santa’s Butt, brewed by Ridgeway Brewing of South Stoke, England.
Serving type: 500 ml bottle. There is a code printed on the label but no clear freshness date.
Appearance: Straight pour into a tall half-liter glass. The color is very dark brown. Three fingers of lightly tanned head dissipated slowly to leave a billowy/spotted cap and trails of foam on the glass.
Smell: Mostly dark and sweet malt action. Caramel, cocoa, toffee, vanilla, molasses, dark fruit plum, and brown sugar.
Taste: The mouthfeel is pretty watery but the taste is decent. It offers a nice toasted malt and earthy hop character along with caramel, chocolate, and a hint of coffee. The sweetness from the smell is absent.
Drinkability: Meh. That is about it.
Fun facts about Santa’s Butt:
-Style: BA classifies it as English Porter and the importer calls it “Porter, Winter/Holiday Beer.”
-Price: $5.49/bottle at John’s Grocery in Iowa City.
-Serving temperature: 50-55ºF.
-Alcohol content: 6 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: BA recommends barbecue, Latin American cuisine, earthy cheeses (Camembert, Fontina), chocolate, beef, shellfish, smoked meat, and grilled meat.
-Here is some nerdiness from the importer’s website, some of which also appears on the label:
The Quiet Man’s grade: C.
Serving type: 500 ml bottle. There is a code printed on the label but no clear freshness date.
Appearance: Straight pour into a tall half-liter glass. The color is very dark brown. Three fingers of lightly tanned head dissipated slowly to leave a billowy/spotted cap and trails of foam on the glass.
Smell: Mostly dark and sweet malt action. Caramel, cocoa, toffee, vanilla, molasses, dark fruit plum, and brown sugar.
Taste: The mouthfeel is pretty watery but the taste is decent. It offers a nice toasted malt and earthy hop character along with caramel, chocolate, and a hint of coffee. The sweetness from the smell is absent.
Drinkability: Meh. That is about it.
Fun facts about Santa’s Butt:
-Style: BA classifies it as English Porter and the importer calls it “Porter, Winter/Holiday Beer.”
-Price: $5.49/bottle at John’s Grocery in Iowa City.
-Serving temperature: 50-55ºF.
-Alcohol content: 6 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: BA recommends barbecue, Latin American cuisine, earthy cheeses (Camembert, Fontina), chocolate, beef, shellfish, smoked meat, and grilled meat.
-Here is some nerdiness from the importer’s website, some of which also appears on the label:
They said it couldn’t be done, but we did it: Santa’s Butt, the beer, coming to a theater near you for the holidays. It’s a splendid, satisfying Winter Porter at 6% -- a souped-up version of the classic Entire Butt Porter that you’ve enjoyed in the past. Everyone wants a piece of Santa’s Butt.
This special porter is made for winter -- rich and warming, the way they like it in the North Pole. It was inspired by this famous line from a well-loved children’s story book:
"And Santa sat on his great butt, drinking a hearty brew."
In case you find that amusing, we hasten to point out that in England ‘butt’ refers to a certain barrel used in brewing -- a very large barrel, in fact, holding 108 imperial gallons. Back in the day it was quite a normal thing for a brewery to put its beer up in a large butt for storage.
Still snickering, eh? Get your mind out of the gutter or Santa will skip your house entirely this year.
The illustration for the Santa's Butt label was painted by Massachusetts artist Gary Lippincott. Go to his web site and buy something for chrissakes. The poor guy works for beer.
The Quiet Man’s grade: C.
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