So it's less than 2 weeks until the big day and we're well an truly into what I like to call the season of excess. For most of us that means long nights in cuddled up on the sofa with a hot beverage. For others it's the chance to try the pointless yearly ritual of ordering pint after pint of novelty Christmas beers "because it's nearly Christmas" and finding them to be generally disappointing at best and simply shoddy in the worst scenario. I always feel at this time of year that brewers get lazy and brew a relatively boring and uninspiring beer, whack a novelty name on it like Rudolph's Big Red Nose and expect it to sell.
In the worst case some of the names are simply crass and sometimes very distasteful. This year I've seen the Beachy Head Christmas Jumper which has caused quite a lot of controversy and also had the delight of tasting a pint of Santa's Bulging Red Sack whose pump clip was suitably distasteful as the name would suggest. Needless to say the I've had no Christmas beers this year I could classify as good or even reasonable.
What I can't really understand is why this idea seems to be limited to Christmas it's not like we regularly see beers called Halloween Honkers or Easter Bunny's Cum Filled Cheeks. If you've had any good Christmas beers then let me know and I'll be sure to look them out for a tasting.
On a slightly contradictory note I think this is without a doubt one of the best beer names I've ever seen:
The Americans brew some decent seasonal stuff without the cringe-worthy names/labels.
ReplyDeleteI'd suggest Anchor Christmas Ale, Brooklyn Winter, Goose Island Christmas & Goose Island Mild Winter, and Flying Dog K9 Cruiser for starters, but there's a lot, lot more.
Disclaimer: I work for the importer of the above, so I'd encourage you to ask other people what they think, but I'm sure you'll hear some positive things. The labels are not crass, and there are no puns. ;-)
You do have a good point there I have tried the Brooklyn Winter Ale and found it to be delightful. This is what I mean though why can't the British brewers do this.
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