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Session # 10 Christmas Beers

It’s Friday night. I’m sitting at the bar and there are patrons sampling beers including our two Christmas Beers- Port Brewing Santa’s Little Helper Imperial Stout and The Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi. Me, I’m having a huge glass of Gift of the Magi. Teri brought in some cheese for the tasting bar tonight so we’re having Humboldt Fog with Garlic Crisped Crackers. We’re also having some Brie with Roasted Onion and Black Pepper Crackers. If this sounds too good to be true, it’s not. Stinky cheese Plates on Friday nights is awesome.

So, now that I have the beer and food pairings and my bonus points out of the way, I should probably dive into the topic at hand.

I grew up Catholic and Christmas means something to me. It means that I grew up celebrating Catholic Religious stuff- you know like Jesus, Reindeers, Wooden toys and stuff. Fast forward to today, and some of that luster is gone. I’m not sure which year it went away. But somewhere in my youth to adolescence movement it went by by. You know the part where we say Merry Christmas?

Personally, I hate this notion that we shouldn’t offend anyone and as such we should wish them “Happy Holidays.” Sorry, screw that. NOT Screw you, but Screw that! I like Christmas. So Merry Christmas to you and yours.

At Port Brewing, we make not one but two Christmas beers. I like Christmas that much. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t enjoy the waiting in line to buy presents part. I certainly loathe the what color sweater might I be getting this year type gifts. But mostly, I am not a fan of the “Unspirited Christmas.” You know, the Christmas where everyone is too busy to notice that at the end of the day we’re supposed to at the very least be Thankful? It’s too much Dickens and BAH Humbug for me.

However, as a brewer each year, I am presented with the fantastical opportunity to connect with celebrating beer enthusiasts each and every year who are truly in touch with the meaning of christmas. And for all you South Park fans out there, it’s not HAM!

I decided that this blog would be about our newest Christmas beer called Gift of the Magi. I could easily have written about the last 11 years worth of batches of Santa’s Little Helper (can we have a blog session someday about Simpson’s inspired beer names too)? But Santa’s Little Helper is old school like Burl Ives, Bing Crosby and the Little Drummer Boy.

So this evening, I thought I would share my thoughts on our new friends the Magi. When I set out to design a Christmas Beer for The Lost Abbey, I thought about the things that I truly enjoy each and every year in beers for the holiday season. For what it’s worth, I am not a huge Wassail fan and Munich Malt doesn’t come bearing plates of Fruit Cake around here too often. I like spiced beers but right now, nothing stands out in my mind as a spice that I would like to evoke. Besides, I appreciate Anchor’s Christmas beer and love that they keep the spicing a Fort Knox like secret.

So tell us about the Gift of the Magi you say. Initially, it was my plan to find a way to incorporate Gold, Frankincese and Myrh into the beer. I actually think it’s possible to do this but at the end of the day, it just seemed like to big of a gimmick for what I wanted to accomplish.

And you ask? What was it that I wanted to accomplish in designing and releasing another Christmas beer? First, I wanted something memorable. I’m not a fan of anything that doesn’t attempt to stand out. So, it had to have perspective. So we brewed a more contemplative Biere de Garde which we dry hopped and spiked with Brettanomyces at bottling. That ought to take care of the standing out like the kid picking his nose in the back row of the 5th Graders performance of “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” each year.

But I also felt it needed to say “Merry Effin Christmas Jesus is the Reason for the season keep Christ in Christmas Away in a Manger, here’s your religion in a 750ml bottle (Thanks Jeff) don’t worry about not going to church this year. Hopefully, there’s enough panache in each bottle that God Fearing Heathens (our Sinners and Saints alike) will find their own personal savior each time the cork is popped.

The taste is something I think will resonate with our patrons. The beer pours with a muted and glowing orange opacity. You might even say it radiates the colors of a candle burning in a manger. The aromas are bold with notes of honey, candied fruits and herbal hops. The first sip presents faint sweetness and a long dry finish with noticeable hops. At this time, the Brettanomyces has yet to really assert itself.

It is my hope this Christmas Season that there will be an Epiphany of sorts after the first of the year when these friends of ours will arrive. And when they do, our Magi will come bearing gifts of Alcohol, Hops and Wild Yeast. That my friends will make me very Merry. Because as we know, Christmas is about giving more than receiving. Here’s to hoping that The Gift of the Magi continues to give to each and every beer drinker seeking the meaning of Christmas in a bottle.

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Who would you invite to dinner?

The premise for this Blog was thrown out there by my good friend Stan at Appellationbeer.com. He asked for us to put together a list of 4 people you would invite to dinner and what would you serve them. Clearly, I could write one of these per day and not be done after one month.

But when I got down to it, this is the first one that I wrote. I may work on more as the month goes on. It’s a fun question to say the least.

William Shakespeare– First of all, I feel like I have read enough of his stuff to actually “know” the man. The burning question I have, is did he really pen all those poems and plays. As I have not lately to Padua come, but many of his greatest characters and play were set in Italy, I would offer an Italian Beer- Wayan from Casa Baladin to be served with the first course consisiting of Mixed Green Salad with a Citric Orange Balsamic, sliced apples and candied pecans alongside Maytag Blue Cheese. Italy is home to many great characters like some of Shakespeare’s best and I would love to share my stories of Lorenzo and Theo with him.

Next up would be Adolphus Busch– Lord knows he isn’t the first person that comes to mind when you think beer and food. Maybe it’s his fault. I’m certainly not fond of having to call a beer Czechvar for no good reason. But, I think it would be a challenge to show him that American and Beer don’t mean just his. And lately, I have grown tired of the new AB slogan that touts Budweiser as “The Great American Lager.” As such, I would have to show my new good friend Adolphus the errors of his ways by sharing either a Victory Prima Pils or a Sly Fox Pikeland Pils (it comes in a can so bonus points for that).

With this course, I would serve Baja Style Beer Battered and deep fried Fish Tacos. I believe that these Gentlemen would enjoy a regional specialty dish. The Cilantro on top of the tacos combined with the cheese and beer batter would be a seamless pairing for these two Greater American Lagers.

Third on the list would be Brian Wilson. Every beer dinner needs a neurotic or brooding sort. Who better than Brian Wilson the front man of the Beach Boys? Clearly, his life hit Rock Bottom and he has rebounded. Like many, I am enamored with Pet Sounds and would spin that album during this course so that we could talk nuances and symphonic cord progressions. I would also let William dive into the lyrical mind set of a genius at work from another Genre.

For Dinner, we would have Rack of Lamb. By now, I would hope that Bill Shakespeare was drunk enough to invoke the Falstaffian Muse and allow one of his greatest characters to join us for Merry food and pots of ale. Rack of Lamb would be Rosemary infused and glazed with a light plum sauce. We would have some fingerling potatoes and seasonal roasted root vegetables. It would be a heavy course but certainly one for the senses. The beer would be Lost Abbey 10 Commandments. This dark farmhouse ale is founded on Caramelized raisins, honey and Rosemary and pairs incredibly well with this sort of dish.

Lastly, I would hope to have Thomas Jefferson on hand. It’s no secret that he and George Washington were fans of Ale. I choose Jefferson as I picture him to be one hell of an orator. Beer and food is about conversation. Why wouldn’t you want one of our Fore Fathers there to show them that the foundations of liberty they provided echoes true today in the beers that we produce.

As dinner was incredibly filling, I would skip dessert. And, while I am not a smoker, I would certainly think that Cigars would be in order. This is mostly due to a desire to sit back and watch some incredible writers, thinkers and movers converse about most likely all things not beer. With that in mind, we would offer a selection of beers for the cigars. They would be Sam Adams Utiopias, Dogfishead World Wide Stout and Avery The Beast. Any of these would get us through a long evening of rich dialogue. All of them together could start a revolution. Or maybe they already have?

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Cuvee de Tomme in Imbibe Magazine

Imbibe Magazine’s November/December issue features an entertaining article by Stan Hieronymus titled Symphonic Brew. An examination of the art of batch-blending beer, it profiles a number of American brewers dabbling in beer alchemy, including our own brewers, Tomme Arthur and Vince Marsaglia.

The end of the story also includes tasting notes on nine great batch-blended beers, most notably Lost Abbey’s GABF 2007 Gold Medal winner Cuvee de Tomme.

You can download and read the entire article right here:

» Imbibe Magazine Symphonic Brew (PDF – Courtesy of Imbibe Magazine.)