The Beers of Xmas 2020

Christmas Ales and Winter Warmers

Everybody loves a good IPA except Father Christmas. He’s freezing his nuts in the Pole so he’s not bothered with any Hazy Tropical Hoppy nonsense.

All he needs is a beer with depth to warm his soul, fill his belly and defrost his nuts.

These winter beers are usually rich with a higher alcoholic strength giving them the possibility to be laid down and kept much further than their original BBD.

At POPP we love to keep things simple, so here is a list of awesome winter brews that you should really check out. Unless you want to be on Santa’s naughty list!

Lord Chambray – Winter Ale

Just fresh off the bottling line is our 0 Kilometre Winter Ale by Lord Chambray which infused with Carob honey sourced from their next door neighbour and spiced with grains of paradise. Nothing beats keeping it local during these uncertain times.

Birra del Borgo – 25DODICI

As in the Belgian tradition of brewing Christmas beers, this is Birra del Borgo’s very own version. It is added with orange peel and raisins. The aromas are warming and captivating and swing from nutty to citrus and slight hints of honey. In order to keep things boozy, we are only stocking lockdown formats this Christmas. 1.5 and 3 litre bottles.

De Dolle Brouwers – Stille Nacht

Can’t be any more xmassy than a beer named Silent Night. This is a prestige beer from De Dolle Brouwers brewed specifically for Christmas. It has the highest density of any Belgian beer (27°Pl), which has been boiled for 5 hours, brewed with pale malt and white candy sugar in the kettle. The boozy taste triangle is completed with some acidity from the fermentation. It is a very interesting beer to age. 

Westvleteren – 12

For this Xmas we managed to get hold of – and then sold out in a few hours – some 12 by Westvleteren which has the smallest output of all the Trappist breweries, with only a small part of their production available outside of Belgium. Consistently rated best beer in the world in its category, and in some years also crowned best in the world, this is the Original Gangster of beers. Ages brilliantly and like a fine wine continues to evolve gracefully in the bottle.

OUT OF STOCK

To Øl – My Honningkage is Bigger Than Yours – Barrel Aged Reserve Edition 2020

This is a barrel aged beer “Barley Wine” that is infused with the traditional winter danish honey cake which is sticky sweet and filled with Christmas spiced. To Øl have taken things to another level by slamming this festive banger in cognac and bourbon barrels for an extra boozy kick.

To Øl – Yule M#@!*?k Cacao Aged in Rhum Barrels

If there exists a beer description released by a brewery that should be left un-edited. This is it.

“We took our strongest Imperial Milk Stout and barrel-aged the living s**t out of it. It tastes of chocolate, rum, Sparta, and glory ?‍♂️. Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals.”