Smoky bacon beer times ten

As well as Eiche, I drank another Schlenkerla beer for the first time over Christmas, the 6.5% Urbock.

If you think Schlenkerla Märzen is a bit too smoky then Urbock definitely isn't the beer for you. The smokiness hits you as soon as you pop the cap of the bottle - drinking it is like sticking your head in the embers of a bonfire (probably not a good idea). I'd love to try it in Schlenkerla's Bamberg brewpub in winter when it's available straight from the barrel.

Oak smoke

I started my Christmas beer drinking with Schlenkerla Eiche.

Eiche is German for oak which the malt is smoked over rather than beechwood in Schlenkerla's other beers. I like the smoky bacon punch you get with Schlenkerla Märzen but I know it's too much for some.  This is far more restrained, a hint of smokiness in the aftertaste rather than a smack round the chops. It reminded me a bit of the draught Lagerbier in another Bamberg pub, Brauerei Spezial.

The blues at Christmas

I'm taking a break from blogging for a couple of weeks. I hope you all enjoy Christmas and New Year whatever you're doing. Here's blues pianist Charles Brown to get you in the festive mood.

Giving thanks with beer

Across their Atlantic, our American cousins are celebrating Thanksgiving.

There's lot of advice online about what beer to drink with your Thansksgiving dinner. Given it's basically a Christmas dinner with a few extra trimmings, I'd say any bitter/pale ale would do.

I'm not that into beer and food pairing. Apart from the classics - pork pie and a pint of bitter, lager with Chinese and Indian food - it strikes me as an attempt by the beer world to ape wine. Having said that, you occasionally stumble across a combination that really works, like the cheese and onion cob and pint of mild I had in the Beacon Hotel on my tour of the Black Country a few months back or Robinson's Old Tom with Christmas pudding.

Christmas brings good beer

The Christmas markets opened in Manchester last weekend. I won't be going to them for a few weeks yet as I'm a stick-in-the-mud traditionalist/old Scrooge who thinks Yuletide starts in mid-December rather than mid-November.

Beer wise, there always a pretty decent choice at the main market in Albert Square. Lees head the pack with a stand selling all their regular cask beers and the German hut has a stouty dark beer which I think is Köstritzer Schwarzbier. The only brewery who really let the side down is Hydes whose stand sells nitrokeg bitter and mild at heavily marked-up prices.

 

The last post (of the year)

I'm taking a break from blogging over Christmas and the New Year. So until then, here's an appropriately seasonal tune from the great R&B/jazz singer Nat 'King' Cole.

Have a happy Christmas and God bless You, Every One!