Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Inveralmond Brewery Santa's Swallie

It's starting to look at lot like Christmas!  Okay, it's not really...  Still barely any snow on the ground, and the temperature is hovering around freezing.  But that doesn't mean I can't joyously partake in a Christmas beer.  It comes in a 500mL brown bottle, with 4.3% alcohol/vol.  The type of brew (lager or ale) is unknown, so this beer is a complete mystery.  The only thing I know about it is that it has cinnamon and nutmeg added (Christmas spices!).

When opened, I could smell the spices.  And a lot of malt.  Almost no hops.  Knowing that, I'd guess the beer was some kind of light ale.  When poured, the beer came out a light amber, with a small off-white head.  There were very few bubbles.  I could also see a lot of sediment or floaties in the beer.  The malty aroma had subsided after the pour, and was much less pronounced.

The first sip was decent.  The spices were fairly mellow and barely detectable.  If I hadn't known there were any spices added, I never would have guessed.  The beer was very smooth, and had a very soft feel in the mouth.  There was no sweetness to the beer, and only a mild bitterness.  Overall, I found the flavour relatively weak (but not unpleasant), however there are a lot of people who would enjoy that, so I'd call this beer good.  I don't think I'd buy it again but there's no reason why somebody else shouldn't try it.

In case I don't get another blog posting in before the 25th... Merry Christmas!

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