Christmas is a good time to be a beer drinker. For centuries brewing and religion have been closely aligned and it fell upon the brewers to produce a tasty tipple for the seasonal celebrations. The tradition continues to this day as many breweries produce a “premium” product for the Christmas season, be it a British real ale microbrewer’s “Winter Warmer” or Danish brewing monolith Carlsberg’s Christmas Beer.
These Winter beers are generally stronger and richer than the brewer’s standard offering. Many German brewers consider these beers to be a “thank you” gift to their customers since the increased amount of ingredients, plus the additional duty incurred by the higher alcohol content, make these beers more expensive to produce with therefore a small profit margin. Gotta love those Germans.
Here in Britain, our beer of course is real ale – beer which has been naturally carbonated in the package from which it is served (the bottle or, more commonly, the cask). For the scientifically-minded amongst you, the beer is transferred to the bottle or cask shortly before fermentation is complete. The container is then sealed so that the carbon dioxide produced by the remaining fermentation cannot escape and is absorbed by the beer to create the soft carbonation common to these types of beer. Bottled beer is then stored cold until gravity pulls the suspended yeast to the bottom of the bottle leaving a clear beer. Cask beer is more commonly “fined” whereby a substance is added to the beer which binds to the suspended yeast cells to encourage the beer to clear quicker. Often this substance is “isinglass” – a gelatine-like substance obtained from the swim bladder of the sturgeon (gotta love those sturgeons) – and so vegetarians and vegans should be careful to ask if beer has been fined. Once fined, the cask is shipped to the pub, where the cellarman stores the beer in the pub cellar until it is ready to serve.
Because real ale is “alive” – ie: it contains active yeast – it is vitally important that the beer is kept well and this basically means cold and still. Shipping a cask of real ale the length of the country in an unrefrigerated truck will do it no good at all, so it’s no surprise that real ale tastes better the closer you get to where it was made, for example, Shepherd Neame in Kent, Ringwood in the New Forest and Wadworth’s 6x in Wiltshire.
So when it comes to trying a few Winter Warmers the best place to try is your local. Most pubs worth their salt will regularly stock their local breweries wares, and a good publican will serve the beer when it’s in peak condition. But what if you want to enjoy a few pints at home or take beer to a party? Few small real ale producers bottle their beers due to the cost of bottling equipment but many sell “polypins” in five or ten litre sizes which are perfect for a party or just for having at home to keep you in beer over the holiday period. Polypins are the beer equivalent of bag-in-a-box wine, but are in actual fact a pretty good receptacle for real ale. Of course, if you really, really like beer, many breweries will sell you a full cask and rent you a hand-pump or a tap through which to serve the beer. These generally come in four and a half or nine gallon sizes but bear in mind that as soon as you tap the cask, air is allowed in which will gradually oxidize and spoil the beer. Some real ale connoisseurs favour ale that has been “on” for a day or two and is showing some signs of oxidation. Slight oxidation can be identified by a caramel or butterscotch sweetness that can often add to the appeal of a beer. Too much oxidation though makes beer taste like cardboard so unless you’re confident of draining the cask within three to five days, buy smaller vessels, eg: two “pins” (four and a half gallon casks) rather than a “firkin” (a nine gallon cask) or two polypins rather than a pin.
There are a number of fantastic breweries selling polypins or bottled beer in the BigBarn Marketplace so maybe you can find your Christmas tipple there. But please remember to order early so that when your beer arrives you can set the polypin, cask or bottles somewhere cool for a week or so to settle before you start enjoying it. Or a day, at least…