Your intrepid liquor reporter is officially sick of winter. There are no pints on the patio. There are no bikini tops. There are no romantic walks along the beach. Yes, pretty much everything about winter is just wrong.
The only silver lining in this otherwise drab and chilly season is that winter is when we get the best beer.
Much like the fashion faux pas of wearing white shoes after Labor Day, there are similar codes and mores in the world of beer drinking.
Veritably, that crisp and refreshing Corona that you chugged while mowing the lawn, or the Coors Lite you knocked back with friends at the backyard BBQ, are the beers of summer.
However, with the change of season, there comes a different style of beer, that is darker, more full-bodied, and often slightly higher in alcohol content. These beers are best consumed at cellar temperature (8-12°C), rather than the 4-6°C temperatures more popular with summer beers.
Your intrepid liquor reporter generally pulls a few dark beers out of the fridge and lets them sit on the counter for half an hour or so, letting them warm up to a more appropriate temperature.
When a darker beer is consumed straight from the fridge, the fuller flavor profile cannot be fully enjoyed, as the taste buds on the tongue are less receptive when chilled. Indeed, letting your beer warm up a bit will make it taste better.
This is generally less of an issue with light beers, as they tend to have very little malt flavor, and taste just as crisp and refreshing straight from the ice bucket, so don’t worry about drinking your summery beers straight from the fridge.
The megabreweries generally don’t pay much heed to changing their beer styles to match the season, largely due to the millions of advertising dollars they spend trying to convince consumers to always pick the same brand.
However, the smaller brewers tend to have a more sophisticated clientele, who are open to the idea of expanding their beery horizons.
We are blessed with a cornucopia of local winter beers here in Alberta, with the most famous being the Wild Rose Cherry Porter, which enjoys a limited release every November, and is usually available until the snow melts in the spring.
Starting with the firm backbone of an English-style Porter, generous mounds of ripe BC cherries are added to the beer and aged to perfection, resulting in a jet-black beer with flavours of black forest cake, sweet chocolate malts, and even a hint of smoke.
A perennial favourite of beer geeks everywhere, the Wild Rose Cherry Porter has even made it into the illustrious tome 1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die, which your intrepid liquor reporter uses as his own personal bucket list.
Faithful readers may recall your humble narrator waxing poetic about the Brewsters chain of brew pubs several times over the years, and would encourage all and sundry to visit one of their many locations across Alberta.
I am now delighted to report that Brewsters is finally bottling their beer and making it available at well-stocked liquor stores all across our fair province, so you are finally able to pick up a case of cold ones at your friendly neighborhood booze merchant.
If you do not already have a favourite, you can’t go wrong with the Brewsters Brewer’s Dozen Mixed Pack, which gives you an assortment of several of their flagship ales, and is widely available at well-stocked liquor stores.
I have always been partial to their Hammerhead Red and Rig Pig Pale Ale, but there is a new seasonal winter-only brew that I cannot get enough of.
The Brewsters Hawaiian Coconut Porter uses a tried-and-true porter recipe, blended with fresh organic coconut, which leads me to dreams of relaxing on the beach in Maui in the shade of a palm tree while sipping something from a glass containing at least three little umbrellas.
The dark malts used in the porter give flavours of espresso and burnt chocolate, which are nicely balanced by the nutty coconut undertones. As with most porters, enjoy this beer considerably warmer than you may be used to. I prefer to take it out of the fridge and let it warm up on the counter for 15 minutes before opening, with 8-12°C the range I aim for.
Look for these winter porters at your local booze merchant for a truly seasonal brew!
