{"id":43,"date":"2013-12-13T22:22:30","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T22:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.movesforbrews.com\/?p=43"},"modified":"2013-12-13T22:22:44","modified_gmt":"2013-12-13T22:22:44","slug":"fermentation-friday-round-one-distant-shores-bracket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.movesforbrews.com\/?p=43","title":{"rendered":"Fermentation Friday: Round One Distant Shores Bracket"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Round<\/a>

Round One: Distant Shores Bracket<\/p><\/div>\n

This ended up being an unfair match-up since it turned out Josh had picked up a 2011-2012 Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome.\u00a0 The ale held up well for a 2 year old, 6% alcohol, beer, and if Josh hadn’t been pulling so hard for its competitor, Anchor Steam’s Christmas Ale, it might have advanced.\u00a0 We’re considering a rematch with the current batch of the Winter Welcome.<\/p>\n

This round’s winner: Anchor Brewing, Our Special Ale 2013 with 16\/20 points.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anchor Brewing, San Francisco, CA – Our Special Ale 2013 (Christmas Ale)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Dark brown in color with some reddish tones and a largish, khaki-colored head.\u00a0 Nice lacing.<\/p>\n

Great spicy smell: a mix of anise, clove, cinnamon, juniper, and others.\u00a0 Smells almost like burnt sugar, but in a good way.\u00a0 Quite strong, but not overpowering.\u00a0 [Erin’s Note:\u00a0 I found the nose a off putting at first, though I became used to.\u00a0 I probably liked the aroma less over time, but that may have been partly in comparison to the much mellower Winter Warmer.]<\/p>\n

The spice tones down on the taste, letting some dark maltiness through.\u00a0 Dry finish.\u00a0 Very nice.<\/p>\n

Medium body, medium carbonation.\u00a0 A touch of spice astringency on the finish.\u00a0 Very drinkable from sip to sip, though definitely a palate-killer and maybe not something to have multiple pints of. [Erin’s Note: Half a glass was enough for me, but Josh is hoping to find this in one of the larger format bottles for the family Christmas gathering.]<\/p>\n

Really good spiced Christmas beer.\u00a0 My favorite of the Anchor vintages I recall.<\/p>\n

J: 9\/10.\u00a0 E: 7\/10<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Samuel Smith, Tadcaster, UK – Winter Welcome Ale 2011-2012<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Light copper in color.\u00a0 Very clear.\u00a0 Medium-sized white head.<\/p>\n

Smells strongly of malt–bready, mostly–with some earthy hops.\u00a0 No spice, as far as I can tell.\u00a0 A bit of butterscotch comes out as the beer warms.<\/p>\n

Malty taste as well.\u00a0 A bit sweet up front, with some light fruity tones, though the beer seems to get drier as it warms.\u00a0 Dries out somewhat, but not completely, on the finish.<\/p>\n

Medium body and medium carbonation.\u00a0 No astringency.\u00a0 Quite drinkable.<\/p>\n

A nice winter warmer, but unfortunately the lack of spice doesn’t really fit with our theme here.\u00a0 I wish it had either more malt or less sweetness; as it is, it kind of fits between two beers that I wish it was.\u00a0 It feels very British in that way: not going far enough, out of a worry of offending.\u00a0 (Barleywines notwithstanding.)\u00a0 All in all, it’s good, but doesn’t do much to stand out.<\/p>\n

J: 7\/10.\u00a0 E: 7\/10.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Erin’s Note:\u00a0 One Brit who doesn’t seem worried about offending – Stephen Fry, who is in the new Hobbit movie, sporting a most theatrical comb-over.]<\/p>\n

\"\"

Stephen Fry as the Master of Laketown. It’s been 20 years since I read the Hobbit, so pretty much all I remember is Gandalf, Dwarves, Bilbo, Eagles.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This ended up being an unfair match-up since it turned out Josh had picked up a 2011-2012 Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome.\u00a0 The ale held up well for a 2 year old, 6% alcohol, beer, and if Josh hadn’t been pulling so hard for its competitor, Anchor Steam’s Christmas Ale, it might have advanced.\u00a0 We’re considering … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fermentation-friday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.movesforbrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.movesforbrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.movesforbrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.movesforbrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.movesforbrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.movesforbrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46,"href":"http:\/\/www.movesforbrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions\/46"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.movesforbrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.movesforbrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.movesforbrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}