The big day is finally here! Hopefully Santa has brought everybody a wonderful supply of socks, Lynx Africa gift sets, and Wetherspoon gift cards. But most importantly, let’s talk about Festive ales!
This year as part of their festivities, Wetherspoon have put on 12 Ales of Christmas, a selection of twelve festive seasonal guest ales available throughout December. We’ve had a rather hectic December, but we’ve managed to sample nine of them – not a bad effort!
You can read the ‘official’ descriptions of the beers below, and I’ve added details of the brewers who’ve produced these festive wonders. I’ve included my amateur ratings of each one, and you can visit the WethoWanderers Untappd to find more of my thoughts on these beers (the ones I remembered to check-in, at least!)
1st December – The Horseshoe & The Old Market Hall
The festive adventure started on the first day of December, with a trip to South Yorkshire to tick a few pubs off the list. The first two ales of Christmas were from The Horseshoe, in Wombwell, Barnsley, and The Old Market Hall, in Mexborough, Doncaster.
Farmers Belgian Blue 4.9% ABV
This popular deep red seasonal beer has a subtle blue tint in its head, leading to a distinctive winter berry flavour, resulting in plenty of fruity notes and a lasting, smooth finish.
My rating: 3.25/5
2nd & 8th December – The Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren
The next day we checked the Wetherspoon app and found a couple more festive guest ales in our local, which called for a quick trip to sample Rudgate’s Evil Elf and Portobello’s Ho Ho Ho.
The next week another ale, Hook Norton Brewery’s Greedy Goose had arrived, so that was another that needed ticking off the list.
Ho Ho Ho 4.8% ABV
This deep copper seasonal ale has a smooth, balanced character of hop and malt flavours, leading to a complex finish with plenty of hazelnut and rich fruit notes.
My rating: 3.0/5
10th December – The Monkey Walk
We paid a return visit to The Monkey Walk in Coalville, having realised that the photographs we’d taken on our first visit weren’t good enough to put into a review. This was a blessing, really, as the pub had been redecorated, and it also had on Greene King’s Rocking Rudolph, another festive ale for us to tick off.
Rocking Rudolph 4.2% ABV
This deep copper-coloured seasonal ale has a rich aroma, leading to a full-bodied flavour, with fruity and malted toffee notes, leading to a crisp bitterness in the finish.
My rating: 2.5/5
22nd December – The White Hart Hotel
Just a few days before Christmas we found ourselves in Okehampton, staying at the rather wonderful The White Hart Hotel. I took this opportunity to sample quite a varied range of West Country ciders, but before that we took advantage of their three festive ales available.
Strangely, they weren’t on any beer pumps, so it’s not too clear where the beers were coming from. That also explains the rather strange pictures, which I had to take from their large board advertising the ales on offer. Regardless of where they came from, the offerings were good with Butcombe’s Chris Moose, Batemans Rosey Nosey and Exmoor’s Exmas available.
They also had Hanlons’ Santa’s Hammer but, despite its name, it’s not included in their official ’12 Ales of Christmas’ list.
Rosey Nosey 4.9% ABV
This consistently popular seasonal brew is deep amber in colour, with a seductively spicy aroma and a full-bodied character – which is full of sultana, raisin and roasted dark malt flavours.
My rating: 3.25/5
Wetho Wanderers 