Warm Up To Winter Ales
Along with snow tires and fireplace burning bans, hearty holiday ales are a sure sign that another winter is here. These big, bold beers - typically called “winter warmers” - are as cozy and comforting as a favorite down jacket.
They seem to arrive earlier each year. Portland Brewing’s Icicle Creek Winter Ale (named after the clear Cascades creek near Leavenworth, Wash.), a malty, reddish brew with a hint of hoppiness in its finish, showed up in supermarkets well before Halloween.
Among the earliest entrants on tap were a perennial classic, Pyramid’s Snow Cap Ale, and a promising newcomer, Widmer Brothers’ Winternacht Blackbier.
The Snow Cap that I sampled seemed a bit lighter and more drinkable than last year’s version, but still plenty hearty and hoppy - and alcoholic, at 7 percent by volume. (These powerful brews need to be treated with respect and moderation, particularly by less experienced ale drinkers.) This year’s addition of East Kent Goldings, a classic British hop variety, adds some spicy character.
Winternacht, which replaces Widmer’s previous Festbier, is darker in color but still every bit as approachable as the brewery’s typical products: a smooth, chocolatey, lighter-bodied black beer.
Other holiday offerings that have started to surface include Hale’s Wee Heavy, a barley wine with a touch of cinnamon; Sierra Nevada’s delightfully hoppy Celebration Ale; Deschutes’ well-balanced Jubelale; Full Sail’s full-flavored Wassail; Redhook’s mellow Winterhook and Thomas Kemper’s clean-tasting WinterBrau, a rare lager in a sea of microbrew ales.
While it’s not really a holiday beer, Northern Lights lovers will rejoice in the return of the Airway Heights brewery’s rich Chocolate Dunkle, which took the summer off and has come back better than ever.
Northern Lights brewer Mark Irvin also plans to release his first Christmas seasonal ale, which will be a little lighter than a true barley wine with dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg. Look for it in a small number of select locations, including The Viking and Hill’s Someplace Else, at the beginning of December.
On the brewpub front, Dec. 1 is also the scheduled release date for Fort Spokane’s annual Godzilla, an aggressive India pale ale. Brewer Brian Johnson says it will be even hoppier this year thanks to the newer Columbus hops from Yakima, which he used in this summer’s rye beer. Johnson also dialed down the honey a bit and added more barley, along with a British-style pale ale malt to accentuate the dryness.
Down the street at the Birkebeiner Brewery, last year’s well-received Hamarbock (named after the Norwegian city) is due back during the second week of December. Owner James Gimurtu describes it as a maltier, roastier version of his regular doppelbock.
In the meantime, check out Birkebeiner’s new Miss Porter’s Porter (named after a New Jersey girls’ finishing school which one of Gimurtu’s employees attended), an agreeable rendition of an often overlooked dark beer style. And if it’s on the menu, hopheads will want to try some of the bodaciously bitter Red Venom.
If you’re interested in sampling several holiday brews in a single sitting (remember, be careful), your best bets are such mainstays as Capone’s in Coeur d’Alene and Shenanigan’s, Wine Stein’z and The Viking in Spokane, each of which will have five or six on tap at a time.
The Viking again has a wide range of winter beers in bottles, including such British standards as Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome, Young’s Winter Warmer and Fuller’s Old Winter Ale - available for the first time ever in the United States.
Viking owner John Edwards, a longtime Fuller’s fan who’s had the brewery’s Extra Special Bitter on tap for years, met the Fuller’s brewmaster at a Seattle tasting last year and asked about getting the Old Winter stateside.
The full-bodied, well-hopped ale has been selling so fast that Edwards plans to put some aside to save for Christmas time. After all, there are still 39 shopping days left, right?
Pyramid scheme
Snow Cap is among the main attractions at a Pyramid brewer’s dinner Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. at the Cannon Street Grill, 144 S. Cannon.
The menu includes a bay shrimp Caesar salad accompanied by Pyramid’s Hefeweizen; spicy sausage and chicken gumbo with Apricot Ale; lemon-pepper sirloin steak with sauteed oyster mushrooms, served with Special Bitter, and turtle ice cream pie for dessert with the Snow Cap.
Brewer Rande Reed of Seattle’s Hart Brewing, the Pyramid/Kemper parent company, will be on hand. Cost is $19.95, plus tax and gratuity; call 456-8660 for reservations.
, DataTimes MEMO: On Tap is a monthly feature of IN Food. Rick Bonino welcomes reader questions and comments about beer. Write to: On Tap, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call 459-5446; fax 459-5098.