Hill Country Beer Club

Holiday Beers
December 18, 2015

Jody's House
17:00:00

It's time for holiday beers! Bring a good one and we'll drink it. This is the first meeting since August that the club site has been online.

Yes, this means the club website is working again! Sincerest apologies for the downtime, but the database has been recovered, we're on a new server, and now have more possibilities (specifically user interface upgrades and the potential for mobile app development).

Brewer	Beer	Vintage	Score
Anchor Brewing Company	Our Special Ale 2015 (Anchor Christmas Ale)	2015	87
Diamond Bear Brewing Company	Paradise Porter	2015	87
Rogue	Yellow Snow IPA	2015	89
Infamous Brewing Company	Sweep the Leg	2015	92
Infamous Brewing Company	Sweep the Leg	2015	80
Alamo	Holiday IPA	2015	89
Flying Fish Brewing Company	Abbey Dubble		85
Flying Fish Brewing Company	Abbey Dubble		86
Tenaya Creek Brewery	Old Jackelope	2015	91
Clown Shoes Beer	Flight of the Angry Breast	2015	91
Founders Brewing Company	Project Pam	2015	90
Schmaltz	Jewbelation 19	2015

Who Offered: BRANDY, CHEETO, DAVO, FATBOY, FNG...TBD, KAY JAY, LARA, PRIMETIME, SANTA, WESTEXANS

Who Drank: BRANDY, CHEETO, DAVO, FATBOY, KAY JAY, LARA, PRIMETIME, SANTA, STEPH, WESTEXANS

Summary

87	Anchor Brewing Company Our Special Ale 2015 (Anchor Christmas Ale) Herb and Spice Beer \| 5.5% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: FATBOY

Club/Brewer Notes:
This is the forty-first annual Christmas Ale from the brewers at Anchor. The Ale's recipe is different every year—as is the tree on the label—but the intent with which we offer it remains the same: joy and celebration of the newness of life. Since ancient times, trees have symbolized the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons, appears born anew.

Our tree for 2015 is the Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara), better known as the California Christmas Tree. Native of the Himalayas, it takes its name from the ancient Sanskrit devadaru, meaning timber of the gods. This coniferous evergreen, with its gracefully droopy branches and blue-green needles, has been a San Francisco favorite for over 150 years.

87	Diamond Bear Brewing Company Paradise Porter American Porter \| 6.24% ABV \| 38 IBU Offered By: PRIMETIME

Club/Brewer Notes:
As a style, porters aren’t the biggest name in beer (not really close though they should be) but this brew is a big contender among culinary journalists, reviewers, and beer geeks. It’s got a big dark bouquet of chocolate, coffee and caramel and has a smooth finish. A Powerhouse of a Porter.

89	Rogue Yellow Snow IPA IPA \| 6.6% ABV \| 82 IBU Offered By: SANTA

92	Infamous Brewing Company Sweep the Leg American Stout \| 7% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: FNG...TBD

Club/Brewer Notes:
Sweep the Leg” Peanut Butter Stout is based on an American Stout with the unique addition of peanut butter. The peanut butter is added during the fermentation process for maximum flavor. The beer has a roasted peanut butter nose, smooth body, light hop profile and a noticeable but subtle peanut butter finish.

80	Infamous Brewing Company Sweep the Leg American Stout \| 7% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: FNG...TBD

89	Alamo Holiday IPA American-Style India Pale Ale (IPA) \| 7.1% ABV \| 65 IBU Offered By: CHEETO

Club/Brewer Notes:
Bready sweet malt backbone, copper color, citrusy, piney, and slight resinous hop profile.

85	Flying Fish Brewing Company Abbey Dubble Belgian-style brown ale \| 7.2% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: BRANDY

86	Flying Fish Brewing Company Abbey Dubble Belgian-Style Brown Ale \| 7.2% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: BRANDY

Club/Brewer Notes:
Winner of the silver medal at the 2008 Great American Beer Festival, this Belgian-style Abbey Dubbel is an exceptionally complex beer with many interwoven flavors. This classic-style Abbey beer features an immense head with a fruity nose and a generous body. Malty in the middle, the beer features a clean, almondy dry finish and a slight alcohol warmth. More like a wine than a beer—it has a lot of the qualities of a fine Burgundy.

91	Tenaya Creek Brewery Old Jackelope American-Style Barley Wine Ale \| 10.4% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: WESTEXANS

Club/Brewer Notes:
For those not familiar with a Barleywine, it is a Strong Ale, originally brewed in England in the nineteenth century but is now brewed worldwide. The name Barleywine basically means that it is a beer as strong as wine. Guaranteed to warm you up on a cold evening! Brewed using premium 2-Row, CaraRed, Crystal, Carafoam, and Wheat malts. We also used Magnum, Cascade, Summit, and CTZ hops. Cheers!

91	Clown Shoes Beer Flight of the Angry Breast Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer \| 10.75% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: KAY JAY

Club/Brewer Notes:
For the fourth installment in our “Beast” series, Sir Walter Scott has finally tamed the creature, who was about to attack a group of innocent unicorns. To celebrate, we blended 1/3 Undead Party Crasher aged in bourbon barrels, 1/3 Blaecorn Unidgragon aged in scotch barrels and 1/3 Billionaire aged in scotch barrels. Hooray!

90	Founders Brewing Company Project Pam Black IPA \| 10.8% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: LARA

Club/Brewer Notes:
this Black IPA is brewed with a cornucopia of hops then aged in maple syrup bourbon barrels to add complex oaky bourbon notes and the sweetness of maple syrup to keep the bitterness in check. Like its creator, the origins of its name will forever remain a mystery. Project PAM clocks in at 10.8% ABV.

nr	Schmaltz Jewbelation 19 American Strong Ale \| 11.9% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: DAVO

Club/Brewer Notes:
“Jewbelation 19 pours dark crimson with ruby highlights, a creamy coffee head and greets the nose with a blast of dark chocolate and dark dried fruits,” said Richie Saunders, lead brewer at Shmaltz. “Rich, complex roasted malts, bakers chocolate, notes of caramel, dark fruit and hops fill the palate while the robust heat lingers through to the finish.” Jewbelation 19® blurs the boundaries of Porter, Stout, Old Ale and Barleywines and continues Shmaltz’s long history of brewing big, robust beers that redefine traditional beer categories.