New Brew Friday

Ah, winter beer season that most glorious time of the year when the craft beer pours forth dark and heavy, tipsy from time spent in the company of bourbon, and smelling like a bakery on a Saturday morning.

While I am boycotting the majority of holiday ale offerings this year after having (over) indulged when I (over) estimated I could (should) consume twenty- four Christmas themed brews in my de facto advent calendar for last year, luckily, for me, boycott is a fairly loose term. This means I can still cherry pick the odd seasonal for consumption in front of a roaring fire.

Having been pleasantly surprised by Young’s Double Chocolate Stout I felt pretty safe picking up Wells Sticky Toffee Pudding Bitter from my local liqour store. The Young Brewery and Wells Brewery merged to become the Wells & Young Brewery in 2006.

Sticky toffee pours a deep black brown with lots if airy dark mocha head dying down to a light lacing and skim. Roasty malt and sweet caramel on the nose with some chocolate notes. A light bodied and clean bitter that presents flavours of cold coffee, toffee, powdered chocolate and roasted grains. This beer initially has a dry slightly bittered finish but as you drink more bitterness comes through on the finish.

Overall a nice, non-gimmicky, seasonal beer that hits all the flavours you want in a winter offering.