New Year, New Beer!

OK, so 2011 is ten days old and I feel it's about time I got blogging! So, new beers for the new year. I started off the year still in a rather festive mood. The tree was still up and the corny Christmas TV schedule was still in full flow, so I decided to treat myself to a 'Christmas Ale'. This an effort at a festive beer from Newmans Brewery in Caerphilly, South Wales. The beer was availiable from my local supermarket at a reasonable price so, at the right time of year, is easy enough to get your hands on.
    The first thing that caught my eye was the packaging. The beer was sold in a 330ml bottle, which in turn, was inside a cardboard tube, quite like some bottles of wine. This was obviously quite interesting, and certainly stood out among the usual collection of dull, brown bottles that make up the 'ales' section, so I grabbed one.
  Well, what can I say about the beer? When I opened the bottle, I was instantly hit with aromas of cinnamon and plum pudding. It was definitely a seasonal beer, and not one for a hot summers afternoon, but it felt perfect for the occasion. When I finally got around to drinking the beer, my hopes were perhaps not completely fulfilled. Do not get me wrong, it was a wonderful, full bodied ale with a distinct Christmassy twist, but it didn't hold the warmth and 'mulled wine-like' flavour that the aromas had so assuredly promised. I was impressed by the ever changing tastes on the palate ranging from a bitter, hoppy taste to a warm, spicy, seasonal flavour, and even more-so once I had finished the beer, as it left me with a magical cinnamon aftertaste, and an appetite for more. Therefore, despite it's perhaps misleading introduction, this beer did impress and I must commend Newmans for their sterling effort.