The 12 Beers of Christmas

From Santa’s Little Belter to Merry X-Moose, it’s not Christmas without a Winter Warmer.
Wales is producing some quality beers right now – and that includes the festive brews too.

Luckily for lovers of Welsh ales you can now pick up a Christmas beer box – called the 12 Beers of Christmas. Offering 12 of the finest festive tipples, the selection has been handpicked by Wales Ales who are the original Welsh beer delivery service, specialising in small and micro-breweries they hand deliver beer to your door. We caught up with Neil at Wales Ales, affectionately dubbed the Welsh Beer Fairy by his customers, to tell us a little bit more –

“We wanted to carefully select 12 beers that would be representative of all corners of Wales. This is the forth year we’ve done this and wanted to expand it even further this year. Amongst some familiar names like Purple Moose, Mumbles and Glamorgan there’s little known but equally impressive small breweries such as Dog’s Window and Rival who operate out of their garages.”

“These are tough challenging times for the industry and our hope is by shining a light on the industry in this manner some people might be tempted to seek out these breweries and try the rest of their range. Our passion is to promote these artisan brewers and give customers an alternative to the usual beers on supermarket shelves, and what better way than at Christmas, a wonderful time for a beer!”

So whether it’s a gift to a loved one or a treat for yourself, there’s some great Welsh beers to enjoy this Christmas. This is what you’ll find in the festive box –

1 Bluestone Brewery – Stone Cold IPA 4.2%
Situated in the foothills of the Preseli Hills in North Pembrokeshire Blue Stone’s festive offering is a pale session ale. Simcoe and Mosaic hops give this beer big citrus and tropical fruit notes.

2 Conwy Brewery – Hoppy Christmas 4.7%
Next we travel North to Conwy Brewery with their Hoppy Christmas beer. An antidote to heavy christmas food and drink, A pale ale with a fresh hoppy aroma with herbal/lemony hops coming through in the finish.

3 Dog’s Window Brewery – Santa Paws Black Forest Stout 5%
Brewing our of their garage in Bridgend, this brewery is small but making big waves in the industry with being the highest rated South Wales based brewery on popular beer rating App untappd. It is dark and decadent and has a strong fruity flavour with a long lingering aftertaste and at 5% abv it is the epitome of Christmas in a beer.

4 Monty’s – Ding Dong 4.4% Heralding from the middle of the country in the historic market town of Montgomery “Ding Dong” a dry golden ale with an easy drinking alc of 4.4%.

5 Mumbles Brewery – Goldings Balls 5%
From Swansea, Goldings Balls has been brewed especially for the Christmas season.It is a blend of New and Old World hops, dry hopped, then fermented out to the max! An antidote to heavy ales, this beauty is 5% but so pale and hoppy it feels much lighter

6 Magic Dragon Brewing – Sleight Ride 4.2%
A new one to the pack all the way from Wrexham. Magic Dragon Brewing with Sleigh Ride, a 4.2% light, hoppy and refreshing IPA. 10/10 for the label as we love the dragons pulling the sleigh.

7 Tinworks – Tingle Bells 5.8%
Another new one to the pack, forged in Llanelli this is a cherry porter at 5.8%. It’s a very decadent beer perfect for Christmas. Only brewed on the pilot kit this is very limited.

8 Purple Moose – Merry X Moose 5%
A gorgeous beer from Purple Moose in Porthmadog, Merry X-Moose is a strong winter ale brewed from Welsh mountain water and natural ingredients. Crystal Malt combined with aromatic hops creates a smooth, full-bodied, malty beer. The perfect accompaniment to an evening of Christmas cheer in front of a roaring open fire!

9 Glamorgan – Santa’s little belter 4.4%
The number one selling Welsh Christmas Ale comes from Llantristant’s Glamorgan Brewery. Originally starting life as Kite Brewery, the Kite can be seen on the label playfully pulling Santa’s sleigh. This ruby red ale is rich in malt flavours with notes of berries and dark chocolate, with a wonderfully festive aroma.

10 Tudor Brewery – Winter Cheer 5%
Family run Abertillery Tudor brewery’s Winter Cheer is infused with cinnamon, honey, ginger, lemon rind and a secret blend of spice. This gives Winter Cheer a subtle and unique flavour, certainly something to cheer about.

11 Little Goat – Satan’s little helper 6.66%
This one is a devilishly good 6.66% strong stout from Little Goat Brewery in Pontardawe. Strong, with a nice bitterness combining dark fruit and raisin flavours.

12 Rival Brewing – ‘Tis the season to be cherry 4.5%
Wales Ales wanted to add a bit more uniqueness to the pack so approached Rival Brewery in Cardiff who are the king of pale ales. They wanted to do something different to the standard Christmas beers, here we have a classic pale ale base with lashings of dark fruits. Coming in at a sessionable 4.5% this hoppy Christmas cracker is a perfect match for Christmas dinner. Think of a beer version of a rosa wine, cherry red in colour, sweet and fruity.

The Wales Ales ’12 Beers of Christmas’ available via their website www.walesales.com and can be delivered along the M4 corridor.