{"id":8576,"date":"2020-12-23T22:00:53","date_gmt":"2020-12-24T04:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/?p=8576"},"modified":"2020-12-27T22:28:27","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T04:28:27","slug":"12-beers-of-christmas-2020-6-canaster-winterscotch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/8576\/12-beers-of-christmas-2020-6-canaster-winterscotch","title":{"rendered":"12 Beers of Christmas 2020 &#8211; 6: Canaster Winterscotch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/Can-wrap.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8582\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-8582\" src=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/Can-wrap.jpg\" alt=\"Can wrap\" width=\"320\" height=\"567\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/Can-wrap.jpg 320w, https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/Can-wrap-169x300.jpg 169w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a>All the bottled beers from the Brouwerij De Glazen Toren in Erpe-Mere, Belgium, come wrapped in paper, and the Canaster Winterscotch, with a red and green snowflake design and snow gathering on the brewery logo, appears to be right out of the Christmas gift wrapping department. Or should I say the Festivus department, since today\u2019s the day?<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, it\u2019s a pretty bundle, although also a little confusing, in that the wrapping indicates a beer of 8.7% ABV, but the label on the unwrapped bottle shows 9.5% ABV. Gauging by the way my lids are lowering, I\u2019m guessing the latter is more accurate, added to the fact that earlier editions of the beer were 8.7% and the \u201cBottled on\u201d space on the wrapping is left blank. Good chance, as with the <a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/8553\/12-beers-of-christmas-2020-4-fantome-hiver\" target=\"_blank\">Fant\u00f4me Hiver<\/a> of a couple of nights ago, it\u2019s a question of a small Belgian brewery wondering what to do with a lot of excess packaging material.<\/p>\n<p>De Glazen Toren is named after the street it is on in the small Flemish town of Erpe-Mere, Glazentorenweg. Glazen Toren actually translates as \u201cglass tower,\u201d and once upon a time that\u2019s apparently what the farmers would most likely see when wheeling their goods up the narrow path\u2014the glass tower of a pub, affording a lively view of the prostitutes awaiting customers.<\/p>\n<p>Less profane is the origin of Canaster, named after a brew once made at the Carmelite Monastery in nearby Aalst. According to the brewery, it \u201crevives at the end of the year as Winterscotch, a beer for long winter evenings. Dark caramel malts give it a warm aroma and a rich flavour.\u201d There\u2019s some wheat malt in there as well, dark candy sugar and Aalst Hallertau hops.<\/p>\n<p>The winter nights are now officially growing shorter, though they\u2019re still plenty long. So I had high expectations for the beer from what I\u2019d read about it and the brewery, which began in 2002. There are three principals involved, including a well-known Belgium beer writer, Jef Van Den Steen.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/festivusairgrev-top-621x465.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8583\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8583\" src=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/festivusairgrev-top-621x465.jpg\" alt=\"festivusairgrev-top-621x465\" width=\"320\" height=\"239\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/festivusairgrev-top-621x465.jpg 320w, https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/festivusairgrev-top-621x465-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/festivusairgrev-top-621x465-175x130.jpg 175w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a>But the beer, while perfectly drinkable and certainly warming, didn\u2019t live up to my expectations. I suppose we could consider this my Airing of Grievances. A virtually opaque yet still brown beer, Canaster is clearly highly malted, but it offers little such sweet charm in the nose. It\u2019s possible I just had a bad bottle, but what aroma was there seemed pretty thin. (Well, my wife thought it smelled like the ear drops her mother used to administer to her in the long ago, but that wasn\u2019t a pleasant scent memory for her.)<\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/can-glass.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8581\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8581\" src=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/can-glass.jpg\" alt=\"can glass\" width=\"640\" height=\"393\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/can-glass.jpg 640w, https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/can-glass-300x184.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a>\n<p>The flavor seemed herbal, a touch sour, acidic, with a decent carbonated bite. As the beer warmed up I finally started to perceive more of a caramel malt note and a hint of dark cherries, but by then the thrill was gone. I finished all 25.4 ounces, to be sure, but the beer just never rallied around the Festivus pole for me.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/can-cap.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8584\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-8584\" src=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/can-cap.jpg\" alt=\"can cap\" width=\"250\" height=\"228\" \/><\/a>Name: Canaster Winterscotch<br \/>\nBrewer: Brouwerij De Glazen Toren,<br \/>\nStyle: Scotch Ale<br \/>\nABV: 8.7% or 9.5% ABV<br \/>\nAvailability: Seasonally, imported by B. United Int. of Connecticut<br \/>\nFor More Information: www.glazentoren.be<\/p>\n<p><em>[December 23, 2020]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/8565\/12-beers-of-christmas-2020-5-einbecker-winter-bock\" target=\"_blank\">12 Beers of Christmas 5: Einbecker Winter-Bock<\/a> &gt;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/8591\/12-beers-of-christmas-2020-7-prairie-artisan-ales-seasick-crocodile\" target=\"_blank\">12 Beers of Christmas 7: Prairie Artisan Seasick Crocodile<\/a> ><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All the bottled beers from the Brouwerij De Glazen Toren in Erpe-Mere, Belgium, come wrapped in paper, and the Canaster&#8230;  <a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/8576\/12-beers-of-christmas-2020-6-canaster-winterscotch\" title=\"Read12 Beers of Christmas 2020 &#8211; 6: Canaster Winterscotch\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":8581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[627,939,18],"tags":[1029981,748,1029982,749,2414,676069,975741,1002722,1029977,1029978,1029979,1029980],"class_list":["post-8576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tap-beer-of-the-week","category-beer-on-tap","category-lifestyle","tag-festivus","tag-belgium","tag-aalst","tag-christmas","tag-scotch-ale","tag-christmas-beers","tag-12-days-of-christmas","tag-12-beers-of-christmas","tag-canaster-winterscotch","tag-brouwerij-de-glazen-toren","tag-jef-van-den-steen","tag-erpe-mere"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/can-glass.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8576"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8600,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8576\/revisions\/8600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}