{"id":9606,"date":"2023-12-31T19:34:23","date_gmt":"2024-01-01T01:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/?p=9606"},"modified":"2024-01-22T11:31:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T17:31:44","slug":"12-beers-of-christmas-2023-8-berkshire-brewing-holidale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/9606\/12-beers-of-christmas-2023-8-berkshire-brewing-holidale","title":{"rendered":"12 Beers of Christmas 2023 – 8: Berkshire Brewing Holidale"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pliny<\/a>

Pliny the Elder<\/p><\/div>\n

Pliny the Elder (not unknown in the world of beer, but here in his role as a first century naturalist) was probably the first to note the use of allspice, which he referred to as Jamaican Pepper. And certainly the spice is a key ingredient of Jamaican cuisine. So, Holidale, mon.<\/p>\n

Because it’s relatively easy for me to find and that the recipe changes every year, the Berkshire Brewing Company\u2019s Holidale has shown up here before, both in\u00a02018<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a02020<\/a>, and there\u2019s ample history about the brewery, established in 1994, in those posts. The beers didn’t disappoint in those years, so here we are again.<\/p>\n

\"bbc<\/a>And, once again, this is really a quite wonderful brew, a terrific one to have to see the year out. It\u2019s pretty much the height of our celebration, since we\u2019re stay-at-homes for yet another New Year\u2019s Eve. It seems to be our new tradition. I think we\u2019ve had Chinese food and watched a movie for four out of the last five years. I know we\u2019re not alone in this regard; last year when I went to pick up our dinner Pan Asian in Brattleboro was a frenzied madhouse of piling-up takeout bags.<\/p>\n

So I don\u2019t think the local establishments will miss us, as we\u2019re actually skipping the Chinese food this year. Lynn wanted to have more of the broccoli cheese soup I made last night. So be it. (I made it in the Instant Pot, which I tend to call the Instant Plot. Since Lynn bought me the implement for my birthday a couple of years back I\u2019ve taken over virtually all the cooking. But not the spaghetti meat sauce she makes for our Christmas dinners. I know my limits.)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a limit to how much of this year\u2019s Holidale one should reasonably drink, as I picked it up in 16-oz. cans and the beer is a rollicking 11% ABV. It\u2019s a clear deep amber brew with a copious head and a wildly fragrant nose, as one might expect from a beer brewed with allspice, juniper berries, sweet orange peel, and Belgian candi syrup. And presumably, as a Triple IPA, with shovelfuls of hops.<\/p>\n\"bbc<\/a>\n

But it\u2019s not a hop forward beer. The nose is indisputably allspice and juniper. And the initial taste is equally spiced and peppery, but also rich in malt sweetness, making for quite a taste explosion and a full, coating mouthfeel. All in a good way. The brewery suggests there might be flavors of citrus and stone fruit as well, honey, caramel and biscuit.<\/p>\n

Maybe. Anyway, it\u2019s a symphony of a beer, which makes our movie choice of the night, \u201cMaestro,\u201d look pretty promising. Let\u2019s hope 2024 lives up to being promising as well, and Happy New Year to all.<\/p>\n

\"BBC<\/a>Name: Holidale 2023
\nBrewer: Berkshire Brewing Company, South Deerfield, Massachusetts
\nStyle: Triple IPA
\nABV: 11%
\nAvailability: Seasonally in MA, CT
\nFor More Information: berkshire-brewing.com<\/a><\/p>\n

[December 31, 2023]<\/em><\/p>\n

< 12 Beers of Christmas 7: The People\u2019s Pint From Nova Scotia With Love<\/a>
\n12 Beers of Christmas 9: Victory Merry Monkey<\/a> ><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pliny the Elder (not unknown in the world of beer, but here in his role as a first century naturalist)… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":9614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[939,627,18],"tags":[1045823,749,603,370950,676069,975813,1002722,1016809],"class_list":["post-9606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beer-on-tap","category-tap-beer-of-the-week","category-lifestyle","tag-triple-ipa","tag-christmas","tag-massachusetts","tag-berkshire-brewing-co","tag-christmas-beers","tag-holidale","tag-12-beers-of-christmas","tag-south-deerfield"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/bbc-glass.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9606","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=9606"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9635,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9606\/revisions\/9635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}