{"id":9808,"date":"2024-12-25T22:30:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T04:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/?p=9808"},"modified":"2025-01-03T12:46:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T18:46:39","slug":"12-beers-of-christmas-2024-4-aurora-reindeer-breath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/9808\/12-beers-of-christmas-2024-4-aurora-reindeer-breath","title":{"rendered":"12 Beers of Christmas 2024 – 4: Aurora Reindeer Breath"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"the<\/a>\u201c…As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,<\/em>
\n When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,<\/em>
\n So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,<\/em>
\n With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.<\/em><\/p>\n

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof<\/em>
\n The prancing and pawing of each little hoof\u2026.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

That Christmas Eve clatter, as expressed by Clement Clarke Moore in \u201cA Visit From St. Nicholas\u201d (more commonly known as \u201c\u2019Twas the Night Before Christmas\u201d) was the only explanation for the bounty of gifts under the tree and the strange aroma wafting through the house on Christmas morning: reindeer breath!<\/p>\n

The beer of that name\u2014and the reindeer artwork on the can\u2014are attributed to 12-year-old Isla Grimaldi, daughter of one of the founders of the Aurora Brewing Co. Apparently Isla had bugged Mark Grimaldi for years to name a beer Reindeer\u2019s Breath, and when the time came, she was up to the artistic task.<\/p>\n\"Reindeer<\/a>\n

Aurora opened as a nanobrewery by Grimaldi and a homebrewing buddy, Joe Shelton,\u00a0in 2016, near Cayuga Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. (Moore was also from New York, and the poem\u2014where Santa\u2019s reindeer were first named\u2014initially appeared in the Troy Sentinel<\/em> newspaper.)<\/p>\n

\"Clement<\/a>

Clement C. Moore<\/p><\/div>\n

Things stayed nano at the brewery until a new taproom opened in late 2020, and more recently a second location in the Rochester suburb of Pittsford. Around the time Reindeer Breath appeared this year it was announced that a third location would soon be opening in Syracuse.<\/p>\n

We tore through our present opening through the late morning and afternoon, with a seemingly new tradition instigated by grandson, Nate: applause as each new gift was unwrapped.<\/p>\n

With four more arriving for a grand Christmas dinner, we were up to 13, and probably about seven or so of us making up the tasting crew.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The pre-dinner spread<\/p><\/div>\n

The brewery\u2019s Facebook page describes the beer thusly: \u201cA chocolatey, balanced stout conditioned on toasted cacao nibs, candy canes, and chocolate peppermint bark. It\u2019s a smooth and chocolatey pour, reminiscent of your favorite chocolate-covered peppermint candy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right up to a point. Everyone in the tasting panel detected the chocolate tones, but the mint was only faintly discernible. It was a retreat from yesterday\u2019s Hardywood Gingerbread Stout, with its ginger deliberately over the top, but for that balanced reason some liked this one more.<\/p>\n

My friend Jerry Carbone said, \u201cYes, it reminds me of the last time I kissed a reindeer.\u201d Not so disgusting an image if Isla’s drawing is accurate–her reindeer has a candy cane sticking out of its mouth.<\/p>\n\"RB<\/a>\n

There were few dissenters\u2014everyone seemed on board with the reindeer\u2014though I did wish more of the mint character had come through. But by the close of the festivities, I was so laden with pasta, pie, reindeer\u2019s breath and laughs there was nothing left to do but wish all a good night. Happy Christmas!<\/p>\n

\"Aurora-Logo-New\"<\/a>Name: Reindeer Breath
\nBrewer: Aurora Brewing Co., King Ferry and Pittsford, New York
\nStyle: Christmas Stout
\nABV: 6.5%
\nAvailability: Seasonally, in NY, MA, VA, NH, NJ, PA
\nFor More Information: www.brewaurora.com<\/p>\n

[December 25, 2024]<\/em><\/p>\n

< 12 Beers of Christmas 3: Hardywood Gingerbread Stout<\/a>
\n12 Beers of Christmas 5: Harvey’s Christmas Ale<\/a> ><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201c…As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky, So… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":9813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[939,627,18],"tags":[1045877,1045878,1045879,749,1045880,817,1045881,975741,1045882,1002722,1013433,1045874,1045875,1045876],"class_list":["post-9808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beer-on-tap","category-tap-beer-of-the-week","category-lifestyle","tag-reindeer-breath","tag-christmas-stout","tag-twas-the-night-before-christmas","tag-christmas","tag-mark-grimaldi","tag-new-york","tag-joe-shelton","tag-12-days-of-christmas","tag-isla-grimaldi","tag-12-beers-of-christmas","tag-clement-clarke-moore","tag-aurora-brewing-co","tag-king-ferry","tag-pittsford"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2024\/12\/Reindeer-breath.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9808","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=9808"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9834,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9808\/revisions\/9834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}