Samuel Adams Holiday Porter

Gift from OKO, Norway.

• Name: Samuel Adams Holiday Porter, 5.8%, United States
  
• Appearance: Dark brown, not much head.
  
• Aroma: Malt and coffee. Some hops. Hint of dark fruit? Caramel.
  
• Taste: Malty and burnt. Slight bitterness. Alcohol.
  
• Bought: Gift, 355 ml, € ?.??
  
• Overall score: 3/6
  
• Info: 28/12-2007

Wychwood Bah Humbug! Christmas Ale

Bought by ØM at Tromsø Vinmonopol, and shared with him in Norway.

• Name: Wychwood Bah Humbug! Christmas Ale, 6.0%, England
  
• Appearance: Dark brownish red. Quite a lot of head, though shortlived.
  
• Aroma: Dark fruit and berries. Cinnamon? Alcohol.
  
• Taste: Cinnamon, fruit and berries. Malty, and slightly bitter.
  
• Bought: Vinmonopolet, 500 ml, NOK 48.70
• Overall score: 3/6
  
• Info: 26/12-2007

Nøgne Ø God Jul 2007 (8.5%)

The most expensive Christmas beer for me this year, bought by ØM at Tromsø Vinmonopol. Rated second-best Christmas beer of the year by Aperitif.no and Dagbladet.no.

• Name: Nøgne Ø God Jul 2007, 8.5%, Norway
  
• Appearance: Very dark brown, almost black. Little head.
  
• Aroma: Quite malty, burnt/roasted. Slight alcohol.
  
• Taste: Complex. Malt and roasted. Bitterish, but nice.
  
• Bought: Vinmonopolet, 500 ml, NOK 63.50
• Overall score: 4/6
  
• Info: 26/12-2007

Ringnes Juleøl 2007 (6.5%)

Another one bought by ØM at Vinmonopolet, Tromsø. Moved to the blog posting about Ringnes Juleøl 2006.

Mack Juleøl 2007 (6.5%)

Second Norwegian Juleøl of the season. Moved to the blog posting about Mack Juleøl 2006.

Hansa Juleøl 2007 (6.5%)

Moved to the blog posting about Hansa Juleøl 2006.

Meantime Winter Time Winter Warmer

• Name: Meantime Winter Time Winter Warmer, 5.4%, England
  
• Appearance: Dark earthy brown. Very little head.
  
• Aroma: Dark fruit. Malt and smoke.
  
• Taste: Roasted, coffee, smoky. Also malt and dark fruit.
  
• Bought: Waitrose, 500 ml, £1.59
  
• Overall score: 4/6
  
• Info: 15/12-2007

400 bottles - trajectory's looking good

Then there were 400. The first 100 bottles took me 7 months, the second and third 100 took me 6 months each, and the last 100 has taken me 9 months. I have deliberately slowed down a little bit. The status now is 173 beers from the 300-book and 182 from the 500-book. This means that of the last 100 beers only 9 were from the 300-book and only 21 were from the 500-book. I should be able to make some progress when I order from a new source in January! At least I have been able to tick 17 new countries, making the total 45.

Score distribution:

0/6: 6
1/6: 17
2/6: 93
3/6: 165
4/6: 94
5/6: 25
6/6: 0
Country distribution:

1. United Kingdom [UK] (149)
2. Belgium [BE] (93)
3. Germany [DE] (44)
4. United States [US] (19)
5. Norway [NO] (13)
6. Canada [CA] (8)
7. Czech Republic [CZ] (8)
8. Netherlands [NL] (7)
9. France [FR] (6)
10. Portugal [PT] (4)
11. Russia [RU] (4)
12. Austria [AT] (3)
13. Cuba [CU] (3)
14. Finland [FI] (3)
15. Japan [JP] (3)
16. Australia [AU] (2)
17. Ireland [IE] (2)
18. New Zealand [NZ] (2)
19. Albania [AL] (1)
20. Brazil [BR] (1)
21. Switzerland [CH] (1)
22. China [CN] (1)
23. Colombia [CO] (1)
24. Denmark [DK] (1)
25. Spain [ES] (1)
26. Greece [GR] (1)
27. India [IN] (1)
28. Italy [IT] (1)
29. Jamaica [JM] (1)
30. Lao [LA] (1)
31. Lebanon [LB] (1)
32. Sri Lanka [LK] (1)
33. Lithuania [LT] (1)
34. Morocco [MA] (1)
35. Malta [MT] (1)
36. Mauritius [MU] (1)
37. Mexico [MX] (1)
38. Nepal [NP] (1)
39. Peru [PE] (1)
40. Poland [PL] (1)
41. Palestine [PS] (1)
42. Sweden [SE] (1)
43. Thailand [TH] (1)
44. Turkey [TR] (1)
45. Viet Nam [VN] (1)
    

Pike IPA

I saved this one from the 300-book for my 400th. Yet another beer provided by GR. Bought back in October in their brew-pub in 1st Avenue, Seattle (Washington, US).

• Name: Pike IPA, 6.3%, United States
  
• Appearance: Hazy dark orange. OK amount of head.
  
• Aroma: Fruit and flowers. Hops.
  
• Taste: Quite hoppy, tangy. Some fruit. Bitter aftertaste.
  
• Bought: Gift, 355 ml, $?.??
• Overall score: 2/6
  
• Info: 12/12-2007, 173/300

Slightly stronger than the 6% listed in the 300-book.

Hockley Valley Dark

Fifth and final beer bought for me by GR from LCBO in Toronto, Canada. First can of the project, all the other ones are bottles. Will stick to bottles where possible.

• Name: Hockley Valley Dark, 5%, Canada
  
• Appearance: Very dark redish brown. Little head.
  
• Aroma: Dark fruit. Roasted. Metallic.
  
• Taste: Roasted, burnt. Dark fruit. Malty. Slightly metallic.
  
• Bought: Gift, 473 ml, CA$ 2.50
• Overall score: 3/6
  
• Info: 8/12-2007

Young's Christmas Pudding Ale

• Name: Young's Christmas Pudding Ale, 5.5%, England
  
• Appearance: Dark redish brown. Nice amount of head.
  
• Aroma: Like Christmas pudding. Sweet, some coconut.
  
• Taste: Wow. Christmas pudding, jam, coconut. Bit of hops. Too sweet.
  
• Bought: Sainsbury's, 500 ml, £1.69
  
• Overall score: 2/6
  
• Info: 6/12-2007

Früli Strawberry Beer

The only reason I bought this one was to link "forward" to it from my April 2007 Belgo posting.

• Name: Früli Strawberry Beer, 4.1%, Belgium
  
• Appearance: Cloudy red. Not much head, and shortlived.
  
• Aroma: Like strawberry juice. Very sweet.
  
• Taste: Strawberry juice, quite sweet. Hint of sourness. Quite nice.
  
• Bought: Tesco, 250 ml, £1.29
  
• Overall score: 3/6
  
• Info: 3/12-2007