Skip to main content

Advent Calendar Window 15 - Festive Christmas Porter

"We specialised in causing pain, 
Spreading fear and doubt. 
And if you couldn't pay the rent, 
We simply threw you out." 

Burton Upon Trent has, as many of you will know, long been a reputed beer town. But with the four famous names in the town, Bass, Allied, Marston's and Everard's being sold to bigger businesses so they could remian household names, it became the small town of sellouts. Still, part of the tradition exists in Burton Bridge Brewery ensuring the Beer-Mecca town still has a micro. The terrific story continues here

I am upset I have struggled to keep these posts up-to-date, but moving house and not having the internet in my new dwelling has made it near impossible. So, this post relates to the beer behind Window 15 that I drank on Monday. The weakest beer in the calendar I believe, but still an exciting one for me. Simple branding and a simple name will hopefully lead to a traditional, simple but solid little beer. Let us find out. 

A dark bistre with off colour, foamy head, the nose is utterly scentless minus a few hints of the most basic of roasting malts. There's almost nothing to describe here so let's hope for better with the taste. Yep, utterly tasteless. I've never known a beer to have so little to it. I actually can't find any discernible flavour to write about. There are no tasting notes to give you. There is no taste. I'm now searching the room for something to say. Erm... wouldn't it be interesting if they made a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas. I mean, there was quite a number of different "holiday" doors there which gives some scope. I'd love Jack to visit Thanksgiving Town. What the hell is that like? Is it a place where the pilgrims spend all year long murdering Indians whilst eating turkey? How does it work? Make the film, Tim! 

I've allowed this beer time to settle, warm, develop and breed aliens in an attempt to find something else to write about, but it isn't offering anything. It's not awful. It's not a drain pour. It's a porter because it tastes like roasted malts and beer. I can't give you anything other than that. Does anybody have anything else to say? Wouldn't it be interesting if they made a sequel to the Muppet's Christ... oh forget it!

Christmas Spirit Rating: 2%. I wonder if that tinsel will taste of more than this beer. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Children and Dogs in Pubs and Bars

  I once took my niece to the pub. She was either 1 or 2 years of age. I often looked after her on Saturdays and on one of our weekly walks, for the first time, I stopped by the local pub, mainly because my friend was there with his daughter of similar age. The two kids got on well together and it was a lovely couple of hours; a perfect showcase of adult friends and their children existing in public houses. But my sister was furious. She didn’t rant or rave but her lips were purser than a 90s children’s show teacher. It was here that I learned of the effect that our childhood had had upon her. She recalls many an afternoon being bored in the corner of pubs that our Dad had dragged us to, arms folded in the corner with nothing to do, and she doesn’t want the same for her children. The idea of her first born being taken to pubs infuriates her; fearful that they would be subjected to the same unhappy experiences that she was.  I don’t recall those times in the same way as my s

"They Had Their Issues, So..."

      There’s a set of garages to rent as storage units near my workplace. One of them is taken by a local florist that uses it to store flower arrangements for various events, that are more often than not funerals.   As such, at least once a week at 8am I will pass a car being loaded up with flowers arranged into heart shaped patterns or the letters M U M. It is a grounding reminder that, as I mentally grumble my way through the upcoming arbitrary grievances of my ordinary working day, a group of family and friends locally is going through the hardest time. It provides much needed perspective on days when I could do with being reminded of all that I have to be thankful for.   These little moments explain to me why it is possible for us to share a communal loss when a celebrity passes away. Grief is often a personal and lonely experience, shared between a minority of people in your life. When a co-worker loses a relative or friend, it has little affect on me, bar signing of

The Ten Pubs That Made Me - Part 3: Dr Okell's / My Foley's Tap House and Leeds

A pint in Mr Foley's Tap House from December 2022     This is Part 3 (the fourth post) of an ongoing project. Please see the beginning of Part 0 for details.    Come the end of this journey, there may be a lesson in procrastination that I am unlikely to heed. These posts stem from a list that I made three years ago and a series that I embarked on 18 months ago. We’ve only now reached a 30% completion rate and with this post we are back to fail for the second time.   This odyssey began with a trip to Mr Foley’s Tap House in February 2022 – named Dr Okell’s bar on my first visits in 2005 – only to discover that it was closed. It did reopen by the time that the post was coming out and I managed a brief visit in December 2022. However, my July 1 st 2023 trip to Leeds, on which this post is based, is met with this sign at the door of the bar:      A quick check of social media shows an Instagram post from the day before (June 30 th ) announcing the closure of the