The Colby Echo

Issue date: 2/9/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment

This week's selection

I love winter beers. Really, I do. Something about the colder months seems to give brewmasters license to make heavier, darker ales that carry a strong malt flavor to balance the usual dominance of hop bitterness characteristic of American beers. These seasonal brews usually carry more of an alcoholic punch than their summer or spring cousins. Since we are in the depths of a cold, cold winter, many readers might want to curl up with a great winter ale. So for this review, I will be examining the Sierra Nevada special Celebration Ale for 2006, and Delirium Noël from the Huyghe Brewery in Ghent, Belgium.

Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale 2006 is a special brew for the winter months. Avid beer enthusiasts will know Sierra Nevada for their excellent Pale Ale. Those not familiar with this style should cease whatever they are doing right now and go buy a six-pack.

Celebration comes in a familiar six bottle pack. Its logo features an idyllic rustic cabin draped in snow blankets with a wreath of poinsettias festooning the label's border. Sierra Nevada advertises 6.8% A.B.V., and I would be lying if I said that the Celebration didn't pack a bit of a punch. Yet the beer was surprisingly light, lacking the gravity usually associated a winter beer.

This winter concoction pours smoothly, displaying a rich auburn color with a fair bit of head retention. The beer was clear, a result of post-fermentation filtering. Celebration opens with a warm malty flavor, however, I was left clawing for a more robust grain base when I was hit by the hops. The initial aroma had strong hop notes. According to Sierra Nevada's website, Celebration is dry hopped - brewers add raw hop buds (in this case, Cascade, Centennial and Chinook hops, all staples to the northwest hop palate) to the fermenting beer in addition to the traditional finishing hops, ensuring a strong and flavorful bouquet. Yet when I tasted the Celebration, it seemed that those at Sierra Nevada overdid it. Chinook hops are quite powerful as a base hop, and the second dry hop addition drowned out the more delicate Cascade and Centennial flavors. This is an unfortunate trend for many west coast brewers: the overuse of hops.

Delirium comes in huge, 1 pint 9.4 fluid ounce glass bottle, coated and painted to look ceramic, and sealed with a champagne cork. The logo features a pink elephant on a sled, and at 10% A.B.V. the pink elephant is a very appropriate symbol. Upon opening the bottle I was surprised by phenolic notes and hints of banana and clove, a characteristic of wheat beers. Delirium pours well, keeping quite a bit of head foam. The beer is thicker and darker than the Celebration - the glass was almost opaque. While certainly more malty than the Sierra Nevada seasonal, offering the previously mentioned banana and clove notes, Huyghe's offering seemed a bit under-hopped for a winter ale. In fact, it was almost like a darker version of a Bier de Garde, a Belgian farmhouse style. This is not necessarily a bad thing - Bier de Gardes are amongst some of the best beers I've ever sampled, and this beer is superb.

While both beers are great choices for the savvy drinker, both are costly. Celebration runs for about nine dollars for six 12-oz bottles. Delirium weighs in at a whopping nine dollars for a single 25.4 oz bottle, making it 50% more expensive per ounce. While the difference in quality is certainly worth the extra cost, it's a bit more difficult to sit down and enjoy a pint and a half of 10% beer on one's own. Neither of these beers are meant to be downed to get tanked on a weekend; that's what Natty is for. If you're looking for a flavorful beer to cozy up with on a cold day, however, splurge a little and go for either of these fine seasonal ales.

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