Style: NEIPA
Brewery: Amager Bryghus
Origin: Denmark
Size: 44cl
Alcohol: 6.5%
Price: 48kr
Systembolaget: 36857
So if I’m honest, I bought this for the Christmas tasting just for the label alone. Who doesn’t like Santa in a speedo?! Of course Amager are a well known brewery, but I do find them to be a bit hit-and-miss. I’ve had some great beers from them in the past, but also some pretty bad ones. This one from the Danish brewers I would say falls somewhere in the middle of the pile.
It was hazy straw coloured when poured with a big creamy head. The thick body and high carbonation helped the head retention immensely. There were big hits of orange, citrus, hay, pineapple and fresh grass in the pleasant aroma. These followed through into the taste, with the hops growing in the aftertaste leaving a pine hit in the back of the throat. The most powerful flavours were moss, dried pineapple, orange peel and resin. There was a dry finish with left a resin and grass feel to the palate.
So the problem I have with this beer is that it just doesn’t really feel like a Christmas beer. It was a perfectly adequate hazy IPA, but slap a summer label on this and you could release this at any time of the year. I just don’t see why this is marketed as a “winter IPA” when there is nothing wintery about it all. I would also say it is too expensive compared to better products that on the market today. It wasn’t bad, just extremely average. Even Santa in a thong couldn’t save this beer from being mediocre, I’m afraid.