Country of Origin: Great Britain
Availability: Winter seasonal.
Price comparison: Dunno - it came as part of my Beer of the Month package.
Alcohol percentage by volume: 6%.
Cute bottle/label? Standard shaped 11.2-ounce brown glass bottle. Guess what's depicted on the label. (Don't worry; the Big Guy's not mooning, just sitting with his back towards the viewer, on a "butt" - British for "barrel.") A quote on the importer's (Shelton Brothers) page says "The illustration for the Santa's Butt label was painted by Massachusetts artist Gary Lippincott... The poor guy works for beer."
Appearance: Deep brownish-black with a bright dark-amber highlight. Very little in the way of visible carbonation and only a small island of head seconds after pouring.
Scent: Nicely malty with some plum and a bit of coffee.
Flavor: Not as festive, if you will, as I had hoped, based on its seasonal attitude and punchy aroma. A little malt, not much hops, and a dry but not impressive finish.
Impressions: Decently serviceable session porter. Just because I wasn't blown away by it doesn't mean I didn't like it.
Will I buy this beer again? It's really pretty good British porter. If I was in the market for it and saw it, I'd probably buy it based on the cute label art and the seasonality of it all. Note that I didn't get around even to drinking this bottle till nearly Easter.
Rating:
3 out of 5 cute beer glasses
Reviewed: March 30, 2007
