Beer Advent Calendar 2023

Lervig Pilsner

• ABV: 4.7%
• Size: 33cl

Lervig are a fantastic beacon of brewing in Norway, well known for all the wonderful beer styles us beer nerds enjoy these days. A solid pilsner is never one to ignore and difficult to make well, and their pilsner is as good as any other on the market with a brilliant brightness to the flavour and malty but refreshing finish.

Paranoia Hazy Hoppy Hippo Beer

• ABV: 5.6%
• Size: 33cl

This is proof that even the Belgians are on board with today's trend for hops. This is a classic Belgian blonde base beer, with some lovely fruity esters, but the hop charge is big, bringing lots of spicy and floral flavours, along with a good hit of refreshing bitterness on the finish.

Malt Coast Pale Ale

• ABV: 4.2%
• Size: 33cl

Malt Coast's award-winning Maris Otter malt is the base of this Pale Ale which has been combined with Challenger, Cascade and Chinook hops giving it a a fresh pine and citrus finish. The perfect session ale.

Pohjala Ohtu Porter

• ABV: 5.5%
• Size: 33cl

This Estonian brewery is a true specialist in dark beer styles thanks to their ideal water profile. This porter has it all - richness, balance, complexity and refreshment. It's not too strong so it doesn't suffer from a cloying finish, but the depth of flavour is remarkable!

Tiny Rebel Cwtch Red Ale

• ABV: 5.0%
• Size: 33cl

This beer is one of those brilliant surprises that can occasionally emerge from a craft brewery. Tiny Rebel make no secret of their desire to experiment with their brewing but, if you served this red ale blind, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was an old recipe from a traditional brewery, but with a slight twist of tropical fruit. Great work.

Siren Craft Brew Broken Dream Breakfast Stout

• ABV: 6.5%
• Size: 33cl

Siren Craft have nailed this one. The big, silky, unctuous stout is a style that so many breweries want to get right. The Broken Dream has it all. Rich chocolate and coffee notes with a lovely, silky mouthfeel, emphasised by the use of nitro for carbonation, smaller bubbles giving a delicious velvety texture.

Northern Monk Eternal Session IPA

• ABV: 4.1%
• Size: 33cl

IPA is big in all flavour departments, but often alcohol too. The birth of the 'session' version is to combat that. To give the drinker all of the flavour and less of the booze. It's become a key style in today's market. Difficult to brew well, but when achieved, difficult to beat.

Magic Rock Brewing Dark Arts Surreal Stout

Made with four different malts and bags and bags of quality whole hops makes for a rich stout with layers of black fruit and dark savoury aromas of liquorice, cocoa and coffee galore. The hop additions though breath life into this dark stout giving a moreish bitterness on the finish.

Pilot Blond Session IPA

• ABV: 4%
• Size: 33cl

A beautifully balanced session IPA from one of Scotland's leading craft breweries. The aim here was a full-flavoured beer at a moderate ABV, and you'd have to say it was a complete success. A handful of oats in the mash for body, and a large dry-hop dose of Mosaic and Galaxy, and no filtration, give this beer big impact on the palate.

Beavertown Neck Oil IPA

• ABV: 4.3%
• Size: 33cl

Neck Oil has become an iconic beer in the UK, very much one of the pioneering craft beers that have almost certainly influenced many breweries within the now-abundant UK brewing scene. It's a meticulous recipe that delivers everything that craft beer was born to deliver - flavour, character and identity.

La Chouffe Blonde

• ABV: 8%
• Size: 33cl

La Chouffe is known the world over, but its commercial success has never compromised its integrity and commitment to quality. Year on year it continues to win global beer awards and every time you go back to your glass you can see why. Lovely clarity and freshness with perfectly balanced use of hops. Solid.

Vedett Pilsner

• ABV: 5.2%
• Size: 33cl

Very much made in the traditional European style with some lightly kilned pilsner malt and the subtle but classy noble hops of Saaz, Styrian Golding and Hallertau Magnum. Smooth on the palate with complex floral flavours, subtle biscuit and a touch of honey on an otherwise refreshingly bitter finish.

Bavik Super Pils

• ABV: 5.2%
• Size: 33cl

A true Belgian Pilsner that achieves its unique aromas and flavours from the incredible brewing process. No dilution, along with a long and cold maturation process results in this unique Pilsner. You can enjoy a smooth, soft and well rounded beer with a unique flavour.

Red by Petrus

• ABV: 8.5%
• Size: 33cl

An unusual beer style to find in a can, but we're very glad we did! Despite the quite modern looking can, this is very much a traditional Belgian style. With some colour comes some mild caramel and toffee notes, with the very obvious presence of cherries, but the delberate introduction of a touch of sourness balances this beer perfectly and creates a complex spectrum of flavours. One to sip and engage with!

St Bernardus Watou Wit

• ABV: 5.5%
• Size: 33cl

Typical wit beer characteristics of sweet spice with citrus peel notes. The rounded texture on the palate is moreish beyond belief! It's a wonder of a beer style, this. Engaging, but so well balanced and harmonious.

Whiplash Body Riddle Pale Ale

• ABV: 4.5%
• Size: 33cl

Here's a modern Pale Ale that is designed to show off the carefully blended hop combination. The beer is made with the palest of malts giving a blank canvas on which the hops can express themselves to the full.

Mikkeller Burst IPA

• ABV: 5.5%
• Size: 33cl

An attractively juicy IPA from Denmark's top brewery, this will give you all of that modern fruit-forward hoppiness, delivered on a soft, round and juicy palate. Served up nice and cold, this is an incredibly drinkable beer that's packed full of character and flavour and will absolutely not disappoint!

Two Tribes Campfire Haze Hazy Pale

• ABV: 5.2%
• Size: 33cl

Founded in 2017, Two Tribes beers are brewed to inspire and designed to spark curiosity. They unite craft creators with shared values of fun, freedom and curiosity whilst celebrating and supporting creative communities. The Campfire Hazy Pale has become a house favourite, one that we couldn't leave out from our advent line-up! A full-bodied and tropical fruit beer bursting with fruit flavours on the palate. Very good indeed!

Tempest Brewing Co. Elemental Porter

• ABV: 5.1%
• Size: 33cl

Tempest have brewed this porter in response to too many porters out there straying from the original style. And so Elemental is brewed very traditionally with classic ingredients, resulting in a mid-strength beer with chocolate and dark biscuit and only very subtle roast undertones.

Thornbridge Brewery Chiron American Pale Ale

• ABV: 5%
• Size: 33cl

While hop-heavy, the malt plays a subtle but integral part here too, offering a touch of caramel character, both in aroma and texture, which is a great counterpoint for the big hop influence. A full-on charge of American varieties - Chinook, Cascade, Amarillo and Columbus - will give you the full spectrum of flavour including grapefruit, papaya, mango and peach.

Jever Pils 33cl

• ABV: 4.9%
• Size: 33cl

Jever can boast a practically unchanged recipe in nearly 200 years. The secret is the water source. Soft water is what makes the crispest pilsner and the water doesn't come any softer than from their own well up in the extreme northwest of Germany on the North Sea coast. This creates the perfect support for lots of hops and the result is a tart, bitter, light and crisp pils fit for an aperitif on any occasion.

Brick Brewery Peckham Session IPA

• ABV: 4.2%
• Size: 33cl

Yet another craft brewery with the beginning of its story set in a garden shed! Brick, now based underneath the railway arches under Peckham Rye station, has a much bigger following these days but it has never lost its enthusiasm for playing with recipes in the search of something very tasty. Their Session IPA is a cracker, so full of flavour but ridiculously drinkable with it.

By The Horns Hopadelic Session IPA

• ABV: 4.3%
• Size: 33cl

By The Horns, established back in 2011, emerged from a will between the two co-founders, Alex & Chris, to bridge the gap between the UK's age-old real ale culture and the cutting-edge craft beer scene across the pond in the States. A constant quest for quality has underpinned their success and now you'll find beer lovers travelling across the capital to taste their beer direct from the brewery.

St. Ives Porth Pilsner

• ABV: 4.4%
• Size: 33cl

This is a lovely little brewery situated in the depths of Cornwall. With all that Atlantic coastline there's a discerning audience for a good quality, post-surf pilsner, so it has to be good! St. Ives' growing reputation is testament to the quality of this one.