Beery Advent Calendar #1

I once ran a '12 beers of Christmas' feature where I treated myself to some of the choicest bottles sat in my beer cupboard. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I thought I'd do it all over again. After all, what could be better than enjoying a dozen great beers?

Well, how about enjoying twenty-four of them? From now until JC's birthday, I'm treating myself everyday to a beer. And there'll be a gift and a dinky picture every day too.

Today's beer is unusual in bottle. Exposed by Thornbridge appeared on cask back in January and has been bottled as part of their experimental 'Alchemy' series. It's a dry stout infused with pink peppercorns and aged on strawberry pulp. And it almost works; a good glass swill brings pepper to the fore. There's a certain earthy flavour imparted by the Bramling Cross and woody strawberry. For me, a fuller mouthfeel and less astringency would have made a good beer great.

Today's gift: continuing the strawberry vibe, here's a slightly-annoying game to play.

Today's picture: it has to be a festive cat. Just this once...


Thanks to Thornbridge for the beer,