Time for me to shift into Chirstmas beer mode. As might be expected, I hope to write about a dozen holiday-appropriate brews this month. Some, like the current subject, were sent to me for comment by Louis Glunz Beer, some from other brewers, and others from my own stash or what I find at stores.
The first of these is Baderbräu Brewing Co.’s new seasonal, Christmas Bliss. It’s the first year for this brew, a Baltic Porter brewed with vanilla extract and orange peel. Christmas Bliss is 6.7% alcohol and is available in cans, on draft and at the brewery at 2515 S. Wabash.
For those who just came in, a Baltic Porter started as an English style, but was brewed to a higher alcohol percentage to survive export to, you guessed it, the Baltic countries, and to Russia. When the beer took root in its home market, mainly Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, it’s brewers perferred lager yeast, introducing a longer, cold fermentation period. The result is a sweeter beer with an abv between 7% and 10%. The style was unknown, though, outside of that region, until the dissolution of the Soviet bloc.
I tried to set up my “hero photo” in a more festive setting, but it will be this weekend before I get more Christmas decorations up. And since we’re looking at a spiced up beer, let’s use a snifter.
The initial smell is more of coffee roast malt, with notes of orange only in the background The our shows a deep brown body with a fizzy, quickly dwindling head.
The taste is initially a bit thin, perhaps because its presentation makes me think of a heavier Imperial stout. But then it comes across more like an ordinary porter. Understandable, since the abv is 6.7%, a bit low for this style. The malt roast is also lighter than the nose suggests, but that leaves more room for a spicy and citrusy hop profile. Any orange is probably masked by those ops. Then once finished, there is a definite vanilla aftertaste.
This is a little more complex than epected for a dessert beer. I might place this as a before-dinner beer, or something to enjoy with cheese or appetizers.
