http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pb...219952/-1/NEWS
By RICH HOLMES
rholmes@capecodonline.com
December 12, 2012
HYANNIS – Cape Cod Beer's fondness for collaboration found recent inspiration in the news that Hyannis branch of the British Beer Co. was planning to do a “Twelve Beers of Christmas” event.
Wanting to do something special to kick off the event, and something different than the Port-O-Vino merlot-barrel-aged porter the brewery has produced the past few years for the holidays, Cape Cod Beer decided to go with a mint chocolate porter, using organic roasted cocao nibs from Tazo Chocolate in Somerville.
The suggestion of a mint chocolate porter strikes beer lovers as potentially either a really good or really bad idea, Cape Cod Beer business manager Beth Marcus said. But after the cask was tapped on Dec. 1, “We all got to taste it,” she said. “It was really good.”
Tthe brewery, not keen on heavy use of flavorings, went easy on the amint, which Marcus said “can be hard to work with ... it can be overpowering.” The cocao nibs pair well with the chocolate malt in the porter, she added.
Only 225 bottles of this holiday confection will be available for sale at the Phinney's Lane brewery store, beginning Friday the 21st. The 750ml flip-top bottles will be sold for $15 apiece with a two-per-customer limit.
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Good things live on, and that's the case with the yeast Cape Cod Beer uses to make it's German-style wheat beers: a light and fruity hefeweizen for summer and a hearty dunkelweizen in the fall. Marcus said the yeast from the dunkel survived this year to ferment a batch of weizenbock. This malty unfiltered beer qualifies as a winter warmer, with an 8 percent ABV. This is the first time the brewery has made this style, which will be sold in growlers at the brewery store or on tap in area taverns. The first keg will be tapped at the Hyannis branch of the British Beer Co. on Friday.
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Now, about those “Twelve Beers of Christmas.” Michael Otto, general manager of the Hyannis British Beer Co., said unavailability of some beers pares the actual number down to about eight, but intriguing choices they are, and all on draft. He said they include Avery's Old Jubilation Ale, a dark English-style strong ale; Delirium Noel and Corsendonk Christmas Ale, both dark strong Belgian ales; Lost Abbey's Gift of the Magi, a strong golden ale flavored with frankincense and myrrh; and a Christmas ale from the highly regarded St. Bernadus Browerij in Belgium – “the creme de la creme of Christmas beers in my opinion,” Otto said.
The beers are being placed on line as they go, leading up to the St. Bernadus, he said.
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