Holidays with Gritty McDuff

Beer Fever with Weaver: Harpoon brings Christmas early

Harpoon Winter Warmer?$8.25 for a six-pack at Uncle Tom's Market Picture this: It is a Friday night in mid-November. You are sitting in your room, doodling on the margins of your problem set. The sky is overcast and spitting something that looks white but soaks you through like rain. Inside, you're huddled up on the couch, blanket wrapped around your feet, heater clunking and emitting random puffs of lukewarm air. The power goes out, the TV blinks off, and any chance you had at comfort flies out the window to join the icy winter air. Fed up, you throw on your mittens and grab a beer (can't let those get warm). Popping the cap floods your nostrils with sweet cinnamon and mild nutmeg. You smile and envision Christmas Eve dinner and your brand new pony. One taste and you're up on the coffee table, jumping around to the Mariah Carey in your head and screaming "Dance Party!"

Beer Fever with Weaver: From the Beer Fever laboratory

The Natural Bull?$2.90 for...errr...one at Uncle Tom's Market. Drastic times call for drastic measures. With finals bearing down and the hours logged in at the library increasing daily, it is safe to say that these are indeed drastic times. Now I know everyone is feeling the same pressure that I am to get their work done so they can enjoy a restful, well-deserved Winter Break. But just to put things into perspective before we depart, bear with me for a second.

Beer Fever with Weaver

This piece represents the opinion of the author:

Alex Weaver

Columnist

November 17, 2006

Gritty's Christmas Ale?$8.35 for a six-pack at Hannaford

When I was little, I couldn't figure out what all the Thanksgiving fuss was about. I just couldn't discern what was so fantastic about getting all excited and waiting all day for a bunch of food that was prepared by people other than my own mother. I mean, what do I care if Aunt What's-Her-Face has brought her famous asparagus custard? Part of it, I think, was because my mother's food is just too damn good to care what someone else has to offer.

But under it all, it was more than that. I love Thanksgiving now, but when I was little, Thanksgiving was really just the signifier that Christmas was only a month away. Watching football during the brief lapses in my food coma was similar to the strict Kiddie Bumper Boats attendant checking your height when the damn line comes up to your bellybutton: It's the annoying step you must take in order to get to the real fun. Thus, it is with this childhood spirit?that is, blatantly ignoring Thanksgiving and focusing on the goodies to come?that I bring you this week's beer: Gritty McDuff's Christmas Ale.

As you may have noticed, I have adopted a rather seasonal approach to my beer selections lately. I do this for two reasons. First of all, as a Maine boy myself, I feel indebted with the task of enlightening all you foreigners of the best that Maine has to offer, season by season. That's right, don't think I don't hear you all complaining about the rain or the snow or the darkness or some other pathetic reason why you wish you had never come. The point is that you're all here and you absolutely love it?you don't have that Bowdoin sticker on your car for nothing.

The other reason for my recent seasonal obsession is that, to be honest, what the hell do I know about winter spices or fall aromas? The answer, of course, is that I know everything about all of this, but you, my feeble-minded readers, do not. Thus, from Pumpkinhead to Halloween Ale to Winter Warmer, "Beer Fever with Weaver" has become a veritable beer-tasters calendar. In this arena, Gritty's Christmas Ale really stands out.

Straight up, Christmas Ale is an Extra Special Bitter. It is not for the faint of heart or for those of you who need a wine cooler to get your night started. That said, I find this ale especially refreshing because, unlike many other seasonals, it does not attempt to define what Christmas tastes like and siphon it into a bottle. Instead, Christmas Ale is a unique beer offered by Gritty's under the only pretense of great taste, and taste great it does.

Every November, Gritty's offers Christmas Ale to fill our lives with an extra dose (or six) of cheer. From the bottle, Christmas pours a gorgeous, dark red/amber that bubbles to a satisfying and persistent head. Putting nose to glass offers no fruity or spicy aroma. Instead, you breathe in only what lies at the heart of a true bitter ale: malt and hops. Your first sip will not, thank God, taste of a Christmas wreath or a shot of eggnog. On the palate, just one sip of Christmas Ale fills your mouth with a full-bodied malty taste that flirts with roasted chestnuts but in a very subtle manner.

Once down, its sizeable 6.2 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) expresses itself through only the finest English malts and a variety of poignant hops. Thus, despite being crowned a "Best Bitter," Christmas Ale does not stage-dive into the back of your throat on its way to starting a mosh pit in your stomach. It does, however, insist on a refined taste in order to be fully appreciated. Like I said before, this is not "Jingle Bells" in a bottle.

So as you finish up your research paper or cross the last "t" of your organic chemistry exam, just remember that not everything in life benefits from superfluous amounts of meaningless B.S. No, what is most important is not the flowery details but the core of the material. Just as your anthropology professor sees right through your conclusion detailing how you "really enjoyed the reading" and "think it will compliment your additional studies excellently," so too does the seasoned beer drinker revel in the rare winter ale that presents itself only as what it is: a great-tasting ale that uses "no additives, fruits, or spices," yet still tastes great. So as you settle down to your Thanksgiving dinner, just remember:

'Twas the night before gorging,

Yet what thought did prevail?

But visions of bitterness,

And Gritty's Christmas Ale!

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