Mikkeller Santa's Little Helper
So it's Christmas day. Time to pull out the big guns. The big number ten this year comes from Denmark from the folks at Mikkeller, brewers of the delightful From via To (last years 9th beer of Christmas) and this year I'm reviewing their 10.5% barley wine/Belgian strong ale like thing Santa's Little Helper.
Been a while since I've been near this category of beer so I'm intrigued. The colour is deep, deep, deep crimson, the nose is very perfumed cherry with quite a few upfront volatile esters and fusel alcohols. In short this is one big sappy, juicy hit of warming rum soaked raisins, coffee, cherry and chocolate. The viscous almost liqour like alcohol hit rips through a syrupy, sugary sweet backbone that seems to come back in the finish.
So at first I wasn't sure on this one, but it does grow on you. Rich enough to take on any christmas pudding Santa's Little Helper is a fine example of a high octane seasonal brew. From Rob's Beer Quest, a merry Christmas to one and all.
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