It is time for Zurich Beer Tour's Top 3 beers for December 2022. You know it by now, Simona is in love with dark beers, especially during the colder months of the year. So her December choice is once again an imperial stout, which has a lot going on. Sandro is also not surprising us this month with his choice, the #NEIPA he chose this month was brewed to celebrate the birthday of the brewery it was brewed at. This month's staff pick is a beer on the darker side as well, this barrel aged barlweywine is released once every year and we had the 2019 version. Let's do this!
Simona's pick: Ārpus (EST) X Moersleutel (NED) - Coffee x Vanilla x Tonka x Maple Imperial Stout
The Beer:
This beer is part of the latest collab series by Ārpus, where they brewed beers with breweries like Northern Monk, Põhjala, SOMA, Neon Raptor. This particular one is brewed with Moersleutel, a Dutch brewery. Moersleutel are known for brewing amazing imperial stouts (especially their Motor Oil / Motorolie stout), so they were the obvious choice for an imperial stout collab. As the name already shows, this beer was brewed adding many different #adjuncts. The final result tastes amazing, all the adjuncts can be felt, even though the maple and the tonka are pretty dominant. This is the type of beer that you should drink, if you only want to have a single one for the night. It is best consumed at room #temperature, so the best way to enjoy it is, to take it out the fridge and drink it slowly. As the beer warms up you will feel how it slowly changes, and new flavors will show up.
The Brewery:
You can find out more about Ārpus in this blog article.
Moersleutel is a brewery that was founded by 4 brothers in the Netherlands. One day, after they all had finished their technical studies, they were challenged by their dad who owned a small brewery to brew a better beer than he could. After they failed this challenge hard, the father and his friends helped the guys to get better at brewing (but only after they finished laughing). After some experiments and trying out many different beer styles, they ended up brewing an amazing barrel aged imperial stout, which made them famous in the Dutch craft beer scene.
Our food pairing recommendation:
Apple Clafoutis with Tonka Bean
Sandro's pick: Overtone Brewing (SCO) - Pure Magic 2022! DIPA
The Beer:
This beer has become a birthday tradition by the guys of Overtone Brewing. The version mentioned in this post was brewed to celebrate their 4th anniversary. This extremely hazy NEIPA was brewed using three hops that all have a very distinctive aroma profile: Galaxy, Motueka, Strata. The beer tases like a creamy peach, with notes of grass, lemon and a lot of #dankness. It is rather on the sweeter side, but still has an exciting bitter kick on the finish. This brew packs 8.5% but we could drink it all night long, maybe that's the pure magic they are talking about.
The Brewery:
You can find out more about Overtone in this blog article.
Our food pairing recommendation:
Shrimp in cream sauce with garlic & white wine
Zurich Beer Tour's pick: Lervig (NOR) - Paragon 2019 Barleywine
The Beer:
Paragon is a beer that is released yearly by Lervig. The beer is always a barleywine but everything else changes - the ABV, the barrels used and the age of the blended beers. The 2019 version blends beers from 2017 and 2019, that were aged in bourbon #barrels (Heavin Hill, Angel’s Envy and Wild Turkey barrels, to be exact). As you start sipping the beer, you might be surprised by a lot of sweetness, which then disappears quite fast to make way for the classic #barleywine aromas of figs and dried raisins. The beer finishes with a huge amount of caramel and chocolates flavors. The 13.5% ABV tells you that this is yet another one of those beers, that are worth taking longer to drink. Lervig recommends serving the beer at 7-8 °C and than slowly letting it warm up while drinking. Cheers!
The Brewery:
Our food pairing recommendation:
Stilton cheese with apple & pear slices
These are our three beers. Which ones were your favorite brews in December? Tell us in the comments!
Are you looking for more personalized recommendations, that are made to fit your taste? Check our Pocket Beer Sommelier.
Stay tuned for our January recommendations!
Cheers,
Your Zurich Beer Tour Guides