LCBO Food & Drink Holiday 2022

BREWS WORTHY

Strong ales and beers with flavours synonymous with the festive time of year. Taste of the Season

* SERVE OR GIFT WITH Potted Stilton with Beer-Poached Dates p. 245 Stilton is a cheese associated with the holidays in the U.K. It’s often made from summer milk, ripened through autumn, and reaches its peak in December. “Potting” it is a time-honoured treatment to extend the life of cheese.

JESSE’ S PICK Fuller’s Vintage Ale LCBO 676213, 500 mL, $8.95

Fuller’s is a full-flavoured and steadying English ale. Released ready to enjoy, but also strong and complex enough to improve with age, this year’s edition has a fruity nuance due to the addition of a small amount of blackberry juice and orange-forward British Emperor hops. Individually numbered, vintage-dated and released in time for the holidays, it’s a superb pairing for contemplative conversations around a fire.

ALSO TRY Imperial Stouts & Seasonal Flavours

Coconut Blackburne (included in the Left Field Blackburne Triple Play Holiday Mix Pack , LCBO 27909, 3 pk, $14.95), and the decadent, dark chocolate– flavoured Henderson Laura Secord’s Long Trek Chocolate Imperial Stout (LCBO 28479, 473 mL, $5.95) will warm

your toes on a cold night in. Anyone who’s eaten an After Eight chocolate or gingerbread man during the summer knows that there are flavours that transport you to specific times of the year. Winter releases such as the sweet and minty Wellington Peppermint Pattie Milk Stout

(LCBO 28139, 473 mL, $3.95) or the warming and spicy, yet curiously refreshing Ginger Snap Cookie Golden Ale (LCBO 29969, 473 mL, $3.65) from the Society of Beer Drinking Ladies will make your mouth merry with festive flavour.

Among the richest and strongest of beer styles, imperial stouts are many breweries’ winter seasonal, and a wonderful holiday tipple. Beers like the roasty, complex Collective Arts Origin of Darkness (LCBO 27985, 500 mL, $12.95), the robust and creamy Chocolate

210 FOOD & DRINK HOLIDAY 2022