Only one week left to go before the big man once again comes down my chimney, a wincing thought indeed.

A day as crazy as Christmas Day (and, as it happens to be, my 40+something birthday) will require the best of beers and it is my sole intention to go out today and bring them home.

There are plenty of places to pick up good beers, however, being that there are 2 ale houses in Nottingham that offer a 30% discount on takeout beer, it seems a no-brainer to head that way.

As it turned out, the day was littered with many distractions and this left much less time for exploration. By the time I arrived in town there was only time for one destination and this would be The Canal House Bar, a fantastic venue with a great selection of beers from all over the world.

Arriving at a busy bar in the early evening wasn’t really the best of times but regardless of the waiting customers I still took my time to quiz the barman on his selection of ales. “Which chocolate stouts do you have?”, I asked. “And what ABV is that?”. “Do you have any marshmallow stouts?”. To be fair, the barman was very patient with me and even though he didn’t have a clue what I was talking about he persevered until this fussy customer was satisfied.

Now, mystery beers on Christmas Day are a bit of a risk, because who wants a bad ale accompanying their pigs in blankets? With this important ethos in mind, it’s time to call on the big hitters, the beer behemoths, the froth phenomenons!

Yeah baby! What a line up! Pure killers.

Trappist Rochfort need no introduction. Candy sugar goodness with a pedigree as pure as the monks who make it. Going to be hard work saving these beers until last but you’ve just got to pay your respects when drinking Trappist Rochfort.

As you can see from the picture above, another of the Trappist family will be joining the party.

Orval. A great beer and one of my all time favourites. Traditional Belgian taste but then, bam!, the taste of banana kicks in the door. What an absolute legend of a beer. I might just have to drink this while roasting my spuds.

Time for desert!

I know I said that mystery beers at Christmas are a bit of a risk but Tiny Rebel brewery are as good a brewery as you can find.

From the Welsh valleys, Tiny Rebel brew the goodies time and time again. As reliable as Santa’s sack, a Christmas beer from Tiny Rebel will always be a cracker. I have to admit, this is a beer I’m really looking forward to tasting and being that it’s only 5.2% it might just be the right beer to get the party started.

If my legs are still working and can reliably carry me back to the fridge, the next beers are really going to go down well.

A trio of beauties not seen since the lady with three boobs showed up in Total Recall.

Shiny brewery’s Real or Cake beer has recently featured on my #beersaturday blog and for those who missed the review I’ll give you the short hand version…

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As for the other two beers, I expect them to be super sweet, very moreish, and as thick as a Love Island contestant. Both beers come from well established breweries and have the words “chocolate” and “cherries” in the description. So, long story short, I ain’t got no worries!

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Merry Christmas to all my #beersaturday monsters. Wishing you all a great day!