Ridgeway Santas Butt Winter Porter
This special holiday porter is made for winter - rich and warming, the way they like it at the North Pole. It was inspired by this famous line from a well-loved children’s storybook:
"And Santa sat on his great butt, enjoying a hardy brew..."
In case you find that amusing, the brewer hastens to point out that in England, "butt" refers to a certain sized barrel, in fact, holding 108 Imperial gallons. Back in the day it was quite a normal thing for a brewery to put its beer up in a large butt for storage. Still snickering, eh? Get your mind out of the gutter, or Santa will be skipping your house entirely this year.
"And Santa sat on his great butt, enjoying a hardy brew..."
In case you find that amusing, the brewer hastens to point out that in England, "butt" refers to a certain sized barrel, in fact, holding 108 Imperial gallons. Back in the day it was quite a normal thing for a brewery to put its beer up in a large butt for storage. Still snickering, eh? Get your mind out of the gutter, or Santa will be skipping your house entirely this year.
2.9
494 reviews
North Heath, England
Community reviews
Butelka 500ml. Czarny kolor z rubinowym refleksem. Piana beżowa,średnia,o lekko kremowej konsystencji ,opada szybko. W zapachu kawa,czekolada,suszone owoce. W smaku praktycznie to samo,po lekkim ogrzaniu czekolada wysuwa się na pierwszy plan. Niezły balans, niskie wysycenie ,piwo pełne z delikatną nutą melasy na finiszu.
Frugtagtig porter med en del sødme fra malten. Karamel i eftersmagen. En god juleøl.
Pitänee maistaa toisissa olosuhteissa uusiksi, jos tulee vastaan.
500 ml bottle into pint glass, bottled on 7/25/2017. Pours crystal clear deep ruby red/brown color with a 1-2 finger dense light khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, brown bread, toasted biscuit, raisin, and plum; with lighter notes of nuttiness, coffee, herbal, grass, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Nice and pleasant aroma with good balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malts and light earthy hop/fruity yeast notes; with solid strength. A bit too fruity/yeasty, but not overwhelming. Taste of big chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, brown bread, and toasted biscuit; with lighter notes of nuttiness, coffee, herbal, grass, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Mild herbal/spicy hop and roast bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, brown bread, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, coffee, light dark fruit/herbal, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts and light earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; with a great roast/hop bitter/sweet balance; and zero cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from hop/roast bitterness. Light-medium carbonation and medium body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/grainy, and slightly sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is nice. Zero warming alcohol for 6%. Overall this is a delicious English porter. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts and light earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mildly bitter/drying finish. Nicely rich porter malt complexity with mild earthy hop balance. Usually their beers I've had in the past were very yeasty, but this was a lot cleaner with no diacetyl at all. A very enjoyable offering, and spot on style example.
Bottle - dark with small foam head. Decent aroma- slight licorice. Ok mouthfeel, quite lasting taste, thin, slight licorice.
Bottle from Malt Traders on 26 December 2017. Not really porter weather when I drank this beer but it didn’t really matter. Burnt toast flavours and bitterness are stable mates in this dark and delicious beer. All that is good about dark beers is right here in this one – deep black colour, big full aroma, smooth velvety texture and bitter finish. What more could you want from a Porter.
Tap, ADT. Clear dark amber with a thin tan head. Some mild chocolate flavors. Overall a bit thin. Gotta say, this is the fourth of these Elf beers I've had today and maybe they had a bad trip over the pond or something. They all seem a little off, this one most of all.
Perfectly stated by the brewer: This special holiday porter is made for winter - rich and warming, the way they like it at the North Pole
C+. Pours a black color with khaki head. A little light on flavor despite it's dark color
Pours black with low white head. Aroma of coffee, roasted malt, alcohol, Christmas spices. Taste is roasty, a bit medicinal. Light and smooth body with soft carbonation.
Copenhagen 14/8 2017. 50 cl bottle from Den Gamle Købmand. Santa showing off his butt on the label while his studying the wishing list from all the worlds well behaved children. Pours clear dark maroon with a red tinge and small off-white head. Settles as patchy and thin layer of foam. No lacing. Aroma is strong and fairly sweet. Caramel and milk chocolate. Light hints of bitter coffee. Medium carbonation and thick oily palate. Flavor is heavy sweet. Followed by modest bitterness. Aftertaste is bitter coffee and toffee. Sweet but indeed heartening. And not as heavy as expected for a beer where Santa is exposing his butt.
Very light in style. Slight nutty and malts in aroma and taste. Nothing outstanding but not going to throw it away. Bottle
Pours a dark brown color with tan colored head. Toast, roast, nuts, and some light cocoa notes on the nose; follows onto the palate. A little thin for a porter, but not bad. Finishes with roast mostly.
From World Market. I didn’t think this was so bad as the rating. Good minerally thirst quenching porter. Serving: Bottle
Tap@Taphouse. Pours clear dark reddish brown with lazing beige head. Aroma has malt with grain, chocolate and dark bread and hints of grassy hops. Taste is malty with dark malt, dark bread, grain, oat, chocolate and notes os nuts and a grassy hoppiness on top. Finish is quite dry.
Fluffy beige head left a cover on a dark chestnut coloured still body.
Spicy, malty aroma with fig & raisins.
Medium body, creamy, smooth & well carbonated on the back.
Creamy chocolate, brown sugar, dark fruit & & malt. Leaves a long taste of candied fruit & caramel.
Worth a try
Tap@Taphouse, Copenhagen (22/11/2016) - pours black with a beige head. Aroma and taste is sweet and roasted malty, with chocolate, caramel, cocoa, hoppy backing, light to medium body, dry roasted finish.
From tap at Taphouse. Black with a beige head. Aroma and flavour of roasted malt, chocolate, sweetness, caramel, bitterness and hops.
Opaque black with some amber highlights; thick, frothy, off-white head; very little lace. On the nose: coffee, toffee, bread, sweet malts, raisins, & a little bit of dark cola (like maybe Dr. Pepper or Coke). It smells a lot sweeter once warmed. Flavors are very much like the nose, but everything is subtle. The coffee & toffee arrive up front. The development gives way for all the malts & raisins. The finish is bitter like raw, untoasted nuts. Once it warms up, the bitterness is slightly intensified, and it has a bit of smokiness coming through. The flavors altogether remind me of a black beer. Full body, medium carbonation (carbonation dies quickly, though); dry on arrival but finishes sticky. Overall, a mediocre experience and nowhere near as good as the strong ales or barleywines from this brewery.
More like a brown ale than porter; pours clear brown with sudsy white head. Light roast malt aroma and taste with a slight off apple-earthy note before the finish.
Bottled some time in 2015, though undated, drunk 12/29/15.
Dark ebony-to-mahogany body is clear with a light tan/dark beige head atop that steadily recedes to a ring.
Smells of light ash, strong purple fruits (figs, prunes, plums), buttercream/vanilla and a mild but permeating roast. Little bit of glue in there and some lightly peppery notes (hops? phenols?).
Not as watery and thin as I was expecting, with actually a little bit of chewiness to it. Vanilla, cola, prune and caramel-chocolate are all fairly enjoyable, if somewhat too sweet, with a good deal of prune/plum fruitiness that keeps it light. Coffee notes linger, with a touch of something peppery that’s a bit off-putting. But otherwise, this a very inoffensive, mindless, drinkable porter. Carbonation isn’t even as obnoxious as filtered/force carbed beers usually are.
Very nice balance.. Roasted malt slight alcohol flower after taste. Somewhat warming.
Shared 0,5l bottle @ One Pint Pub. Pours dark brown with a low tan head. Aroma is grainy roasted malts. Flavor is roasted grainy malts with some hops. Good balance.
Shared bottle at DSJT at Cardinal 08.11.15. Clear amber. Off-white head. Aroma of dark malt and oak. Similar taste, with dried fruits. Rather light for a porter.
500 ml bottle, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 6%. Mahogany colour, moderate beige head. Moderate aroma of medium dark malts, chocolate and vanilla. Moderately roasty and nice flavour, notes of chocolate, raisins and fruit cake. Can’t blame Santa for sitting on his butt and enjoying this one.
Bottle. Low but lasting fluffy white head. Clear amber body. Sweet caramel honey cocoa aroma and flavor with little hops bitterness, low carbonation and a long sweet finish.
Dark brown with tan head. Aroma of roasted barley oats. Taste is oats and bitter almost giving it an ESB undertone. Thin with with butt-barrel taste. Complements my turkey burgers
Aroma: fruity sweet and full with roasted caramel.
Flavour: fruity sweet with dark berries and caramel, slightly bitter and a creamy mouthfeel.
Colour: dark reddish brown with a light brown head.
From: voldby købmandsgård dec. 2014
Very tasty porter, not too heavy but nice body, enjoyable coffee aftertaste without being too bitter, mid carbonation makes it very drinkable, will buy again
Bottle. Pours dark brown with a medium off white head. Toasted nutty aroma. Light roasted flavor with some nutty notes.