Days of the Beer, November 25

The beer for today is Port Santa's Little Helper 2008.

On November 25, 1984, 36 musicians got together in a Notting Hill studio and recorded the song "Do They Know It's Christmas", to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.

The group of singers became known as Band Aid. The song was written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure. Artists began arriving at 9 a.m. Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, George Michael, Kool and the Gang, Sting, Bono, Jody Watley, and Bananarama were some of the artists who appeared on the song.



The song became the best selling single in the UK for 13 years. It was a UK number one single for 5 weeks.

As to the beer:

Each and every year, the Jolly Old Fatman sits down and compiles a list of who's been naughty and nice. It's curious that he never knows which list to put our brewers on as this is one naughty but incredibly nice beer.

Originally brewed at the Pizza Port in Solana Beach in November of 1997. As dark as the biggest lump of coal Santa can deliver, this beer has earned a dedicated following and is code named Satan's Little Hangover by those who have indulged in a holiday like manner from time to time.

The beer comes in at 10.5% Alcohol. If you have enough of it, you won't know what the hell day it is, let alone if it's Christmas.

Beer Review, Port Brewing Santas Little Helper 2008

I took a couple of beers with me over to Kriddy's last night, she was going to have some friends over, and I needed to take some beer to numb myself. My choices were Port Brewing Santas Little Helper Imperial Stout 2008, and Barley Island Single White Friar.

The friends went there to ... um... explore paranormal activity in the house. That's right, they are ghost hunters. We kind of think Kriddy's place is haunted. OK, so that goes against, pretty much everything I don't believe in, but still, sometimes we see things. Nothing seemed to happen when they were there.

Before they got there, we watched some of Season 1 of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. My chosen beer for this was the Port Santas Little Helper. Kriddy asked if I already had it, but I informed her, that it was Rogue that produced a Santa's Little Helper, that she'd be familiar with.

This one poured black, it was opaque, didn't let any light through even the narrowest part of the glass. It had a beautiful dark brown foam, that dissipated somewhat quickly. It smelled malty, sweet, syrupy, with chocolate and some bitter (coffee?). It felt thick, not quite Dark Lord thick, but pretty darn thick. Probably the thickest, non-glass coating beer that I've had. The other feel could only be described as warming. The beer had a warmth to it, that belied the fact that it had been in the fridge for a couple of days. (if you say belied, do you also have to say "the fact" after?)

It tasted of the warming of alcohol. There was chocolate, coffee, some vanilla, and oh yeah, alcohol. There was a little bit of bitterness, but that could be associated with a dark chocolate or coffee and not necessarily hops. It was a great Imperial Stout. It was pretty much everything I'd want in an imperial stout. As this beer got up to room temperature, it wasn't even noticeable that the beer had warmed up. This one would make a great Imperial Stout 101, intro to Imperial Stout. If anyone ever asks what a great imperial stout would be, recommend this. They'd have to have no tastebuds to dislike it. If you couldn't find a flavor in there that you liked, then you don't deserve to drink.

Overall, it was a great beer. It came in the Port/Lost Abbey box that Rob had sent to me. One of these days I've got to put together the return trip box and send it on it's way. Again, thanks Rob.