Kent brewer Shepherd Neame has introduced two special beers full of festive flavours for the Christmas season.
It has released this year’s vintage of its popular Christmas Ale, a full-bodied winter beer with notes of fruits and spices. It combines pale and crystal malts with Target and Challenger hops for bitterness, and Goldings hops for aroma.
First launched in 2007, the beer is unveiling a new look this Christmas with a vintage Dickensian-style bottle label and pump clip, in keeping with the traditional styling of the brewery’s Classic Collection. Christmas Ale is available on draught at 5% ABV and in 500ml amber glass bottles at 7% ABV.
Also on offer during December is Rudolph’s Reward, a crisp, light winter beer featuring subtle notes of festive mulling spices. Conceived in Shepherd Neame’s pilot brewery, it is among a new collection of limited-edition No 18 Yard Brewhouse beers, named after its historic cask store.
Rudolph’s Reward combines pale and crystal malts with Target and East Kent Goldings hops, with mulled wine spices added at the end of the brew. It is available on draught at 3.7% ABV and in 500ml amber glass bottles at 3.8% ABV.
Available until December 31, both beers are brewed using 100% natural ingredients including chalk-filtered mineral water from the artesian well deep below Shepherd Neame’s site along with the finest malting barley and Kentish hops.
Head brewer Richard Frost said: “Whether you enjoy the traditional flavour of our popular Christmas Ale, or sample the innovative taste of Rudolph’s Reward, we are very proud of the special beers we have created for the festive season.”
