Santa’s Secret

The details: To Øl Brewery Santa's Secret Mochaccino Messiah Double Shot, 8% ABV, served in a 50 cL can

Grocery shopping in New York will always be an odd thing, I think. It's odd in that if you go to your local grocer you can only leave with what you can carry in horrible plastic bags or you get a granny cart. You can order groceries for delivery, but we all know that's not the cheapest option.

So of course to prepare for the holiday season we decided to do both of these things - we went to a local grocery store and had those groceries delivered. Damn you Whole Paycheck, you are just too easy to go to and stock up at and then have their delivery service bring you your purchase in two hours.

For all the hate/anger/love/devotion that Whole Foods gets (and to some extent it's somewhat new parent company, Amazon), the location closest to our house has a very solid beer selection/department. We were there around noon on a Friday and sadly their growler fill station was without staffing, so I headed to the cold case to do as I so love to do any time it's an option - I made my own six pack.

Long time readers will know that I love to choose beers that are interesting - they're either interesting to write about because of how they're made or what they're made of, or maybe they have interesting label design or name, or sometimes they're interesting because you think you're getting one thing and you end up with another.

This week's beer is kinda all three of these things.

To Øl Brewery is a Danish outfit making some extremely interesting beers with names almost as interesting as theirs. Here's our Danish lesson for the day: the brewery name is pronounced TOE OOL. The beer's name is much easier to get: Santa's Secret. Here's what's written on the label: "Santa is a badass; riding reindeers, climbing chimneys and still being the kids' number one hero. What is his secret to success? Buckets of mochaccinos. Double Shot."

I'll be perfectly honest, I feel more caffeinated as I'm writing this review, which I know can't actually be happening. But this beer right here tastes more like coffee than some cups of coffee I've had recently. It's a double coffee brown ale brewed with cinnamon and cardamom. It's lots of things I love; coffee, brown ales, and cinnamon. I can take or leave cardamom, which is nice since it's the mildest flavor in this beer,

So imagine a good brown ale - a little malty sweetness, maybe some roasted nuttiness, very easy to drink. Now imagine a really great espresso shot after a nice meal. Now imagine them together - at 8% ABV. It's flavor for days. I fully expected this to end up more bitter than it should be (coffee can easily dominate beer that it's adjuncted in to) but it's not at all. This is accomplished without adding something sweet, and instead two more savory favors in cinnamon and cardamom. It's delicious.

It's also exactly the type of beer I could imagine Santa wanting while on his rounds. He thinks it's only waking him up, but really it's keeping him on a steady buzz around the world, and maybe after a few too many some naughty kids end up on the nice list. That's a Christmas miracle.

The verdict: 4.5 out of 5 (on Untapp'd - follow me @slownumbers to see what I'm drinking)