The Swill: Prelude Special Ale
The Still: Shipyard Brewing Company
Portland, Maine
http://www.shipyard.com
The Drill: English holiday-style ale, 12oz bottle, 6.8% ABV, available November through January
The Spill: Similar in some respects to the Full Sail Wassail, this holiday beer concentrates on producing a warm, snuggly, malty flavor to get you through the cold winter months. Not quite the electric blanket that the Wassail is, it still has plenty of sweet dark malts (caramel and crystal, presumably) that invite the drinker in, and no real hops intensity to push him back out. Plus, at 6.8% ABV, there's plenty of alcohol to keep him there.
Says Bill: Also like the Wassail, this was another one of those variety pack beers that I dug out of the back of the beer fridge last winter. I was happy I finally did. I always held some sort of stigma or bias against the variety pack beers you might find in a Cost Plus or a grocery store. I always figured those were the companies who were desperate to get someone to drink their beer, since they weren't content just to keep it in a six pack and sell it that way. I guess between the expired European beer and surprisingly good stuff in variety packs, I have to shift my paradigm a bit.
Refill?: From a Prelude to a kiss. Which means Holly will tell me I smell like beer again: 3 taps out of 5.