Last year Parallel 49 and Central City released the Mystery Gift Holiday Countdown Advent Calendar. And while it was a good, fun experience. There were a few minor quibbles.
This year P49/CC have stepped up to the plate in a big way with its new Craft Crossing Calendar. Instead of only 1 unique brew each, they’ve created 6 uniques each. That means half the box is uniques! I hadn’t even bought my box yet and I was already sure this year was going to be a lot better than last. They could have made 2 or 3 uniques each (still an improvement!) and gotten away with it, but they didn’t. So right off the bat I wanted to give a huge props to both breweries for putting in the time and effort to make this calendar extra awesome.
As of this post, we’re halfway through the calendar. So I thought I would give a quick rundown of the beers and my general impressions, with a focus on the uniques. Here’s the list:
Day 1: P49 – Rock The Bells Cranberry Sour Ale (Unique)
Great way to start! 2015 has been a monster year for sour beers in BC, and I’m so glad to see the trend continue in the calendar here. I really enjoyed this beer, cranberry and sour make a damn fine combination, and with the brett influence added we have a beer I would gladly drink again.
Day 2: CC – Red Racer ISA
Repeat from Day 14 last year.
Day 3 – P49 – Jerkface 9000 North West Wheat
P49 released Jerkface 9000 earlier this year and received a great response. Sadly, I missed out on it. So pulling it out of the box here was a happy surprise for me. This is basically a hoppy, extra flavourful wheat ale, and I feel absolutely ridiculous for not getting some during the summer. I don’t think I’ll make that mistake again.
Day 4: CC – The Dominator Brett Saison (Unique)
Yes! I love it when beers can incorporate brett in a positive way, and saison is such a great style to do it with because saison and funk are perfect bedfellows. CC pulls off a solid effort here with grassy, herbal qualities that fade into a bit of sweet and spice, then finishes with a slight sour note. Another solidly quaffable unique.
Day 5: P49 – Salty Scot Sea Salted Caramel Scotch Ale
We’ve had this before, I’m still a huge fan. In fact, it may even be better this year!
Day 6: CC – Northwest Pale Ale
Another common beer. Solid pale ale though.
Day 7: P49 – Filthy Dirty IPA
One of P49’s staple beers. I feel they may have adjusted the recipe, as it has a stronger bitter bite than I remember.
Day 8: CC – The Fabulator Rauch Bock (Unique)
Interesting move here from CC. Rauch beers can be hit or miss for me, but I thought this one came off rather well. The smoky notes aren’t overpowering and blended pretty nice with sweet, dark fruits. Not at all bad.
Day 9: P49 – Bodhisattva Dry Hopped Sour (Unique)
Another sour! P49 is really making me happy this year. Dry hopping this gives it a wonderful fruity nose; I’m thinking pears. The sour is a little more understated than I’d like (What can I say, I love huge sour), but it’s still smooth and excellent. The sweet fruitiness really dominates and lingers on the tongue afterwards. Another one I’d love to drink more of.
Day 10: CC – Copper Ale
Repeat. Thought it was decent last year, no changes.
Day 11: P49 – Toques of Hazzard
A repeat that I’d gladly repeat over and over. Love this beer.
Day 12: CC – Getoff Maibock (Unique)
CC coming in with another bock. Malts with some sweet breadiness. Yet another unique I’d be happy to drink again.
Overall, I’d say I’m really happy with the calendar thus far. Not only are P49/CC providing a lot of uniques, but those uniques are also of solid quality, and not just slapped together for the sake of being different. With how well things are going thus far, it’s impossible to not be excited for the rest of the box!
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