Four Calling (Colly) Birds

After a long day of taking down Christmas decorations, we decided to have a lazy Saturday night (once the baby was in bed).  So we sat around our Christmas-free family room and played video games.  We started with the Mod Nation Racer game and progressed to Call of Duty by the end of the night.  Fueling our gaming efforts was a bottle of the Four Calling Birds, a Spiced Strong Dark Ale (11% ABV), from The Bruery in Placentia, California. 

According to The Bruery's website, "The Twelve Days of Christmas series continues! We took inspiration from the traditional winter warmer for our fourth verse, integrating gingerbread spices into a robust dark ale. Notes of licorice & banana bread mingle with dark fruit, molasses and bitter chocolate for a perfect cold weather sipper!"  This was a THICK and HEAVY beer.  I don't know why, but I wasn't expecting this when I popped the top.  It was full of chocolate and coffee, which I normally like, but tonight, it was a bit much.  


As we both struggled through this a bit, the Husband thought it wise to get out a salty snack to see if it would help make the beer a bit lighter.  A small bowl of Cheez-Its and raw unsalted Almonds and we were in business.  The beer was slightly warmer and paired well with a bowl of salt at our fingertips.