One of Emersons’ seasonal releases, this one comes out each year in honour of Mister Emerson Senior’s birthday. He’d be the George in the name, it also being a punny nod to the fact he was involved with the Taieri Gorge railway. It’s a great big yummy dark ale, significantly spicy (they admit to nutmeg and cinnamon, but won’t be drawn on the secret third), and a good bit boozy (at 6.8%) — absolutely perfect for just when the days are turning colder.
Afterthoughts, February 2011: The usual tasting note for this stuff is that it’s ‘liquid hot cross buns’, and it certainly arrives with roughly Easterish timing. But I really despise hot cross buns — not just for, you know, theological reasons — and I love this to bits. So your mileage may vary. Certainly don’t let the comparison put you off, if it does.
I compared the delicious ‘Her Majesty’ by Yeastie Boys to this, and the pairing also shows you just what work yeast and malt can do if you cleverly pick your pairing and regularly crack the whip; the Yeastie Boys brew didn’t have any actual spices in it but still gets itself an awesomely-multi-faceted shape like this has.
I also had this beer with (and went to Watchmen with) my friend George. I have literally no idea how that coincidental alignment of beer names and people names went un-noted. I’m usually all over that stuff, to a relatively-pathological degree.
Verbatim: Emerson’s Taieri George 10/3/09 $12 @ work 6.8% 500ml Released a few days ago, and had before heading off to Watchmen. It’s got a cute story, and it’s always gorgeous. Big and dark with ruby highlights, super smooth and silky, spicy and warming. Loveliness.
And this year’s model is out now, apparently.
Word on the street, Phil, is that you’ve ditched this blog because you’ve fell madly in love with your new camera.
Ha! I saw Hashigo mentioning they had it on the Twitterthing.
But the rumours are untrue. Well, the “because” bit is. I have got a certain amount of New Gadget Glow about me. And the “ditched” bit is untrue, too. Though I shall have to get with the uploading (there are about a dozen ‘drafts’ nearly-ready, I swear) so I can start to show it off.