25 Drinks: The End

December 24 was a special brew I'd never had before. It was a nice gift to unwrap for Christmas Eve. Ovila is an Abbey Quad collaboration between Sierra Nevada and The Abbey of New Clairvaux. It was brewed with sugar plums from the abbey. I'd never heard of this before, but it looked interesting. So I nabbed a bottle and in the cellar it sat, until it made it's way into the homemade boozy advent calendar. It was grainy, boozy and had a deep plum flavor. 

December 25, Christmas Day! It was a surprisingly perfect brew. I have a horrible memory, so although I made up the advent calendar, I had no idea what was left. I tried to keep it fun by mixing up the bottles starting the numbering on one of the two boxes without paying attention to which. So, all of that said, I had no idea that I'd end up with the Baladin Noël on Christmas Day! Fitting. 

Extra bonus, I had, on impulse, grabbed a tiny panettone for dessert today and this went perfectly with that! 

A bit of background, I pulled this Italian treat off of the shelf at Eataly Chicago. They, along with Dogfish Head and Birra del Borgo, are the brains behind the brews at Eataly's La Birreria. Baladin is from Piozzo, Italy. They have a nice balance of light, spicy, herbal, and rich brews. 

This Belgian Strong-like brew paired perfectly with the panettone. It's date flavors matched the plum. The caramel and malty sweetness matched the rich brioche-like dough and complemented the candied fruit. The yeastyness matched the bready goodness. It was wonderful. 

Thanks for following my boozy advent calendar. Hopefully, I've given you some ideas to make your December more cheerful. I hope I've inspired you to give this a try in 2016.