The alternative to wine and cava this holiday season is Damm's Christmas Beer, a limited edition product that this year celebrates its tenth anniversary. It has been a decade since the Barcelona-based brewing group decided to revive the production of a special beer to accompany Christmas meals, inspired by a house tradition from the mid-1950s.
As the Christmas holidays approached, Damm's master brewers used to brew a special beer to give as a gift to their collaborators, family, and friends, a present that ended up becoming an emblem of these significant dates. The company decided to revive this tradition in 2013 and, little by little, has been increasing the production volume of the Christmas Beer to make it available to everyone, although the spirit of a limited edition beer, only for sale for a few weeks, is maintained.
Since November 25, Christmas Beer is already available in the Damm online store (shop.damm.com), as well as in restaurants and supermarkets. In this last sales channel, each 66 cl bottle is sold at a price of 2.50 euros. To celebrate this tenth anniversary, Damm has renewed the label of the Christmas Beer and has incorporated a special commemorative seal on the bottle.
"Christmas Beer has been conceived to pair with more elaborate gastronomy, typical of Christmas, such as a duck confit with apple – which pairs perfectly with the fruity notes of the beer – or traditional three-meat cannelloni," explain Damm's master brewers. This beer is made with 100% natural ingredients and a special hop that provides an optimal point of freshness to pair with fish and seafood, such as a lobster-style monkfish or gratinated stuffed scallops with shrimp béchamel.
Once served in a good glass, we can appreciate the oak color with orange reflections typical of this beer, which appears dense and bright, with a toasted chromatic layer and a compact foam. Its bubbles are lively, fine and fast, and it gives off an aroma of great intensity and complexity, since it is a Strong Lager style beer. Expert tasters detect notes of ripe peach and apple, as well as some orange touches that give the nose freshness, although in the end the sensation of toasted bread persists. It is recommended to consume Christmas Beer between 5 and 7 ºC. With an alcohol content of 6.5%, in the mouth it is voluminous and creamy, but the bitterness of the hops also provides an intense refreshing sensation. Now all that's left is to enjoy it!