Remember this in twelve months

On Christmas day, as brother and I slaved over a hot stove, we held a beer aperitif tasting session. It was largely selected at random from the various beers Steve had recently picked up from Rehill's (we know it as "Refills") of Jesmond, Newcastle.

Cutting a long story short, the beer that accompanied our turkey to the dinner table was "Orkney Blast" from the Swannay Brewery of Orkney. It achieved Christmas Day pole-position entirely by accident and, bloody hell, it matched perfectly.

A 6% strong golden ale with well-balanced  honeyed sweetness and low hop bitterness backed by gentle caramel malt, it matched the traditional Christmas turkey combo rather excellently. Had I been asked to recommend a beer style for Christmas turkey matching I might have been tempted to look for a Vienna or darker Czech lager or a bock. Accidently we stumbled across a beautiful match.

Let's hope we can get some next year and that we can wean family members off their Jacob's Creek!