Santa's Private Reserve

This festive drink was acquired by Bier Goddess only through the gracious hospitality of Conrad, the General Manager of the Rogue Pub in San Francisco. Bier Goddess can only guess that when Conrad heard far she had come, how limited her visit to San Francisco was and then witnessed her "bouncing off the wall" enthusiasm, he must have somehow found it in his heart to sell her his only display sample of this Christmas Box set of Santa's Private Reserve which was meant to be kept until the real stock was delivered for sale to the general public.

So it came to pass that the precious gift set went home with Bier Goddess along with 16 other beers carefully packed in the Beer Suitcase (yes, she has an especially outfitted suitcase for the sole purpose of bringing beer back from her travels...more on this later). And when it was finally opened, the bottle poured out a rich, brown, sweet-ish ale very reminisient of another Rogue brew, the St. Rogue Red Ale.

This is what the Rogue website had to say:

"Santa's Private Reserve:
Rogue's annual holiday offering, Santa's Private Reserve, is a variation of the classic Saint Rogue Red, but with double the hops--including Chinook, and Centennial, and a mystery hop called Rudolph by head brewer John "more hops" Maier!This holiday elixir is brewed with two-row Harrington, Klages and Munich malts, along with Hugh Baird 30-37, Carastan 13-17, and Crystal 70-80 malts, plus free range coastal water and John's proprietary top-fermenting Pacman yeast. Available in both 22-ounce bottles, 12oz Loose packs for Winter 2005, and 12oz six packs for 2006.Measurements: 13 degrees Plato, IBU 44, Apparent attenuation 73, Lovibond 26

No Chemicals, Additives, or Preservatives"

http://www.rogue.com/index.html

Thanks for a totally memorable pub visit & all the goodies you sent me home with...cheers Conrad!