Reviewed October 2009Hall & Woodhouse (Badger) is the first brewery off the mark with a Christmas beer this year. It was first mentioned to me as early as August and now we’ve not even reached Hallowe’en and samples of Pickled Partridge have arrived at my door. 
‘Named after the traditional farmer’s wife’s recipe of partridge braised in ale,’ claims the label, in Badger’s usual country folklore tone, this is a deep amber beer that seems to have changed complexion since it was rolled out for Christmas last year. Checking my notes, I see I commented then on its hints of toffee and liquorice.
Well, perhaps it’s me, but I don’t get any of that this time. Instead, what shines through are distinct floral and citrus notes from the First Gold and Celeia hops which bring an almost grapefruit-like character to add to the bitterness provided by Admiral hops. That said, the grapefruit is nowhere near as pronounced as you’d expect if something like Cascade had been used.
Underneath all this sits a nutty foundation of crystal and chocolate malt that comes through much more after the swallow and in the dry, bitter finish, where the tanginess of the hops also features.
Overall, it’s a decent offering from Hall & Woodhouse, nicely balanced, perfectly gluggable and not disappointing in flavour. I don’t quite see the seasonality, though.
The Badger brewers suggest that it makes a fine companion to ‘cheese, good bread and slices of baked ham’, which I don’t doubt it does (most beers would), but they also reckon it can hold its own against Christmas pudding.
The flavours, certainly, would marry quite well, but to my mind this may be a bit lightweight for the dried fruit and stodge of the festive dessert.
There will be chunkier Christmas ales to come that can do that particular job better.
