The Bruery - 12 Drummers Drumming (2024)

This release of 12 Drummers Drumming brings the Twelve Days of Christmas Collection full circle. Their first beer in the series, Partridge in a Pear Tree, was styled after a massive Belgian quadrupel, and the series has occasionally veered back to this particular style over the years, including a straight-up quad rendition with 7 Swans-a-Swimming back in 2014. This 12th beer combines a dense, Belgian-style quadrupel base with a smaller portion of The Bruery’s bourbon-barrel-aged anniversary ale, at a ratio of 4-to-1. While the large proportion of quad firmly positions this beer in line with the Christmas series, that portion of anniversary ale highlights another project that The Bruery’s had going on for just about as long: their ongoing series of solera-style old ales, in which a portion of each year’s anniversary ale gets held and blended into the next year’s batch of anniversary ale—creating an old ale of increasing complexity every year.

The Bruery’s 12 Drummers Drumming pours a deep mahogany color with modest foam and reasonable lacing around the periphery of the glass. It looks dark, dense, intricately built. The rich aromatics of dark fruits land immediately, with quad-like elements of plums, raisins, and well-ripened figs. While generous from the get-go, give this beer a bit of time to warm from fridge temperature to get the full effect. There’s a lot of complexity to dig into: from vibrant toffee and a hint of vanilla, to the deeply rich brown sugars and burnt caramel of the old ale.

We’re particularly taken with how well this overall blend works together, as that first sip puts forth a generous combo of the Belgian-style quad and Solera-method old ale components. It is not a tiny result… Generous layers of dense, dark fruitiness, toffee and peppery yeast from the quad are met by the abundantly caramelized and Sherry-like depth of the old ale. Overall mouthfeel is quite robust, viscous, and generous on all fronts, with a modest impact of oaky tannins plus a lean current of warming, vinous alcohol providing plenty of lift to the texture overall. There are particularly bold notes of toffee and fig throughout, tuned to the holidays, leading up to a well-rounded finish of caramel and toastiness from the bourbon barrels.

As with all of the beers in the 12 Days of Christmas series, 12 Drummers Drumming was brewed to be both ready to drink now and sturdy enough for some additional aging time. If you’ve been cellaring earlier releases from the series to drink with this one, we’d be inclined to do that sooner rather than later. Look to heartier fare on the pairings front: the dark fruit and caramelization have us considering brisket burnt ends or a spicy, peppery grilled steak.