Only one place to go for #5, The Bruery's 5 Golden Rings

Brewery: The Bruery (CA)

Style: Beligian Strong Pale Ale

ABV: 11.5%

Website: thebruery.com

Twitter: @TheBruery

When we've had our countdown in years past, I had heard about The Bruery's annual Winter Releases of their OWN "Twelve Beers of Xmas".  Since 2008, each chilly season, they come out with ONE new offering in their holiday lineup: 4 Callings Birds, 3 French Hens, 2 Turtle Doves and even a Partridge in a Pear Tree!  PERFECT!!  I'll use their NEXT release in the Beer411 Countdown!!  Oh, but there's one small detail... 

Unfortunately, for those of us on the East Coast, offerings from The Bruery are hard to come by since they are located in Orange County, CA and don't distribute to CT.  So when the opportunity came to set up a beer trade with one of my friends from the Beer Coasters, I jumped at the chance!  A beer trade is very simple... you find someone to trade with via BeerAdvocate, Untappd, or any other craft beer site... send a few bottles their way and they send a few your way!  Usually shipments include rare bottles or things you can't get in your area.  In this case, I received The Bruery's 2012 release, 5 Golden Rings!!

On the pour... hazy golden in my snifter glass.  Imagine... yellow with some orange hues.  There isn't much carbonation on this guy.  Maybe about pinky finger of head that quickly dissipated.

Strong Belgian yeast on the nose... I'm getting a lot of fruity esters.  Pineapple sweetness, perhaps a little banana as well.  Subtle spices, and juuuuuust a hint of booze.  Let's taste...

And there's the booze... If I needed a reminder that this is 11.5%, I just got it.  Much sweeter on the taste than I had anticipated as well.  I think that spice that I was getting on the nose is clove.  Lots of citrus flavors, too... orange, banana, pineapple.

Mild carbonation and tasty all around... This is the love child of a Belgian and a Winter Warmer.  You can imagine the amount of flavors going on between those two styles.  As far as pairings go, I'm going to give the nod to my buddy Brandon from UConn who know lives out in Oregon.  Back in 2006 he gave me a recipe for a chipotle pulled pork using a slow cooker with a fiesta lime salsa.  Spicy, sweet, smoky... topped with a flavor blast of salsa made up of pineapple, mango, kiwi, lime juice and red onion.  That would be SPOT ON with this offering.  Spicy, sweet, boozy.

Sorry to my friends on the East Coast... the chances of you finding this one are slim to none.  Special shout out to my boy, Beer Coaster Crazy Dave for the hook up!!