Christmas Ales

This fun range of seasonal ales from Ridgeway Brewery are bound to make you giggle. Choose from Bad Elf, VERY Bad Elf, Santa's Butt, Reindeer's Revolt, Reindeer Droppings, or perhaps a Warm Welcome Ale is more your style! 

500ml

PRODUCT INFO

BAD ELF
​Abv: 4.5%
Style: Pale Ale
​Pack: 500ml

'Tis a heavy hand what adds the hops to this festive golden ale. Truth be told, there's near to three pounds of fresh hops goes in every barrel of this treasured brew. Pull up a sturdy chair, let's fill up yer best flagon with the season's finest natural ale, and I'll tell you a dark tale of elf and woe. 'Ere's to your elf!

SANTA'S BUTT
Abv: 6.0%
Style: Porter
​Pack: 500ml

This special holiday porter is made for winter - rich and warming, the way they like it at the North Pole. It was inspired by this famous line from a well-loved children's storybook: "And Santa sat on his great butt, enjoying a hardy brew..." In case you find that amusing, the brewer hastens to point out that "butt" refers to a certain sized barrel customarily used for beer. Still snickering, eh? Get your mind out of the gutter, or Santa will be skipping your home entirely this year.

REINDEER'S REVOLT
Abv: 6.0%
Style: English Strong Ale
Pack: 500ml

"Bartender, if anyone calls, I'm not here, right? Every year it's the same nightmare, hauling that over-sized, red-suited endomorph all over kingdom come, up to my shivering haunches in snow and muck! You call him a Saint? Slave-driver, more like. Going down in history is all well and good, but what about the here and now? My therapist says I have to start doing things for me for a change. It's about time I had a Merry Christmas myself, don't you think?"

WARM WELCOME
Abv: 6.0%
Style: Nut Brown Ale
​Pack: 500ml

Yeeow! Especially for the holidays, a brown ale with real attitude! The malts used to make Warm Welcome are roasted to give a hearty amber-brown colour and a warm, rounded nutty taste. This fine ale is dedicated to all you curious brew-lovers out there who ever had serious questions about the mechanics of Santa's supposed arrival by way of the chimney.

VERY BAD ELF
Abv: 7.5%
Style: Strong Amber Ale
Pack: 500ml

"Is it just my imagination," queried old Santa, surveying the scene, "or is my Elf only getting worse and worse every year? What's next? Seriously Bad Elf, I'll wager. Mark my words." This Very Bad Elf is one fine ale - rich, hardy and flavourful, brewed to an original 1795 Thames Valley recipe, with a very special pale amber malt that is rarely used nowadays, and balanced by a modest addition of English Fuggle aroma hops. 'Ere's to your elf!

REINDEER DROPPINGS 
Abv: 4.7% 
Style: Strong Pale Ale
Pack: 500ml

Falling from the sky like little bombs of flavour come the reindeer droppings! Each one is sweet like California raisins, but bitter and pungent like a freshly peeled grapefruit, lip-smackingly tasty... then "pow!" it's gone. How did that happen?

ABOUT RIDGEWAY

Ridgeway Brewing​ was established in 2002 by master brewer Peter Scholey and his wife Vanda. The name comes from the ancient trade route that winds its way through English countryside between small towns. It has been around for thousands of years, adapting with the changing times, The reason why they chose the name Ridgeway, apart from living on it, was that they hope to create lasting experiences, believe in the long term and love the outdoors.

The Ridgeway was first used by early traders while these days it is mostly enjoyed for recreation. Ridgeway Brewing too aims to be around for many years to come. Customers savour their beers that are inspired by 'cutting edge tradition' - a match between heritage and modern tastes and technologies. They don't try to forget the past and reinvent the wheel - they take all that is good from the past and make it better suited for today's generations.

Hand in hand goes their firm belief in looking after our environment and having as little impact as they possibly can. This is shown in their use of what is considered to be the first brewing cooperative in the world. They work closely with 2 other independent breweries - sharing one boiler; whereby hot water from cooling of fermenters in one brewery, is used for brewing in another. They installed solar panels so that on a sunny day the breweries are totally energy self sufficient; there is a reed bed for effluent so no water is wasted and spent grain is used for feed by a local farmer. When you drink a glass of Ridgeway you can do so safe in the knowledge that everyone involved in making your pint is working towards a better future.