Holly Bush – Salopian’s Christmas beer – is a darkish IPA, a Brown IPA if you will, and it’s round and warm and zingy.
The smell is orange marmalade and spicy malt loaf, and taking a swig you get a deep rich treacle tart malt that would possibly have me wondering if there was rye involved if I didn’t already know there’s not.
The month long conditioning before bottling could well be to blame.
It’s created a lovely body but has managed not to dull the big hoppy kiss that you get in the finish, with lots of lemon and lime, hedgerow, oranges and herbal leaves which makes for a sharp snappy bitter finish.
Lovely stuff.

Source: Salopian Brewery