Beer Today’s rundown of new brews, brewing projects, and collaborations, in a slightly longer form than the home page news in brief
Holy Goat have released their final trio of beers for 2025. Supa Scoopa (5.2% ABV) is their take on the classic hazy pale. Bursting with vibrant tropical and citrus character, it is generously dry-hopped with Citra Hyperboost, El Dorado, and Nectaron.
Whisky barrel-aged Voidsmoker (11% ABV) is a blend of two imperial stouts. The decadent body of King Void, with adjuncts of coffee, vanilla, and cacao nibs, blends seamlessly with and rounds off Goatsmoker, which has been aged in a mixture of Speyside and peated Islay casks for 16 months.
Unholy Mountain 2025 (8% ABV) is a mixed culture kriek fermented on whole Stevnsbær sour cherries. The beer was then aged in a first-fill red wine barrel for more than a year, with additional cherries added directly to the barrel. Finally, it was racked from barrel into tank with more cherry juice.
Festive favourite Christmas Ale, from Shepherd Neame is back. The full-bodied beer, which boasts warming notes of mulled fruits and spices, combines pale and crystal malts with Target and Challenger hops for bitterness, and Goldings hops for aroma. It is available on draught at 5% ABV and in bottle at 7% ABV.
For firm fans of Christmas Ale, limited-edition miniature bottle tree decorations are also on sale in the Brewery shop. The 8cm-high decoration is an exact replica of the bottled version, down to the full ingredients list on its back.
“We unveiled our Christmas Ale decorations last year to hang on trees across our pub estate – and in customers’ homes too – and they proved a huge hit,” said Kathryn Tye, Shepherd Neame’s director of marketing and communications.
“So we thought we would bring them back for another year, and they are already selling fast.”
DEYA has released three fully-saturated juicy IPAs built around cryo fresh hops from Yakima Chief.
Dreaming Pictures utilises Citra cryo fresh on a “mega dry hop”. It presents the more tropical elements of Citra with an added freshness and flavour. Painting Pictures uses Krush cryo fresh, while Mosaic features in Framing Pictures.
Not for Dolphin the single special festive release: the brewery has come up a 12 Beers of Christmas package. It showcases their popular 4.2% ABV ginger gose, Superstar, but also includes:
Megastar (4.8% ABV), a ginger gose with raspberries; Starburst (4.5% ABV), a ginger gose with apple, apricot, and cardamon; Mystic (4.9% ABV), a cranberry and hibiscus sour; Twister (5.5% ABV), a blackberry and lemon gose; Spectre, a dark sour with damsons, elderberries, and blackberries; Enigma (5.3% ABV), a dark sour with raspberries and cherries; Silhouette (6.8% ABV), a spiced berry sour aged on pinot noir skins; Archer (5.3% ABV), an apple and rhubarb sour; Ember (5/7% ABV), a blackcurrant and beetroot sour; and Juggler (5.9% ABV), a raspberry sour.
There’s a quartet of releases from Black Iris, three of which are collaborations.
Blackbeard’s Bounty (4.2% ABV) is a sessionable chocolate and coconut stout which has been a big hit in the taproom.
Still Here, Still Queer celebrates 50 years of the Notts LBGT+ Network. The beer is a crisp 4% ABV session IPA.
Let Anguish Embrace (6.66% ABV) is described as a demonic NEIPA, brewed with local death metallers Kryptess. Notes of mango, orange, passionfruit, and a touch of vanilla come together with some signature Black Iris bitterness.
Finally, Hellbound (8.4% ABV) is a DIPA collaboration with Dark Element. There are tropical fruit vibes from Citra, Motueka, and Nectaron hops.
Pomona Island have released three barrel-aged brews, all collaborations.
Pushan (6.8% ABV) is a wild raspberry ale aged in white port and red wine casks, created with Holy Goat. It’s a blend of white port and Cotes Du Rhone aged Bretted sour ales, conditioned in steel on whole Scottish raspberries after carbonic maceration.
There are two collabs with Little Pomona. Vertumnus (7% ABV) is a blend of Bretted saison aged for four years in red wine barriques, and Little Pomona’s Kingston Black Cider, further fermented in steel. Voltumna (7% ABV) is a blackberry variation on the Vertumnus.
