In the blink of an eye, the year of the ox is almost over, and it’s time to welcome in the year of the tiger. Of course, at Beersmith we are celebrating the only way we know how: with brand-new beers! To give you plenty to look forward to over the Chinese New Year holiday, we’re launching not one but two new beers, both perfect for raising a celebratory toast and fending off the chilly weather at this time of year.

Coconut and Chestnut Brown Ale

For our final brew of the year, we decided to work with some traditional Chinese elements to create a beer suitable for Spring Festival celebrations. Our brewers were inspired by the sugar-roasted chestnuts sold by street vendors at this time of year, often made with chestnuts sourced from local farms on the outskirts of Beijing. The Chinese character for chestnut has the same sound as the word for profit or gain, so this beer also has a special auspicious meaning.

The base of the beer starts with traditional English brown ale malts like Pils, Dark Crystal, and Chocolate Light malts, creating complex, nutty aromas even before the chestnuts are added. The addition of powdered coconut milk and ground chestnuts ups the sweetness, giving it a toasty, almost coffee-like complexity. The ale starts sweet on the palate then ends with a clean, dry finish, with a lingering aroma of coconut.

German style Ice Bock

The dark, malty lager known as bock was first brewed in a northwestern German town called Einbeck way back in the 14th century. When brewers in Bavaria in southern Germany started to make this style of beer, they mispronounced “Einbeck” as “ein bock” — literally “a billy goat” — and the beer gradually became known as bock. To make fun of the name, many breweries use a picture of a goat on their label.

With Beijing in the grips of its coldest season, we decided to dub our version “Ice Bock.” Our brewing team followed the traditional bock brewing process, using six different caramel malts to give the beer a rich, toasty flavour with a hint of caramel, while WLP833 liquid yeast from the Alps of southern Bavaria creates a refreshing lager body. Two months of cold storage intensifies the malt flavour, giving the beer a smooth, refreshing aftertaste.