Christmas Day beer, Barney's Red Rye

And so to what is possibly the Campbell Beer of 2012, certainly December.

Barney's Beer Red Rye was a Hippo Beers recommends, and a Christmas present from my daughter.

Maybe it was the spirit of Christmas, maybe it was the joy of fresh pine needles sticking into my socks, but I loved the colour, the fulfilling taste, the bottle, the label. I loved that it was 100% natural so obviously it's good for me. And good for you, too. I loved that it was from a wee microbrewery in Edinburgh.

But most of all, I loved that my wife went in to the beer shop, explained she was after something special for her special guy, told them what beers I liked, and the staff there went straight to this one.

Spooky.

Beer, the first. Alechemy Cairnapple IPA.

Bought from the top left corner of the Scottish bay of shelves at Hippo Beers on Queen Margaret Drive. It's a beautiful shop. A wonderful shop. A happy shop.

This IPA from Alechemy is a full flavoured, hoppy and delicious beer. Robust and fruity, I guess that's where the Cairn and the Apple in the name come from.

Drank on my son's birthday. Would hoppily have again.