Christmas markets might be cancelled across Northern Europe for 2020, but that doesn't mean the team at Prancing Pony can't get into the festive spirit. Corinna Steeb and Frank Samson hail from Esslingen, a town close to Stuttgart, where among the sweet and spicy Christmas traditions is a cake / cookie called Lebkuchen. It's the inspiration for their second cake-as-beer creation, Purple Velvet, which follows in the footsteps of The Hunt For Red Velvet.
The labels are inspired by the wonderful architecture of their hometown and the liquid inside the cans looks most festive cake-coloured too. The fruity, spicy side of the beer brings to mind cinnamon, anise and cured citrus peel, laced through sweet, treacly biscuits with a side of rum-soaked bananas. For all that, this hoppy dunkelweizen still manages to finish pretty dry.
It's also available as part of one of the Adelaide Hills' brewery's Christmas mixed packs, alongside the Double Zeppelin and Red Velvet, with two others featuring a trio of IPAs and their Sunshine, Hopwork, and XPA ales respectively.
James Smith
Published November 17, 2020 2020-11-17 00:00:00
