RMTTB is a bit anal about Christmas.  It has to be just so.  Every.  Bloody.  Year.  For the last bazillion years, our pud has been a variation on Delia’s classic, steeped in a bottle of Guinness.  And why tamper with perfection?

Except that this year our mind started wandering at the thoughts of variations on this timeless theme: with so many great Irish stouts out there, we wondered how much the choice of stout could affect the taste of the pud?  And then we thought about porter – would it really make that much of a difference if we used porter instead of stout??  We knew we’d lost the run of ourselves entirely when minds turned to heretical thoughts such as making a pudding with a Black IPA…

Once the genie was out of the bottle, there was no going back, so this year we’re maing four different puds with four different Irish beers.  We’ve gone with the Black’s of Kinsale Black IPA, 12th Abbey Ruby stout, 8 Degrees Aztec Stout & O’Hara’s Leann Folainn.

We mixed ingredients more or less according to the classic Delia but with lots of cherries and with far more almonds.  We also dispensed with the barley wine and doubled quadrupled the beer amounts.  Soaked for a couple of days, then steamed in the slow cooker.  The puds are maturing before tasting.

Watch this space…. tasting next instalment.

(Ok, we’ve kind of missed the boat on this one and it is kind of late to be writing about Christmas puds, BUT: If they’re not made at this stage though, fear not, it’s never too early to prepare for Chrimbo 2015!!)