About a month ago, a friend (John) mentioned that he was on a mission to try 20 different holiday/winter brews before the New Year. I happily accepted his challenge and so began our journey. Over the past month, we have hunted near and far for the worlds finest holiday beers. So far I’ve managed to try 15 different ones and all of them have been really good beers but the following five are special beers that you should definitely try this year.
First, the runner ups:
Jubilale
Brewery: Deschutes ABV: 6.7%
I’m a huge Deschutes fan. I really like their Hop Trip fresh hop ale, Mirror Pond and Black Butte Porter. Their winter brew, Jubilale, is a decent choice as well and would have made my top 5 last year (had I actually tried more beers last year).
Santa’s Little Helper
Brewery: Port Brewing ABV: 9.5%
I was recently introduced to Port Brewing (and the lovely Pizza Port chain of pizza “joints”). Let me tell you, this company creates some excellent beers. Santa’s Little Helper is a fair example of their talents. It’s an imperial stout with a lot of kick. It has a slight taste of alcohol at the end, but it’s a tasty little bugger. If you really want a good beer (and like extra hop), try their Hop 15!
5. Winterbraun
Brewer: Lost Coast ABV: 6.5%
Lost Coast’s label are always entertaining. The beer is usually always tasty and the Winterbraun is no exception. This is a nice brown ale with an excellent malty taste that’s easy to drink.
4. Celebration Ale
Brewery: Sierra Nevada AVB: 6.8%
From my alma mater hometown of Chico, CA. Their Pale Ale is one of the beers that brought the ale back into main stream in the early 90s. Every year Sierra Nevada makes the Celebration Ale to celebrate the holidays and it’s great every year.
3. Old Jubilation
Brewery: Avery ABV: 8%
Avery produces some very tasty ales. Old Jubilation is definitely one of them. Very crisp. This is the type of beer you want to have with you while sitting next to a fireplace on a cold winter’s night.
2. Yule Smith
Brewer: Ale Smith ABV: 9.5%
The first bottle I purchased of Yule Smith happened to be the summer version so be careful when looking for this beer. The summer version has fireworks on the label while the winter (holiday) version has a nice little wreath. Not that the summer version isn’t good (it was and I’ll look for that this summer for sure), but the holiday version was especially tasty. It slightly hoppy but not overly so.
1. Delirium Noël
Brewer: Brouwerij Huyghe ABV: 10%
This is an excellent beer! It’s a Belgium style ale with an extra kick. Despite its high ABV (Alcohol by Volume), it doesn’t have the alcohol taste. It’s smooth, flavorful and full bodied. It goes down easy and a pint full will definitely put you in the holiday spirit. Careful, this is a potent beer and will sneak up on you. Especially if you buy a 22oz bottle and enjoy the whole thing in one sitting.
In all fairness, all the beers I’ve had this year were excellent examples of what todays smaller breweries have to offer. Sure some where tastier than others, but overall, I was never dissatisfied. I’ll post a full list when the competition is over.
Nur girlie men trink Weinachtbier. Echte Männer trink Whisky!
It’s OK Brian, you balls will drop eventually.
If you liked that Delirium Noel you might dig the Terminal Gravity FestiveAle (I think that’s the name). It’s potent n’ delicious. They serve it in small glasses here because it’s so strong, but still smooth. And in fact the Terminal Gravity IPA is one of the best beers made by Jesus Herbert Christ himself.
And Guinness is a must for the holidays.
And I’m done making a comment on your webpages.
Gotta love Delirium…I can see the elephants already.