Last year, a good friend of mine presented a challenge to me; try 20 different holiday beers between Thanksgiving and New Years. I gladly accepted, of course, but the task was harder than it sounded. By the middle of December, I lost count and come New Years Day, I don’t really know if I reached 20 or not. He assures me we both made it to our goal, but I still have my doubts.

This year he has upped the ante; 30 holiday beers. This time, though, we are getting a head start on the competition and kicked it off tonight. So, between now and New Years Day (we might extend that to the 5th of January though, not sure) the goal is to seek out and try 30 different holiday brews.

From now to the end, I will be logging my adventures in the hop-filled land of malt and barley. I’m calling it my Holiday Beer Report. So, without further ado, here’s #1.

Celebration Ale

The long, cold nights of winter are a little brighter with Celebration® Ale.

Could not be further from the truth. This is a really good holiday ale. It’s dark, and crisp with a nice hop and hint of woodsy pine after taste. It hits the back of your throat with a little tingle and then goes down smooth and warms the soul all the way down. If you like their Pale Ale, you will love this beer. Heck, even if you don’t like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (read: you have no taste buds) you should try Celebration Ale. You’ll thank me for it later.

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.