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This year I have roamed a little farther and found some new holiday beers to regale the season. One each day until Christmas. We will start, however, with a true evergreen. JubelAle from Deschutes Brewery.
“Embodying the spirit of celebration since 1988, Jubelale features notes of spice, a robust malt character, hints of toffee and dusted cocoa.”
Last year I finally visited one of the two Function PDX locations in Portland. And they are banging in the first half of 2025 with doubled up tap takeovers….
…and you are seeing correctly, there is a lot of SoCal represented. So let your PNW friends know they can taste some of the same beers that we are lucky to get.
I do like a good pun and Dogfish Head Brewery has made some clever word replacements for their new IPA, Sage Against the Myrcene. This beer “marries the boldness of a traditional India Pale Ale with the earthy, aromatic qualities of white sage.” Look for it in their winter variety pack.
On the list of breweries that I do not often talk about, BJ’s Restaurants but the number 25 got me hooked. The chain has that many years of brewing its Grand Cru which started along with the new millennium.
Grand Cru is a “Belgian-style pale strong ale gets its fruity, spicy kick from a unique Belgian ale yeast, plus a blend of bitter orange peel and coriander for a flavor that’s perfect for the season.”
Readers of the blog know that I am a sucker for collaborations and also for cocktail styled ales. Creature Comforts Brewing has added a garnish to that by teaming up with Tip Top, makers of RTD cocktails for Jungle Bird.
I cannot recall having this cocktail so I will not be able to compare and contrast but maybe I can have the inspired ale first and then compare later.
It is always heartening to see something other than an IPA variant being canned for the first time, 8One8 Brewing is bringing their Gravity Hill Belgian Tripel to to-go out in cans now for the winter season.
There is a new limited edition beer from the Huyghe folks at Delirium a Barrel Aged Sour Blond matured for 9 months in oak barrels in a snazzy bottle clocking in at 10.8%.
Amburana is used quite frequently to finish bourbon but The Bruery is taking their Black Tuesday base to create Amburana Noir, a double barrel-aged imperial stout aged in both Buffalo Trace Bourbon barrels and Amburana wood barrels. The beer will register at a super high 20.7%.
Every once in a while I will get a happy email from the Rare Beer Club wanting to highlight some of their great beers that you can get.
This is the second review of the month and if it sounds good, you should check out the club.
This is the Prodigal 2024. It is a biggun in abv at 11.5% but also large in syrupy stoutness. An Imperial Stout with cacao and vanilla and it is slick and big on caramel to me more than either of the featured adjuncts. It is halfway to being stout gravy. There is also a truckload of sugar coming to the fore as well. I would net hesitate to say that this would be good as a cooking ingredient. Little too extravagant for my taste.
Wow, the aroma on this hop water from Highland Park Brewery when the can is opened is large. I am getting mint initially. That settles into straight up lupulin cone flavor. Like tearing a hop apart. That is really good. It just tastes like being in a hop field. I had low hopes since most hop waters are only so-so but this is a winner. Gonna need more of these.