Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
The penultimate holiday beer is from Chicago and Half Acre Beer Co. It is their cold weather lager, Far Star.
“a luminous, pale lager with a moderate 5.2% ABV that brings full flavor in a lighter bodied beer. Brewed for the cold weather months from Autumn through Winter, this easy drinking lager is a perfect complement for the high caloric season of holiday meals and parties. And when we cross into the new year, Far Star lets you add a light layer of lager for those long winter nights.“
Kane Brewing has a seasonal stout and this year they have a Bourbon Barrel Aged Holy Nights, a 13.4% “Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout with coconut, coffee, cacao and vanilla, was aged for an average of 20 months in a blend of Heaven Hill Bourbon barrels.
This beer was then conditioned on coconut, dark roast coffee from Rook Coffee, cacao nibs from Haiti and Ghana and vanilla beans from Madagascar, the Congo, Uganda and Papua New Guinea.
Bourbon Barrel Aged Holy Nights pours pitch black with sweet and complex notes of toasted coconut, rich dark chocolate, bold coffee roast, and layers of warm vanilla. The extended time in Heaven Hill barrels adds depth and refinement with bourbon warmth and soft caramel undertones.”
There have been a lot of holiday beers so far, so this threesome will be heavier on the hops instead and hazy as well except for that first outlier….
Great Notion Holiday Fruit Monster Fruited Sour Ale – 6.1% – “a puckering beer with cranberry, tangerine, vanilla, spices, milk sugar and a touch of coconut cream.”
Lincoln Beer Co. Superdelic Hopalicuous Hazy IPA – 7.7% – “hazy 2x IPA loaded with Citra, Nelson, Krush Cyro, and whole lot of SUPERDELIC!!! Fruity, candied, and creamy.”
Paperback Robot Strip Club Hazy Imperial IPA – 10.5% – “fuses sultry hop flavor with the electrifying trio of Citra, Mosaic, and Azacca, delivering a juicy rush that could recharge any robot’s batteries. With luscious bursts of tropical fruit and citrus swirling in every sip, this brew is designed to overwhelm your taste buds with pure ecstasy.”
Back in the L.A. Craft Beer heyday, the restaurant Simmzy’s did some brewing of their own but this years Yule Shoot Your Eye Out Holiday Ale is contracted from Smog City Brewing.
I got to sample it weeks before release and it is perfect for those rare cold days in SoCal and it has a nice touch of spice to it as well. Plus I like the old timey tiki-ish label design.
There is more than one California player in the wet hop holiday ale game, Moonlight Brewing has Tipple.
“settle in with a Tipple. 6.7% ABV and cold conditioned on the same hops as our Homegrown wet hop ale, this beer is bursting with juicy Chinook, Amarillo, Cascade and Strata. Balanced out with the roast and depth of a dark malt for a rich and amazingly complex winter warmer.”
This IPA from Hop Butcher for the World has a lot going on like many folks schedules during the Christmas season. There is Rooibos, ginger, cinnamon, two kinds of nuts and orange peel too. A regular British Baking Show.
One explanation for Santa Claus getting all those presents delivered in one night, is multiple Santas. Gigantic Brewing in Portland is on the same wavelength when it comes to their 2024 winter warmer, Santa Clones.
“This collab with Weird Portland United is a deliciously malty, rich beer layered with caramel and a hint of dark fruit that’s crafted for cozy, festive vibes.”
Good to see one of my favorite breweries both bringing holiday cheer and bringing back in a new form, the infamous Wookey Jack.
“Wookey wonderland? We’re sippin’ in it! The Wookey has come in from the cold, and it’s fully reimagined for the season. Arctic Wookey is our classic black rye IPA reimagined with abominable amounts of flavor courtesy of a dank and resinous hop profile takes it to frigid new heights. It’s as black and cold as your blessed heart.”
An Irish-American spin on a holiday ale comes to us from the Guinness Open Gate in Baltimore.
“This seasonal brown ale is brewed with whole nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, and hand-scraped vanilla beans. The malty base brings out the caramel notes, and hints of baking spice give it a robust but balanced finish.”
Even in winter their is the sun, Sun King Brewing that is and their winter offering, Electric Reindeer.
“Electric Reindeer is a Brown Ale brewed with ginger and molasses for Newfields’ Winterlights.”