The Beer Diaries

Here’s the Holiday Beer Guide!

Every late November an interesting thing happens in the realm of craft beer: breweries around the world trot out their end of year holiday releases. These beers tend to follow a similar pattern: big, heavy, warming and spicy beers to help us survive the holiday season and protect us from cooler weather. These beers allow brewers to break from their traditional styles and aggressively explore over-the-top flavors that they would be reluctant to present in their regular releases.

This Holiday Beer Guide is an ongoing work; as we try more beers we’ll add more to the guide. Our goal is to inform you, the consumer, on what we at The Beer Diaries think are the best holiday releases. We try and focus on beers that are broadly available; it’s impossible for us to try and sample every regional beer, and we know that you’re going to find local favorites that are even better than the ones we present here. You’ll see a heavy weighting to Belgian releases and this is largely because of the breadth of their availability, but we’ll also include beers that have national distribution (Canadian and American).

We’re also piloting a review system and are interested in your feedback. The review levels, in descending order are: WORLD CLASS!!!, GREAT!!, GOOD!, OKAY, and POOR. Another way of explaining the review system is that anything GOOD! and up is a beer you really should try in increasing urgency. OKAY and POOR beers you may either want to be careful with, or simply avoid.

Finally, we’re going to continually append this guide and add new beers. We’re going to wrap it up into a giant feature that we’ll present next year with new updates on our favorites. This is our very first seasonal beer guide, so please, be gentle with us!

Beer: Anchor Brewing Merry Christmas Happy New Year 2012

Brewery: Anchor Brewing

Origin: San Francisco, USA

Best Before: 10/2014

ABV: 5.5%

Ideal temperature: between cold and room temperature

Style: Winter Warmer

Rating: GOOD!

Every year Anchor comes up with a new Holiday beer with a different combination of spices and flavors. Additionally, for you arborists out there, the bottle features a unique image of a coniferous tree. Enough academics, let’s discuss the beer.

This beer is a spiced ale (another technical name is Winter Warmer); typically these are very malty beers with a robust combination of sweetness and added spices. Think of a nice, rich and hearty ale that can keep you warm at night.

This pours a deep mahogany color with a big fluffy tan head. The nose shows some powerful spices: nutmeg and allspice, as well as some some bready/biscuity malt in the background.

The flavor demonstrates some light bitterness moving to intertwined pepper and raisin before it finishes with a return of the allspice and nutmeg. The alcohol is well hidden (less of a “Warmer”) and its got a nice creamy/fluffy body counterbalanced by light carbonation.

As a widely available, yearly release this is something that everyone should try. It’s definitely a tasty beer, not unlike Christmas Cake in a glass; share some with your friend and surprise them just how different this beer is than their usual fare.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Gouden Carolus Christmas

Brewery: Het Anker Brewing

Origin: Belgium

Best Before: 29/08/15

ABV: 10.5%

Ideal temperature: between cold and room temperature

Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Rating: OKAY (Today)

Het Anker has reportedly been operating since the mid-15th century. It has gone through multiple owners over the year and continues to produce delicious beers. Their Gouden Carolus Classic, another Belgian Strong Dark Ale, is a veritable classic in the beer world.

Their holiday release, the Gouden Carolus Christmas is classified as a Belgian Strong Dark Ale. It’s worth noting that this year’s release is likely different than prior releases based on historical reviews. Tasting of this year’s offering likens it more to a maltier, sweeter Belgian Quadrupel. Regardless of the classification, let’s talk specifics.

The Gouden Carolus Christmas pours a caramel color with ruby highlights with a thin tan head. On the nose this beer has a big banana character underpinned by anise (licorice).

On a first sip, this beer is exceptionally sweet; it explodes with overripe fruit, anise and sweet malts. It’s very intense and concentrated and the finish is sweet, fruity and exceptionally juicy. Even though it’s exceptionally sweet, it’s not syrupy, but it definitely does show some alcohol warming.

Honestly trying this beer today is a bit of a disappointment; it will be much too sweet and cloying for most drinkers and few people would be able to handle more than a wee dram. Ideally a beer like this could be laid down for a couple years, and the yeast contained in the bottle would continue to consume the sugar to end up with a more balanced beer. The 2011 vintages of this beer is drinking very well, but it’s hard to recommend this beer at this time. If you have this, lay it down for a year or two.

Rated: OKAY (Today)

Beer: La Rulles Cuvee Meilleurs Voeux

Brewery: Brasserie Artisianale De Rulles SPRL

Origin: Belgium

Best Before: 02/2014

ABV: 7.3%

Ideal temperature: between cold and room temperature

Style: Belgian Dark Ale

Rating: GOOD!

As far as I can tell this is a holiday beer since the character on the bottle is wearing the uniform of one of Santa’s Elves; he’s also giving my logo a bit of an eye, so I’m not sure what to think. In spite of this I still drank the beer.

It’s classified as a Belgian Dark Ale; beers of this variety are usually more balanced than their brethren with a variety of possibilities of characteristics including floral, malty or hoppy flavors with finishes from dry to sweet and malty. How does this compare?

This beer is deep brown in color, cloudy and sports a thick tan head that lingers for a while. On the nose it’s primarily malty in its profile, with sweet malts backed by toasty and caramel notes. The nose is actually quite subtle and leaves the taster curious about the actual flavors of the beer.

On tasting this beer one discovers that it’s surprisingly balanced with some mild initial bitterness quickly offset by some dark, roast malts. There are some small hints of raisin in the background, and finishes very subtle with some slight herbal notes. On observation, it would seem this should be a powerful beer, but it’s subtle and balanced. The finish and mouthfeel is a bit rich and creamy, but there’s just enough carbonation to hold it together.

This is one of those unusual beers that doesn’t show any excessively powerful characteristics to define it, but its overall balance makes it quite tasty. Historically this beer may have a bigger profile of dark fruits such as raisin, fig and plum, but this vintage is exceptionally balanced, and tasty as a result.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Pere Noel

Brewery: Brewery De Ranke

Origin: Belgium

Best Before: 09/2017

ABV: 7.0%

Ideal temperature: Cool

Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale

Rating: GOOD!

This is an interesting entry as a holiday or Christmas ale as it doesn’t follow the usual characteristics of being big, malty and sweet and instead fairly closely follows the Belgian Strong Pale Ale style. These are sometimes also called Golden Ales, due to their appearance, but don’t be fooled; they can be powerful and alcoholic, and can often have floral and mild malty profiles or even well-hopped and muscular characteristics.

The Pere Noel is clearly a very effervescent beer that pours a robust, cloudy golden beer with a fluffy two-finger head. On the nose it’s fairly subtle with slight grassy hops, floral notes and toasted malts. One can’t help but expect a mild beer based on the nose.

The flavors are lovely and direct; it’s got a clean simple taste without excessive bitterness, some ripe fruit in the mid-palate and a finish with pepper and biscuity malt. It’s nicely balanced and very easy drinking. Its body is light with moderate carbonation that imparts a slightly creamy character. In spite of the 7% ABV there’s practically no alcohol warming.

As noted at the outset this beer is slightly unusual for a holiday release as it doesn’t follow the usual rich flavor characteristics but instead is a subtle Golden Ale in every sense; it’s balanced and tasty. This would be great to drink practically any time of the year.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer:Red/White Christmas Ale

Brewery: Mikkeller

Origin: Denmark

Best Before:

ABV: 8.0%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Spiced Ale

Rating: GOOD!

This hoppy, spiced ale comes in a rather impressive 1.5L bottle, with some nice red and white (of course) snowfall imagery on the label. The ‘red’ and ‘white’ of the name refer to the blending of an English-style red ale, with a Belgian-style white beer. Another interesting pairing for this nomadic Danish brewer.

What we get when we carefully tip this behemoth into a nice chalice is a hazy, dark golden amber coloured beer, with a half-inch or so of compressed foamy pale beige head, which leaves a solid, slightly pocked wall of panted lace around the glass as it gently fades away. The aroma jumps out of the glass with crisp, bitter citrus hops, caramel and toffee malt, soft Belgian yeast, a bit of sweet pear fruitiness, and a further understated bitter drying hoppiness.

On the palate, we get a redux of the bitter citrusy pine hops, semi-sweet caramel malt, soft bready caramel malt, weakly astringent wheat additions, some understated savoury spiciness, and a twinge of earthy yeast. A middling booze warming does well to linger in the background.
The bubbles are rather laid back, the body showing a hefty medium-heavy weight, and adequately smooth. It finishes on the bittersweet side of things, the citrus hops still unexpectedly outshining any other normal holiday ingredient, save the cookie-esque malt sweetness.

While the X-mas essences seem to get quite lost in all that’s going on in this beer, this is Mikkeller, after all, and they very much like the hops, rather well beyond what’s to be expected from the purported red and white input styles. At any rate, this is an enjoyable strong beer, and a good choice for those inevitable seasonal parties, my hop-head friends.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Fra Til Via (From To Via)

Brewery: Mikkeller

Origin: Denmark

Best Before:

ABV: 8.0%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Baltic Porter

Rating: GOOD!

This beer comes to us in a 750ml gold-foil capped bottle, apparently a new version for this year. The label is essentially a reproduction of those tiny to/from stickers everybody uses for Christmas gifts.

This beer pours a rather aggressively foamy nature, of the dense bubbly mocha sort, with an underlying solid black hue, and no readily discernible highlights. The head maintains a decently spiffy retention, eventually giving up some consistent honeycomb lace around the glass. The aroma is chalky, powdery milk chocolate, some mildly meaty caramel malt, a bit of licorice root, syrupy cola, and leafy, floral, earthy hops.

The taste delivers more pithy, dry chocolate, bready caramel, a mild vegetal astringency, a slight lactic sourness, and a bitter floral, earthy hoppiness. The carbonation comes through in a rather laid back, but hardly absent and sedate manner, the body a sturdy medium-heavy weight, and mostly smooth, a slight edginess taking just a bit away. It finishes on the dry side, the malt beholden to the pull of the aforementioned cocoa, and attendant bitter hops.

A pretty hefty, and well balanced porter – the dryness is actually quite welcome, where one might expect an overwrought malty sweetness. Not here, my friends, just a solid chocoholic porter, worthy of nights spent in front of families and fireplaces alike.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Santa’s Private Reserve Ale

Brewery: Rogue Ales

Origin: Newport, OR, USA

Best Before: N/A

ABV: 5.3%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: American Amber Ale

Rating: GOOD!

A prototypical 22oz bottle, the label replete with a hefty stein-hoisting Ol’ Saint Nick, striking the pose of all of Rogue’s marketing images, that of a raised-fist, ‘power to the people’ thing. With its additional white snowflakes, the whole thing glows in the dark, just as the ‘Snowflakes Glisten’ proclamation indicates. Rather kitschy, and cool by the same measure.

The beer pours a slightly hazy dark copper colour, with a few fingers of thick, foamy off-white head, that leaves a fair bit of sticky lacing as it slowly recedes. An aroma of bitter citrus hops – orange and grapefruit, mostly – a little pine resin, and a subdued caramel malt – hits you all at once and is very nice. The taste starts with rather tart, dry piney hops, some tangy citrus cream, and quickly moves through to a slightly roasted caramel/toffee malt body, some juicy fruitiness, all followed closely by some more bitter grassy hops.

The carbonation is about average – a bit too noticeable at first, but it dissipates quickly enough, the body maintaining a decently weighty medium bearing, with a tentative smoothness. It finishes off-dry, the malt and bitter hops still doing a pleasant tango.

A more than fine Yankee amber ale, quite heavily hopped up in the West Coast style. There’s not much in the way of any actual holiday affectations, beyond the label, of course, but the malt is decently hefty, worthy of those who want something more pungent, and yet balanced, with their Christmas victuals.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Santa’s Little Helper 2012

Brewery: Mikkeller

Origin: Denmark

Best Before: N/A

ABV: 10.5%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Belgian Dark Ale

Rating: GOOD!

A lovely Christmas wrapping paper striped label, on a 750ml red foil capped bottle, gives more than a simple clues as to what we are in for here. Mikkeller has produced this particular offering for a few years now, slightly altering the recipe from year to year. The current offering boasts Northern Brewer, Hallertau, and Styrian Goldings hops.

This beer pours a solid black abyss, with ever so slight cola edges, and one very anemic finger of thinly foamy mocha head, which leaves some rather prominent honeycombed lace around the glass as it lazily abates. It smells of sweet caramel/toffee/treacle malt, some pungent plum and prune pudding fruitiness, a sugary coriander spiciness, prominent leafy, earthy hops, and a more than subtle alcohol warming. The taste is more sweet multifaceted caramel malt, restrained earthy savoury spice, a moderate anise character, some understated Belgian yeast, warm, perfume-like florals, and tame earthy, leafy hops.

The bubbles are pretty sedate, the body a lulling medium weight, and adequately smooth. It finishes off-dry, the fruity caramel malt well balanced with the hop and yeast dryness.

Overall, a nicely warming, Yuletide-friendly fruit bomb, of the Belgian persuasion. Something to keep one’s cockles toasty during the worst the winter can throw at you, wherever you may be.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Krampus

Brewery: Birrificio Del Ducato

Origin: Italy

Best Before: N/A

ABV: 9.0%

Ideal temperature: cellar temperature

Style: Belgian Strong Ale

Rating: GOOD!

This seasonal offering comes to us in a 750ml squat sparkling Champagne-esque bottle. Strange devil/saint dualism imagery on the front label. How is this Christmas/Holiday-related, you might be wondering? Well, the back label, in Italian, tells the story of the European alpine region legend of a demonic anti-Santa character (the Krampus), who roams the streets on Dec 5, and frightens the local children, making severe judgement for punishment on the naughty of the bunch, in advance of San Nicola’s (ol’ Saint Nick) arrival. A very Dr. Suess meets Grimm’s fairly tales cultural meme.

This beer pours a hazy dark orange-tinted amber hue, with two vibrant fingers of foamy, crackling pale beige head, which leaves little in the way of lace as it steadily sinks away. It smells of mildly tart cherry and lemon zest, wet earth, sweet, somewhat sugary caramel malt, and muddled winter spice. A fairly wintery aroma, to be sure.

The taste is subtle caramel malt, some dried black fruit, a bit of candy sugar, funky yeast, a weird, but not unpleasant, root-like sourness, and waning warm spices, which, when combined with the wine-like masked alcohol, produces strong mulled-wine leanings. The carbonation is average, if very slightly prickly, the body an airy medium weight, and smooth with a mild clingy, filmy caveat. It finishes fairly off-dry, divided equally between grain and refined sugar, kept agreeably in check by an ethereally drying combination of essentially hidden booze and wraith-like spice.

One strange beast, this, so quite apt for the story accompanying it. The individual flavours, when extracted and analyzed, sure don’t seem all that enticing. However, working together, they all make for an approachable, even easy-drinking Belgian-style pale ale – strong, and well worthy of San Nicola’s, as opposed to the Krampus’, attention.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Delirium Noël

Brewery: Brouwerij Huyghe

Origin: Belgium

Best Before: N/A

ABV: 10.0%

Ideal temperature: cellar temperature

Style: Belgian Strong Ale

Rating: GREAT!!

Not a beer available in Canada, as far as I know, but easily procured in sleepy Idaho Falls, Idaho, so Americans should be giving thanks for that. A 330ml shiny foil capped bottle, with Santa leading a team of pink elephants on a spacey (in more than one way) flight away from Earth. Maybe he’s running from the law – he is imbibing and driving after all.

This beer pours a very dark reddish amber hue, with swirling sediment, and one finger of creamy, cake-like ecru head, which seeps away slowly, leaving a raised ring of lace around the glass. It smells of sweet cherry cordial, caramel/toffee malt, saucy raisins, vanilla, and mild cinnamon/clove-like spices. Very complex and enticing. The taste is musty caramel malt, a bit of red grape vinous fruit character, more subtle earthy spice, and a persistent, non-partisan dryness. The booze is only perceptible in the slightly medicinal fruitiness that evolves as the beer warms (right now I’m stuck with central heating, and no roaring fire, malheureusement).

Things started off quite fizzy, but slowly settled down to a nice, even tingle, with the body a steady medium weight, and smooth with a warming, airy caveat. It finishes with a slightly waning sweetness, fruit and malt still well meshed, the spice and latent heat secondary players.

A lovely, complicated, and remarkably easy to put back (not that I did, or you should) strong Belgian ale – and the plucky dryness sure would help when sided with more of that good ol’ Christmas baking.

Rated: GREAT!!

Beer: Bah Humbug

Brewery: Wychwood Brewery

Origin: England

Best Before: N/A

ABV: 5.0%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Winter Warmer

Rating: OKAY

A relatively long-standing Christmas offering from this Oxfordshire brewery. Nice label – the Dickensian yuletide imagery is pretty spot-on.

This beer pours an attractive medium amber hue, with two fingers of creamy, puffy off-white head, which leaves some thin webbed lace in its slowly-receding wake. It smells of biscuit and caramel malt, and a very mild cinnamon/cloves spicing. The taste is nutty caramel malt, some earthy dried fruit, and again, very, very subtle Christmas spices, cinnamon, mostly. The carbonation is nice and soft, the body medium weight and smooth, and it finishes with some more light maltiness, clean as a whistle.

While a nicely balanced, and enjoyable English ale, that’s all there seems to be to it, the promise of the packaging gone up in the fireplace’s smoke, metaphorically singing poor ol’ St. Nick’s ample backside. Somehow this outward attitude needs to be reflected in the product as well, otherwise it’s more like a “Meh, Humbug!” for now.

Rated: OKAY

Beer: Biere De Noel

Brewery:Brasserie Thiriez

Origin: France

Best Before: None Apparent (Batch 326)

ABV: 5.8%

Ideal temperature: between cold and room temperature

Style: Belgian Dark Ale

Rating: GOOD!

If you do a bit of searching you’ll discover a number of Bieres De Noel from a variety of breweries. This particular version was made by Brasserie Thirez, a French brewery located in a region of Flanders located a few miles from Belgium. A unique version is produced each year, so let’s discuss 2012’s edition.

2012’s beer is a Belgian-style Dark Ale, and pours a clear brown beer that displays lots of ruby highlights in direct light and a thick tan head. Its aroma is quite interesting, with a combination of spicy, vegetal, earthy and nutty notes. It’s pretty unique versus other ales.

On first taste this beer displays very mild bitterness, with some slight grassy hops, slight smoky and roasted malt notes and finishes with a herbal, green pepper quality. It’s medium bodied, moderately carbonated and creamy.

This one was a bit of a tough one to call; it gets points for being quite unique but it’s hard to consider an exemplar of the Belgian Dark Ale style. This beer is unique each year, so it’s valid it is very experimental. It’s also strangely endearing.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Christmas Ale

Brewery: Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV

Origin: Belgium

Best Before: N/A

ABV: 10.0%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Rating: GREAT!!

This appears to be along the lines of this brewery’s ABT 12 offering, but gussied up even further with some nice seasonal spices. An imposing, yet lovingly festive 750ml bottle.

The beer itself pours a muddy, sediment-strewn orangish brown hue, with one finger of thickly foamy, soapy beige head, which leaves some sparse specks of islet lace around the glass in its slow, meandering wake. It smells of stewed raisins, caramel, toffee, and everything ever baked by anybody’s mom for Christmas. The taste is more caramel and raisin, plum, nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar, and soft warming alcohol.

The carbonation is quite sedate, the body weighty, well-textured, smooth, and a tad creamy. It finishes with that same essence of chanced upon Christmas baking, softly steeped in rum.

Like many other holiday season libations, this is an intense, indulgent sipper, ideally suited for satisfying that sweet tooth, and keeping out the chill at the same time.

Rated: GREAT!!

Beer: Bush De Noël

Brewery: Brasserie Dubuisson Frères sprl

Origin: Belgium

Best Before: N/A

ABV: 12.0%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Rating: GOOD!

A 250ml bottle, the label nicely echoing the scene outside my living room window as I crack this proverbially small package. Also known as Scaldis Noel in the American market. Another example of a Belgian brewery cooking up something a bit bolder and stronger than their normal offerings for enjoyment during the holiday season.

This beer pours a cloudy dark orange-tinted amber hue, with one finger of fast-disappearing soapy off-white head, which leaves a few scant specks of mitochondrial lace around the glass. It smells of zingy tropical fruit, baking dark sweet fruit cake, and subtle warming alcohol. The taste is strong, dark, somehow nefarious black fruit, toffee malt, a bit of treacle, some mild Belgian spice, and softly yielding yeast.

The carbonation is on the low side, the body a hefty medium weight, a bit moderated by the astringent booze edge. It finishes sweetly malty, fruity, boozy, and oh so very warming.

A nice, flavourful strong Belgian holiday ale, not too sweet, nor overly alcoholic (even at 12% – sacre bleu!) – how do they really do that?

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Hoppy Lovin’ Christmas

Brewery: Mikkeller

Origin: Denmark

Best Before: March 6, 2014

ABV: 7.8%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: American Double/Imperial IPA

Rating: GOOD!

A 330ml bottle, with some weird reindeer feeding time artwork on the label. Made with ginger and pine spruce tips.

This beer pours a mostly clear, medium golden yellow hue, with two fingers of tightly foamy, somewhat creamy off-white head, which leaves a decent array of specked painted lace around the glass as it slowly abates.

It smells of pineapple, orange cream, aged grapefruit flesh, a bit of sugary caramel malt, and that pine tree you just dragged up the stairs, to the ‘special’ corner in the living room. The taste is bitter tropical fruit, kind of a mash-up between pineapple rind and grapefruit pith, velvety pine needles, like when you first unzip the tent on a cool mountain morning, a sturdy caramel/toffee malt backbone, and some tame sugary alcohol warming.

The carbonation is a bit crackling at first, but settles down soon enough, the body a wavering medium weight, and smooth, but with a hoppy ride-along, which really isn’t all that supportive in that regard. It finishes mostly sweet, the rather saccharine malt carrying the day, even with the lingering pine and citrus notes.

A nice, rather sweet beginner’s DIPA, with a prominent Christmas forest essence. Drinkable, right alongside the rum and eggnog, for a more boreal, natural-esque seasonal experience.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Ugly Sweater

Brewery: Parallel 49 Brewing Company

Origin: Vancouver, BC, CA

Best Before: N/A

ABV: 5.0%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Milk Stout

Rating: GOOD!

Arriving in a 341ml bottle this is just an awesome idea for a Christmas-themed offering – the label appears to be a hillbilly Conan O’Brien, resplendent in his worst holiday pullover.

This beer pours a deep, dark, darned-near black hue, with sexy ruby cola highlights when duly back-lit, and two solid fingers of broadly bubbly, densely foamy pale beige head, which leaves some limestone strata lace around the glass as it slowly ebbs away.

It smells of chalky dry cocoa, mild mid-day coffee, roasted caramel and toasted bready malt, a mild orchard fruitiness, and some tame lactic sourness. The taste is semi-sweet caramel malt, hot chocolate powder, a soft oily nuttiness, some tame milky creaminess, and very faint earthy hops. The bubbles are present, and supportive in an appropriate background way, the body a sturdy medium weight, and smooth in a decently creamy manner. It finishes on the sweet side, but just barely, the chocolate and cafe au lait notes still large and in charge.

A rather pleasant milk stout, with nicely attendant coffee shop flavours, an easy drinker for when you must navigate the plates of too-available desserts, and even more so, the way-too prevalent unhip sweaters, apparently.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Celebration Ale 2012

Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Origin: Chico, CA, USA

Best Before: bottled October 2012

ABV: 6.8%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: American IPA

Rating: GREAT!!

Sierra Nevada has been making this an annual winter offering since 1981, using the first fresh hops of the attendant growing season, in order to convey the big pine and citrus notes that west coast American IPAs have become renowned for, and, I suppose, to reflect two of the strongest Yuletide essences, at least to me.

This 12oz bottle pours a slightly hazy, medium bronzed amber hue, with three fingers of rocky, chunky off-white head, which leaves some decent fuzzy cogwheel lace around the glass as it slowly sinks away.

It smells of somewhat musty citrus rind and pine tips, lightly toasted bready caramel malt, a touch of toffee, and softly sassy grassy hops. The taste is more orange and grapefruit pithy fruitiness, a wee bit of lemongrass, some leafy spruce resin, and a somewhat overmatched bready, almost crackery malt, the caramel morphing into a echo of lingering expectation.

The carbonation is mainly competent, being all that I want it to be, the body a sturdy medium weight, and smooth with that tacit acknowledgement of hoppy interlopers. It finishes off-dry, sure, but in a general, brown sugar sense, as the various hoppy notes play on and on and on.

I may have just given off an air of hop fatigue, but that’s just not the case. What is true, however, is my weariness of late of brewers who claim an all-satisfying balance in their special offerings, in the hope of a greater acceptance, I suppose, when nothing of the sort is actually the case. So, to summarize, this is indeed a pretty stellar IPA, and the classically wintery notes lie in the pine and citrus notes, as opposed to the more commonly accepted warming spices and pudding malt. Me, I’m going to go and peel a Japanese mandarin orange, while I sit next to my real Christmas tree.

Rated: GREAT!!

Beer: Jubelale

Brewery: Deschutes Brewery

Origin: Bend, OR, USA

Best Before: March 2013

ABV: 6.7%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Winter Warmer

Rating: GOOD!

Deschutes Brewery puts this winter ale out in the late fall Pacific NW time, with updated label artwork every year. The 25th anniversary bottle depicts a group of (presumably) caroling musicians gathered around a glowing, sunflower-esque street lamp.

This 12oz bottle pours a clear, rusty orange brick hue, with two fingers of tightly foamy, somewhat creamy tan head, which leaves some intermittent pocked limestone lace around the glass as it duly recedes.

It smells of lightly toasted caramel malt, softly earthy anise, nutty dark chocolate, a bit of ashy tobacco, some muddled, but not lacking for it, savoury spices, and mild leafy hops. The taste is bready caramel/toffee malt, nutty cereal biscuits, a light mocha coffee essence, more understated tobacco, over-steeped (just the way I like it) black tea, and singed wet chlorophyll-laden leaves.

The bubbles are fairly soma-fied, but awaken here and there to keep things on the level, support-wise, the body a docile medium weight, and really quite smooth. It finishes off-dry, the bready malt still in contention with a lingering ashy/tea bag earthiness.

A decent winter warmer, the warming the least of the appreciable attributes, as the malt, hops, and grandfather’s sweater essences hold the lion’s share of character here. Good, and even better when looking past the lit Christmas tree to the snowscape outside.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Jubilation Ale

Brewery: Baird Brewing Company

Origin: Japan

Best Before: N/A

ABV: 6.5%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Winter Warmer

Rating: GOOD!

A celebratory tipple, I assume, for the winter season, one from which we here in certain parts of North America have been experiencing a mite bit longer than this has been available.

This 633ml bottle pours a hazy dark burnt amber colour, with two fingers of creamy, bubbly off-white head, which leaves a low seaward landmass of lace around the glass as it slowly settles.

It smells of sweet caramel malt, slightly metallic cinnamon, ginger, fruity fig (more the earthy sort than our more recognizable Newton), and a mildly fruity citrus zing. The taste is bready malt, pithy citrus and savoury cinnamon, followed by some lesser earthy fruit (hard to say if it’s fig or pumpkin from my North American palate), a somewhat funky mustiness, and an increasingly noticeable, but still mostly sedate booze warming.

The carbonation is generally on the low side, and more or less unobtrusive, the body medium weight, and smooth as can be, amongst a pithy, slightly tacky character. It finishes off-dry – a truly level contest amongst restrained autumn vegetables, germ-inclusive sliced bread, and drying alcohol/hop offsets.

As I’ve spent a number of weeks now forsaking the notion of winter, since, as previously noted, we here have had our fill, my appreciation of this offering may be just a wee bit underwhelming in the proclaimed warming department. That said, I can appreciate the similarity to heartening local offerings, enjoyed back when the snow fell in October(!!!). Shipping time from Japan observed, red tape bureaucracy satisfied, and bingo, we still have a winner.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Auld Acquaintance Hoppy Holiday Ale

Brewery: Pike Pub & Brewery

Origin: Seattle, WA, USA

Best Before: N/A

ABV: 5.0%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Winter Warmer

Rating: GOOD!

Auld Acquaintance is Pike’s holiday ale, made with additions of orange peel, coriander, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The label reminds me of a now-tired Denis Leary rant about Santa Claus not being on the list of acceptable images to be on his beer bottle.

This 650ml bottle pours a slightly hazy, medium copper colour, with one finger of foamy, bubbly tan head, which leaves a smattering of droopy curtained lace around the glass as it readily recedes. It smells of light biscuity caramel malt, a prominent display of drupe fruitiness, mild white pepper, and understated gingerbread spices – cloves and cinnamon, mostly. The taste is a slightly biscuity caramel malt, some wavering apple/pear fruity character, enduring gingerbread notes, the graininess and usual suspect spices, natch, including the proclaimed coriander, citrus, and spicy floral hops.

The carbonation is moderate in its supportive venture, the body a tacit medium weight, and fairly smooth. It finishes pretty dry, just a slight bit of biscuit malt wading into the emboldened spicy hops at the end.

A decent enough winter holiday ale, but reserved to a certain degree all around. The latent hoppiness is nice, but the malt and spices (not to mention the ABV) could be equally ramped up, to better ward off the ensconced seasonal pallor.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: 5 Golden Rings

Brewery: The Bruery

Origin: Placentia, CA, USA

Best Before: can be cellared for up to 7 years

ABV: 11.5%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale

Rating: GOOD!

Part 5 of a very cool idea for a decade-plus spanning holiday release series. Made with pineapple juice and the cake-friendly spices of cinnamon, allspice and ginger.

This 750ml bottle pours a hazy, solid medium golden amber hue, with three fingers of foamy, puffy off-white head, which leaves some broad, random specks of spattered lace around the glass as it evenly subsides. It smells of dense, meaty Belgian yeast, black pepper, coriander, clove, nutmeg, and yes, yes, yes – musty, fruity, sugary pineapple! The taste is sweet, sugary pale malt, a touch of caramel, some rather encompassing, yet softly caring, and generally funk-free earthy yeast, reserved clove and allspice, um, spice, and a nicely integrated tropical pineapple fruitiness, sugary in its own special way. All very pleasant, to be sure, but that only distracts from the increasingly salient fact of – where might all that booze be, then?

The bubbles are agreeably tame, yet supportive in their finely fizzy way, the body a sure heavyweight, something I really don’t encounter all that much, and not just for the style (and especially for the style), and smooth enough, the effect of the fruit, spice, and alcohol all having their say. It finishes definitely on the sweet side of things – malt, pineapple-dominant fruit, and seductive spice all contributing equally.

One large and in charge strong Belgian-style golden ale – it may be (sort of) pale, but honey, this ain’t light. There’s a thorough heaviness, a gravitas that, along with the pineapple, abounds in an ‘Aloha from Hawaii’ sensibility. Pretty balanced, given the big sugary inputs, and still crazily understated, with the 23 points of alcohol proof drawing very little overt attention to itself.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: St. Nick’s Oaked Spiced Porter

Brewery: Fort Garry Brewing Company

Origin: Winnipeg, MA, CA

Best Before: N/A

ABV: 6.5%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: American Porter

Rating: OKAY

Hot on the heels of the big fat guy’s arrival here in the great white north, as well as everywhere else on the planet, apparently, comes the latest in this brewery’s Brewmaster Series. Spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and all-spice, and then aged on oak chips. How homebrew-friendly! And SPICEtastically OAKstravagant! (That’s a label thing.)

This 650ml bottle pours a very, very dark chestnut brown colour, with ruby cola highlights throughout, and two fingers of tightly foamy, fairly creamy tan head, which leaves a solid wall of triple-coat painted lace around the glass as it evenly subsides. Not too shabby a looker, this one.  It smells of weak grainy malt, some astringent wood fiber, a stronger dry nuttiness, some muddled, underwhelming savoury spices, and faint leafy hops. The taste wakes this offering right out of its slumber by proffering a hefty nutty caramel malt, subtle dry chocolate, slightly zazzy, and metallic cinna-meg-spice, a wooden, er, woodiness, one rather bereft of sweetness, the purported vanilla coming through more in the alcohol side of things, and some consistently tame earthy, leafy hops.

The carbonation is quite understated, but performs its base job just fine, the body a somewhat skewed medium weight, and actually pretty smooth. It finishes on the sweet side, the wooden astringency dying down for the most part, whilst letting a baker’s vanilla essence rise amongst the still edgy guest spices.

A pretty good porter, but kind of messed up by the spice and wood treatment – that’s the gist of it. Neither of these extras are deployed properly, as already described. The rough edges do soften a bit as it warms, but not enough to re-colour my admittedly amateur opinion of the same in this otherwise well-wrought commercial product.

Rated: OKAY

Beer: X-Mas Hop

Brewery: Brouwerij de Molen

Origin: Netherlands

Best Before: bottled June 14th, 2012

ABV: 6.8%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: American IPA

Rating: GOOD!

A De Molen product that has apparently been shipped to Canada as part of a Craft Beer Advent calendar.  Wow, a label from this brewery that I don’t need Google Translate in order to figure out. Huh.

This 330ml bottle pours a hazy, muddled dark golden hue, with three fingers of puffy, foamy, and bulbous off-white head, which leaves some sparse splatters of fuzzy lace around the glass as it very slowly ebbs away.  It smells of bitter grapefruit rind, fleshy orange, soft pine needles, some leavened, bready caramel malt, and a further floral, perfumed hoppiness. The taste is fruity, as in more of the musty orange, grapefruit, lime, and kiwi citrus notes, a crackery, bready malt backbone, and some earthy, sweet florals lengthening the experience somewhat.

The bubbles are pretty laid back, the body a decent enough medium weight, though a tad pithy in its stab at full-on smoothness. It finishes off-dry, the skewed orange fruitiness and tempered grainy malt contending well with the overall bitterness of the other side players.

An agreeable new-world IPA, fruity and acerbic to a point – however, that point is bit more hollow when put up against the Christmas promise of this offering – I get the orange (in its floral re-imagining here), sure, but the pine essences are mostly lost, to a degree that I don’t think Santa would grok this as a cookie accompaniment to any and all.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Trappistes Rochefort 8

Brewery: Brasserie de Rochefort

Origin: Belgium

Best Before: end of 2016

ABV: 9.2%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Rating: WORLD CLASS!!!

A sturdy Belgian-style bomber of this purported nectar of the gods, replete with a hearty image of Santa Claus beaming from the otherwise standard label.  It sure is nice to be able to try these Trappist offerings without an indeterminate trip to the brewery itself, eh?

This 750ml bottle pours a cloudy, very dark golden amber colour, with three fingers of audibly fizzy, lightly foamy pale beige head, which contains a few black-toned roaming specks, and leaves an undulating wall of painted lace as it lazily recedes. There is also some persistent, rising effervescence swirling about and upwards after the fact.

It smells weirdly (though not in a bad way) of woody, earthy, noble hops, and very little yeast – expectations are tremulous, I suppose, as the fruity, dark caramel-tinged malt kind of has to approach this from a lower position, but this is not a problem whatsoever. The taste is more forward with the raisins, toffee, caramel, and mild dark fruit (plums, blackberries, most evidently), and some moreover earthy, fruity hops, and a very even, less than obvious alcohol dryness.

The carbonation is quite mild, and generally effusive, the body displaying a solid state smoothness, and a certain hefty density, finishing with an undeniable heaviness, and a well balanced melange of malt and hops, yin and yang, as it were. The big ABV is so well integrated, I almost forgot to mention it.

Having been holding on to this bottle for a while, but after sampling a number of other Belgian and German offerings of late, and getting out of my industry-enabled, IPA-heavy comfort zone, it seemed appropriate at this time of year to bring out the heavy guns – especially when they’re flaunting ol’ St. Nick himself.  A splendid strong Belgian ale, with all the warmth and complexity of flavour that one might expect.

Rated: WORLD CLASS!!!

Beer: St. Renna

Brewery: Birrificio Brùton

Origin: Italy

Best Before: Before: July 2014

ABV: 9.0%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Rating: GOOD!

Here we have an upstart Italian microbrewery, from a region between Florence and Pisa, and their Christmas Ale, it would seem, produced with honey and unspecified spices. The name is likely a play on the Italian word for gift (strenna), and the the word for reindeer (renna), as the sub-title is ‘la birra delle renne’, or ‘the reindeer’s beer’.

This 750ml teardrop-shaped bottle pours a hazy, very dark orange-brick colour, with two fingers of densely foamy, pretty creamy pale tan head, which leaves a low wash of ebbing curtain lace around the glass as it evenly subsides.  It smells of biscuity, bready caramel malt, some additional toffee/treacle notes, muddled cinnamon and clove spice, a little heat amongst them, loose brown sugar, a mild savoury herbal character, and some soft earthy, noble hops. The taste is grainy, bready malt, a touch of doughy sweetness, some agreeably soft, yet mildly tangy yeast, a bit of musty honey, some understated, blended dark fruit, and leafy, somewhat grassy hops.

The bubbles are average – supportive, and otherwise not really noticeable, the body a decent medium weight, and mostly smooth, just a twinge of metallic alcohol playing the pea to this particular princess. It finishes on the sweet side, the malt gaining a caramel character, the black fruit kicking around that tin can, and the yeast relaxing in front of the fire that is the slowly simmering booziness.

A pretty good BSDA, with some strong winter warmer tendencies, well blended into virtual obfuscation, but that’s a-ok with me. Enjoyable, hearty, and almost cake-like, in the laid-back, panettone way that Italians have of presenting a block of Yuletide confectionery to the masses.

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Bad Attitude Rudolph

Brewery: Birrificio Ticinese

Origin: Italy

Best Before: Before: June 2013

ABV: 8.34%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Winter Warmer

Rating: GOOD!

A nice way to finish this western Canadian, central-Europe beer-sourced Craft Beer Advent calendar ordeal off, what with a rabid-appearing cartoon reindeer greeting me first thing on Christmas Eve morn, and now again right after a shortened work day.

This 330m stubby bottle pours a hazy dark bronzed amber hue, with two fingers of densely foamy, heavily frothy beige head, which leaves a decent array of grotesquely webbed lace around the glass as it slowly recedes.  It smells of moderately sweet caramel/toffee malt, some lurking sour fruitiness – plum and apple mostly, a bit of sweet ginger, some very mild all-spice, a cool melon essence, and some ethereal citrus hops. The taste is still quite fruity – apple, cantaloupe and under-ripe honeydew, a lingering sourness pervading all, some muddled cinnamon and nutmeg spices kind of wandering lost among an equally befuddled grainy caramel maltiness, and floral, somewhat perfumed hops rounding things out by shouldering the simmering booze load.

The bubbles are fairly restrained, the body medium-light in weight, and tacitly smooth. It finishes off-dry, but still in the sour fruity sense, the malt and softly bitter hops flying under the radar.

An enjoyable enough warmer, with more old ale or barleywine tendencies than the typical big spiced caramel malt bombs to which I have apparently become accustomed. An appropriate way to bid adieu to this pleasant distraction during the craziest time of year. Cheers, and thanks are in order to the rep who dreamed up this little seasonal lark -  cheers, Christian!

Rated: GOOD!

Beer: Christmas Eve at a New York City Hotel Room

Brewery: Evil Twin Brewing

Origin: Denmark

Best Before: 2015

ABV: 10.0%

Ideal temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: American Imperial Stout

Rating: OKAY

The name of this beer is somewhat intriguing, as it suggests exhilaration and mild depression, two conflicting emotions on an already heightened  rollercoaster of seasonal to and fro.

At first pop of the cap of this 330ml bottle, I stupidly assumed this would be like any other imperial stout out there, and sit there quietly until I deemed it necessary to tip into the glass. Alas, this wasn’t to be, as after a momentary beat an eruption of thin beige foam jetted forth, coating the entire bottle, like a breadcrumb crust, before starting to pool on the counter. Snapping out of my gaping reverie, I carefully poured this mess into the glass, getting no more than an inch of liquid before the foam halted things once more.

Anyways, after a wee further spell, I am left with a fairly inky blackness, with a basal cola hue, and a thin cap of broadly bubbly tan fizziness, with a weird lack of lace, and some hard to discern swirling sediment.

It smells of a thin roasted graininess, an oily nuttiness, some sour, acetic fruitiness, a light ashy smokiness, and some mild warming alcohol. The taste is a significant step up, imperial stout-wise, with some moderately roasted caramel malt, sturdy bittersweet chocolate, soft cherry and apple tartness, dry black liquorice, and some newfound leafy, floral hop bitterness. The 20-proof booze is rather well hidden, overall.

The bubbles, after their initial outburst, are quite tame and genially supportive, the body a bit too much on the light side of medium weight for the style, but agreeably smooth at the same rate. It finishes on the sweet side, the caramel and chocolate notes persisting, as the tart and bitter aspects peter off just a bit.

A so-so imperial stout, a bit too thin and sour, with not enough weight and roundness to recommend as a repeat imbiber, even though the big ABV is expertly integrated. I’m now guessing that the effervescent opening act helps reinforce my impression of the theme of this offering’s moniker, one which may not be appropriate for more delicate dispositions, whether they be physical or psychological.

Rated: OKAY