Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 15: Atwater Lebkuchen Christmas Ale

Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 15: Atwater Lebkuchen Christmas Ale

Today’s beer Advent pick comes from Detroit and the Atwater Brewery. Atwater got its start in 1997 and each year brews a Winter Bock seasonal; this year however they also released their Lebkuchen Christmas Ale (with a label design reminiscent of an ugly Christmas sweater). Lebkuchen is brewed to 6.5% … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 14: Samuel Adams White Christmas

Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 14: Samuel Adams White Christmas

I can’t help but get Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” (as sung by Bing Crosby) stuck in my head every time I see today’s Advent beer: Samuel Adams White Christmas. Song aside (though it is a great one), the beer itself is, as the name suggests, a Belgian-styled Witbier, though instead of … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 12: Anchor Christmas Ale

Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 12: Anchor Christmas Ale

Today, the 12th, marks the halfway point for the Beer Advent Calendar, and I’ve chosen one of my favorite Christmas beers for today’s Advent pick—one that has been featured every single year I’ve been doing this calendar: Anchor Christmas Ale. It was first brewed in 1975, and this year is … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 10: De Ranke Père Noël

Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 10: De Ranke Père Noël

In French-speaking regions of the world, Père Noël is the Christmas gift-bringer analogous to Santa Claus or Father Christmas (which is in fact the literal translation of “Père Noël”). So it’s a fun play to find a Christmas beer named the same, which is what Belgium’s Brouwerij De Ranke brews … Continue reading

A unique beer calendar for 2015

A unique beer calendar for 2015

The Bend Brew Daddy, aka Matthew Ward, is a photographer, fellow craft beer geek, and blogger and friend of mine based here in Bend, Oregon, and over the past year he’s been making a name for himself in the local craft beer scene with his stunning beertography. You can follow … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 9: Burton Bridge Festive Christmas Porter

Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 9: Burton Bridge Festive Christmas Porter

Burton-upon-Trent in England is one of the great brewing regions of the world, with a long and important history in the world of beer. In 1982, Geoff Mumford and Bruce Wilkinson, both formerly with the Ind Coopes Romford brewery, looked around the scene and saw the great breweries of old being consolidated into … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 8: Olde Hickory Christmas Ale

Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 8: Olde Hickory Christmas Ale

Today’s Advent beer pick brings us to North Carolina to the Olde Hickory Brewery, established in 1994 in the town of Hickory, situated in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Olde Hickory brews on a 25-barrel system located in a historic landmark building in downtown Hickory that dates to … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 7: Pelican Bad Santa

Advent Beer Calendar 2014: Day 7: Pelican Bad Santa

Today’s Beer Advent Calendar pick comes to us from one of my favorite Oregon breweries, both for the beers and for their incredible location: Pelican Pub & Brewery. Each winter they brew a moderate-strength Cascadian Dark Ale for the holidays: Bad Santa. You better watch out, you better not cry, you … Continue reading