Today’s pick is St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, which is available for the first time this year. (It’s new enough that they don’t yet have it on their own website!)

It’s a Belgian Strong Ale with a whopping 10% alcohol by volume. The reviews are positive and sound to me like there’s a lot of sweetness and fruitiness in this beer, paired with "typical" Belgian spiciness—not unlike a good fruitcake, I’m thinking. Sounds like a perfect dessert beer.

And this might seem like a strange criteria for a beer, but I think it’s the most festive bottle of this year’s selection so far… it reminds me of a tree ornament. Very nice!

BeerAdvocate score: 87/100, 100% approval. RateBeer score: 3.73/5, 94th percentile.