Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 16: Grand Teton Coming Home

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 16: Grand Teton Coming Home

Today’s beer pick comes from the base of the Teton Mountains in eastern Idaho: Grand Teton Brewing’s Coming Home Holiday Ale 2011. This is the second vintage in Grand Teton’s annual Holiday Ale program—featuring a different cellar-able beer each year—and this 2011 edition is brewed in the style of a … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 15: Scaldis Noël

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 15: Scaldis Noël

Today’s beer pick is a Belgian Christmas classic: Scaldis Noël, also known as Bush de Noël in its native country, from Brasserie Dubuisson in western Belgium. Admittedly, “classic” might be a bit of a misnomer, as even though Dubuisson was founded in 1769, Scaldis Noël was introduced only two decades ago, … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 14: Page 24 Bière de Noël

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 14: Page 24 Bière de Noël

Today’s beer is another Christmas ale from France: Page 24 Bière de Noël from Brasserie Saint-Germain in the northern region of the country. Like Jenlain’s beer, this one is brewed “in the great tradition of the North”—which led me to dig around a bit and discover that the French tradition of … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 13: McMenamins Kris Kringle

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 13: McMenamins Kris Kringle

Today’s selection is the annual Yuletide ale from the McMenamins breweries of Oregon and Washington: Kris Kringle. This Winter Warmer makes its appearance every year from roughly Thanksgiving through Christmas, and this year for only the second time ever McMenamins has made it available in bottles—last year it was an … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 12: Saint Arnold Christmas Ale

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 12: Saint Arnold Christmas Ale

Today’s beer pick comes to us from Texas’ oldest craft brewery, Saint Arnold Brewing in Houston: the malty and rich Saint Arnold Christmas Ale. Saint Arnold brews this beer in the style of an Old Ale to 7% abv; it was first brewed in 1995 and has racked up a number … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 11: Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu Weihnachtsbier

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 11: Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu Weihnachtsbier

Today’s pick comes from Germany, but don’t let the long name in the title intimidate you: Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu Weihnachtsbier is simply the Christmas Beer (literally, “Weihnachtsbier” means “Christmas Beer” in German) from the Monastery Brewery in the German town of Alpirsbach. This Christmas Beer is a golden, easy-to-drink Festbier that comes … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 10: Anchor Christmas Ale

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 10: Anchor Christmas Ale

Today’s beer pick has appeared on the Beer Advent Calendar every year since I started: Anchor Christmas Ale (also known as Our Special Ale). This is the beer that established the modern Christmas beer tradition in American craft brewing: first introduced in 1975, this is a dark, spiced ale with … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 9: Noël des Géants

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 9: Noël des Géants

Today’s beer pick comes from Brasserie des Géants in Wallonia, the French speaking half of Belgium: Noël des Géants, or literally “Christmas of the Giants.” The brewery adopts its “Giants” name from the medieval castle in the town of Irchonwelz in which it is housed, drawn from the feature of the large … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 8: Sly Fox Christmas Ale

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 8: Sly Fox Christmas Ale

Today’s beer pick comes from the great beer state of Pennsylvania: Sly Fox Christmas Ale. I first featured this beer way back on the original 2005 Beer Advent Calendar and I thought it was high time it made another appearance. As with many Christmas seasonals, each year the beer is … Continue reading

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 7: Southern Tier Old Man Winter

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 7: Southern Tier Old Man Winter

As the cold weather descends and the prospect of snow looms with the winter, it only seems fitting to turn to a beer named Old Man Winter, from Southern Tier Brewing, and thus that is our Advent Calendar pick of the day. Subtitled “a liquid winter wonderland,” this is how … Continue reading