Advent Beer Calendar 2020: Day 2: Abita Brewing Christmas Ale

December 2, 2020 By Jon Abernathy | Filed in Beer Advent Calendar, Beers

For 34 years, Louisiana’s Abita Brewing Company has been crafting a wide range of beers that focuses on easy drinking and embraces the brewery’s southern, New Orleans-adjacent roots. One of the oldest and largest craft breweries in America, Abita offers up a seasonal Christmas Ale which was first brewed not long after the brewery opened in 1986—which is our second Advent beer pick for 2020.

Christmas Ale is a holiday brown ale with a recipe that changes slightly each year, though it stays within a moderate alcohol range of five to six percent. Moderation is key this year; there are plenty of high octane holiday brews out there and there’s a long month ahead of us, so being able to enjoy more sessionable offerings is vital.

This year’s edition is 5.8% ABV with 40 IBUs, and I reached out to the brewery for additional notes. Abita Brewmaster Mark Wilson provided a description and some words about this year’s Christmas Ale:

Our Christmas Ale is available in November and December each year. It is a new recipe each year. While it does change from year to year it is almost always a brown ale.

This year’s version is a hoppy brown ale. It is brewed with five types of malted barley and fermented with American Ale yeast. It is brewed with pale malt as well as a combination of caramel, biscuit, Munich, and chocolate malts. It is hopped and dry hopped with Apollo, Columbus, Centennial, and Amarillo and has a nice piney and citrus hop flavor and aroma. The result is a flavorful brown ale that is sweet and malty with a pleasant hop aroma.

It is perfect for the cold weather and holiday season.

Wilson has been brewing for Abita for 25 years this month. He provided a few facts about his impressive tenure with the brewery: