The Brew Site
It’s National Lager Day! December 10 is the annual observance of this beery holiday and it’s a perfect time of year to pick a yuletime lager. As befitting a day dedicated to lagers, today’s Advent beer comes from Germany, from the Warsteiner Brewery: its Christmas beer Weihnacht. (Note, the Anglicized … Continue reading
The ninth installment of this year’s Advent beer calendar features a venerable California brewery making its first appearance in this feature—Drake’s Brewing Company. Probably best known for its hoppy ales, Drake’s released a Christmastime barleywine with a stupendous alcoholic strength at 14.8%, Santa’s Brass. Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, … Continue reading
For this eighth of December, today’s Advent beer pick takes us to western New York to the ski town of Ellicottville, home of Ellicottville Brewing Company. For the holidays the brewery offers its Lloyd’s Christmas Ale, a spiced imperial brown ale with figs, brewed to the tune of 8% ABV … Continue reading
Today’s Advent beer pick has a mouthful of a name and is one I just couldn’t resist: Gigantic Brewing The Cat Ate My Stash and Pissed on the Xmas Tree, billed as a “Festive IPA.” It’s a rather descriptive name to match the particular character of the hops in this IPA. … Continue reading
Today, December 6, is Saint Nicholas Day, commemorating the Christian feast day and overnight arrival of St. Nicholas—also known as Santa Claus—who leaves toys and treats for children. This is more prevalent in Old World Europe than in North America, though there are regions with strong Germanic influence that celebrate … Continue reading
December 5th is Repeal Day, commemorating the ratification of the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that repealed Prohibition in 1933. (It also happens to be Krampus night but this year I’m going with Repeal!) To celebrate the day, our Advent beer pick is aptly enough from Chicago’s Revolution Brewing, … Continue reading
Did you know that December 4 is National Cookie Day? What better time of year to celebrate cookies than the holidays? It’s a good day to pair cookies with your favorite beer and for today’s Advent beer pick, you know I had to find a Christmas cookie-themed beer. So off … Continue reading
For this third of December we’re skipping over to Europe for our daily Advent beer pick. In Denmark, Ugly Duck Brewing was founded in 2012 as a spin-off of Indslev Brewery; according to Ugly Duck, “After six years of success brewing exclusive wheat beers, Indslev wanted a new laboratory for … Continue reading
We have homebrewer friends, originally from the Midwest, who brew a “clone” beer each winter based on their favorite seasonal from Ohio: Great Lakes Brewing Christmas Ale. I’ve had the chance to taste this year’s homebrew, and while I haven’t (yet) experienced the original, I enjoyed the home version which … Continue reading
Way back in 2005, I had the idea to start a December feature combining the idea of Advent calendars with beer, at least in a virtual sense. Starting on the 1st, each day would reveal a new holiday- or winter-themed beer until Christmas Eve. Since then, I’ve seen others do … Continue reading