Holiday Beers

This past weekend I purchased Bell's Jingle Bell's Variety Pack:



I have not opened this pack yet. I am a BIG fan of Two Hearted so I am glad this is part of the pack. I will discuss the Scotch Ale in week+ as part of the Online Tasting: Scotch Ales, etc. I am really looking forward to trying the IPA with Spruce Tips since I have homebrewed Spruce beers (i.e., a Pale Ale with Blue Spruce Tips) and I am curious to see how close this beer will be to my homebrewed version. And I enjoy Wit beers so the Belgian inspired Wheat Ale should be enjoyable.

Cheers!

 

Pray tell, which one?

My stash includes some Celebration, some of the Sam Adams Holiday Pack, and a bottle of Samichlaus, which is the last bottle of a 4-pack that I bought 4 years ago. It's a tradition for me to drink Sami on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

 

Does this mean you purchased the Sam Adams Holiday pack and you have some of those beers remaining? Would you personally recommend the Sam Adams Holiday pack?

Cheers!

 

What'cha gonna do next year?

 

If you want to spoil it for yourself, there’s a conversation regarding Holiday packs going on here https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/share-your-holiday-packs-2021.662602/

 

I was impressed with all as I have already worked my way through this set once this year. I’m sure you will enjoy each of them.

Cheers.

 

I really enjoy the holiday beers, among my favorites are SN Celebration, FFF Alpha Klause, Highland Cold Mountain, and Old Fezziwig.

I think the one I look forward to each year is Highland Cold Mountain... good stuff

 

Sam Adams completely nailed it this season with the release of their Beers for Cheers variety pack. Usually go with either S.N. Celebration or Columbus Citra Noel for my hops. Also it's a must to have some solid barleywines and stouts. Lastly it's a personal tradition to enjoy two Troegs Mad Elfs on Christmas Eve.

 

I probably would have called it a clunker too by also using your reasoning.

 

Well it means that I stuck 24 beers in my beer fridge and plan to drink some of them between now and Christmas. I've been working on drinking other, older beers and mostly saving the Sam Adams beers for closer to Christmas when I'm expecting family to help me enjoy them. However, the temptation is wearing on me to drink an Old Fezziwig, so I might start into the pack this weekend. So right now I have no direct experience to say yea or nay about the beers.

 

I'm gonna' start looking for a 4-pack of the new batch, which I think typically shows up on my store's shelf around Feb/Mar. Come to think of it, I think I saw some still there from last year's batch, so I may go for one of those 4-packs.

 

I also love this time of year and have been indulging some holiday beers.

Sam Adams Beers for Cheers 12-pack; I have yet to try the Old Fezziwig and have somehow never had it before.

Victory Merry Monkey. They also have something called Naughty List, which looks interesting. Not sure my liver can take it though.

Iron Hill Reindeer's Revenge. Didn't care much for this one; a weird bitter taste ran through the flavor, although it faded a bit as the beer warmed.

Sierra Nevada Celebration. Been a few years since I had any and got a few cans from my sister. Always delicious.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving some family was visiting and we did a bit of a Tröegs Mad Elf tasting. Started with a can from this year, then a can from last year. Moved on to a bottle of Mad Elf Grand Cru 2021, and finished with a bottle of Wild Elf, bottled in 2017.

The barleywines and stouts will come after Christmas, along with some hoppy ales like Nugget Nectar.

 

Isn't it released on the week before Christmas each year?* Maybe something's changed these days, but I thought I remembered that.

If I got a 4-pack the week before, I wouldn't be able to resist a bottle for the holiday.

*I guess they used to age it for a full 12 months (in Switzerland) and release the previous year's batch on the same day (Dec 6) they brewed the new batch.

Now it looks like they lager it for 10 months before bottling (and kegging, I guess -- the local distro had 20 liter kegs!), so maybe it shows in October?

 

Accumulation and Celebration so far this holiday season, I'm liking both.

 

In these here parts, we like us a Shiner Holiday Cheer! Happy Holidays Y’All!

 

Those boats must be pretty slow crossing the pond, so I'm going to stick with my memory and go with the Feb/Mar that I mentioned above. It would be ideal to see them just before Christmas, though.

*Caveat: Each Samichlaus kills a few more memory brain cells.