Holiday Beers (2025)

Good jam (and cool establishment). Thanks for sharing!

 

Great Lakes Cookie Exchange Milk Stout - It looks like from a comment on the can that the spice mix changes each year. This seems to be an off-year because I wouldn't want my Christmas cookies to taste like this. I detect an underlying flavor of date or prune along with other more favorable spice flavors, and that's off-putting. It's not a bad beer, but I'm glad I only bought a single.

 

N’Ice Chouffe. Not one I seek out every year but always glad to have it.

 

This was from my Kansas haul in 2024. I don't think aging it is doing it any favors. 10% ABV but the carbonation & barrel is tailing off. Probably need to kill that last can off in the next few weeks.

Rated a 4.17 a year ago, now lower for sure, still plenty of Gingerbread left to be sure.

 

Thanks @thebeers for this thread and thanks @Todd for propping the door open for it. I do in fact have more holiday beers! Here's one I haven't had until now: Boulevard Nut Cracker Winter Warmer 7.8% enjoy by 21 April, 2026. Holiday beers are good 'n fresh right now! Cheers!

Kinda has a "Belgian" feel and drinkability. Lighter in body. A nice sipper.

 

Olde Mecklenburg Brewing - Yule Bock.
Such a good beer, and one I look forward to every year!

 

I traded for a box of several OMB beers many years ago. Every single one was awesome. I'm spoiled with good beer choices around me now, but that is one brewery to which I had access. Enjoy!

 

Thank goodness, now someone has time for an Icelandic Aass vs. Santa's Butt side-by-side. I'm sure the Aass will come out on top.

"According to an anonymous poll of a sample size of over 3000 Whos who were asked to rank you on a scale from one to a hundred, based on traits such as likeability, general odor, and physical attractiveness...THE HIGHEST NUMBER WE GOT WAS THREEEEEEEE!" First time seeing that.

 

New to me local holiday beer - a very spicy pickle beer from Hoppin Frog!

 

I think this one counts- “Immerse yourself in the holiday spirit…” begins the description on the back. Tastes like a dark tripel and the spruce adds a nice depth to the yeast character. I wish I had more. Highly recommended!

Monkless - The FNTree

 

I’m not sure why I thought this was a weekend thing but not at all unhappy it’s still rolling along.
Tonight I have a sorta side by side (more like one after the other)
Prairie Christmas Bomb! - both regular and barrel aged.

this is the first and it’s typical Prairie Bomb! With the heat of the cinnamon and peppers that they do so well. I am not sure if I imagined or actually tasted the additional additives, but it sure seemed like there was nutmeg and cloves in there somewhere.
The next was the BA version:

I expected there would be far more difference between the two but not really. At least not for me.
Perhaps if I had done a true side by side the difference would be obvious, but as I didn’t, they seemed remarkably similar.
Of course, if you like heat in your stouts, this is the ticket.
Cheers!

 

Where they lose me is when they go nuts with the Cinnamon

 

Starr Hill Christmas Ale
I am really enjoying the six pack of this beer that I bought while braving a snow storm on I81 last week. It has very nice raisin and citrus flavors, along with clove and roast notes. From the BA listing: HOPS: Columbus & East Kent Goldings
MALTS: 2-row, Crystal, Chocolate, Honey.

I have only been to the Starr Hill tap room at South Jefferson, Roanoke and look forward to getting back there and trying more beers next year.

 

Another early Christmas present for myself, I needed a chalice for Belgian Beers and some more St. Bernardus Christmas Ale. Cheers.

 

Schlafly Christmas Ale. Not my favorite winter warmer. This one was a gift or otherwise wouldn’t be having it this year. Looks and smells pretty good but the taste is flat - at least for me. Works in a pinch this time of year, though.

 

I wish I liked it more, after many years MIA it came back here last year; I do however love the art on the label.

 

Ya know, I was thinking that very thing this evening; I have had regular Bomb! before and enjoyed it, they were light with the cinnamon but left no doubt of it's presence.
Under the onslaught of cinnamon, I tasted nutmeg for a few seconds and then it was back to the primary additive.
Hoped the barrel would lessen that down, but it didn't. It did, however, squelch and nutmeg or other spice that might have been in there.
Oh well, we can't all like the same things and enough people like buckets of cinnamon in their Bomb! variants so Prairie will keep making them like that. I can say i tried it and know not to make that purchase again.
Cheers!

 

Here's another spiced Winter Warmer - Ommegang Everything Nice. Again I'll mention that spiced beers aren't a favorite, and Belgians also fit that non-favorite category, but sometimes you just do things for the sake of a learning experience, and for the sake of adding to this thread. I was actually close to liking this beer by the end EXCEPT the brewer way overdid the clove in the spice bundle.