So, the leaves have fallen, your way-too-tight Superman Halloween costume is back in the attic for another year, and the only reminder of the first wave of the holiday season is that extra two inches around your waste from your overindulgence in Thanksgiving pies with heavy whipped cream. What do you do now that all of the pumpkin beers you love can no longer be found on the shelves of your local packie? Well, my friend, it is time for you to zip up that parka and head out to find yourself a winter brew that will keep you happy to be indoors for the next few months. After all, dealing with your dysfunctional family during the holiday season is so much easier with a belly full of good beer in you.
Unlike picking your favorite pumpkin beer or Oktoberfest, selecting your winter seasonal brew can be a much greater challenge due to the wide variety of seasonal selections during this time of year. If you aren’t completely sure what kind of beer you prefer, going through a variety of winter seasonals may help you discover the type of beer drinker you really are. Winter gives us a greater quantity and variety of beers than any other season, so let’s take advantage of this time to embark on a voyage of self discovery. It will be the tastiest educational journey you’ve ever had.
Harpoon Winter Warmer This beer is loaded with cinnamon and nutmeg, with cinnamon dominating the taste, and nutmeg taking over the finish. It is a beautiful amber color with a well calibrated carbonation level. This is a delicious full bodied beer. I would expect nothing less from a beer brewed in Boston and Vermont!
This brass colored IPA has a nice hoppy nose. Brewing an IPA as a winter seasonal beer is very unusual. Why do the good people of Sierra Nevada do it? Cuz they’re awesome. This is a very well balanced IPA with much more malt character than their year-round Torpedo IPA. This is a jewel in the winter seasonal beer crown. Load up on it while you can!
So very, very dark with a creamy head, this year’s version of Anchor’s Christmas Ale has notes of plum, anise, blackberry, and jam. It is surprisingly fruity for a dark beer. Tastes of sugarplums will dance in your mouth. Christmas Ale is so different than anything else – it is almost a non-beer beer. The heaviness of this beer may prevent you from having more than two in one session, but it will be such a delicious two beer session!
This beer comes in a dark bottle, but it is not a dark beer – it is actually a nice bronze. This is a full-bodied, well carbonated beer with a fine balance of malts and hops. While it is a full-bodied beer, the taste is not overwhelming. It is quite subtle. It is a bit toasty, with a touch of roasted nuts. A nice, clean finish. This is a good beer – not just a good seasonal beer.
Without question, this beer comes in the coolest bottle of any Christmas beer. It is made of white porcelain, which protects the beer residing inside, and the label has a skiing pink elephant wearing a Santa hat, and Santa himself is flying above in a sleigh being pulled by a team of pink elephants. As for the beer inside this masterpiece, it is exceptional. At 10% ABV, it is a strong Belgian ale – so strong, in fact, the alcohol resonates at the top of the mouth. There are some citrus and ginger notes. It is a beautiful amber color. There is virtually no head once it settles, and no apparent bubbling takes place. If you’re looking for something a little different to bring to a Christmas party, this would be a great choice.
This beer has a beautiful floral hoppy aroma. It is darker than you would expect for a hoppy beer, which is due to the use of two types of malts in the brewing process. The malts emerge as the beer warms, and they serve to balance the hoppy character of the beer. Southern Tier seems to be overlooked on the national craft beer landscape. While a brewery like Dogfishhead gets plenty of notoriety for the unusual styles of beer they make, Southern Tier’s seasonals are different than anything else out there, and they are not getting the praise they deserve. Moreover, I will take a Pumpking over a Punkin any day of the week! Cheers to Southern Tier!
This caramel colored lager is a hearty spiced beer that is easy to drink. It has cinnamon notes with a touch of orange. As much as beer drinkers enjoy finding a great beer outside of the mainstream, the Sam Adams Winter Lager is the standard by which all other winter beers are judged. The brewers at Sam Adams have chiseled and shaped this beer into one of the best winter seasonals available, so don’t fight it – drink it!!!
You can tell this is a heavy beer right out of the bottle. It is a deep red ale, heavily hopped and heavily malted. It is so very well balanced. It is as if they found the right formula for a great beer, then multiplied it by a thousand. If a little is good, then more must be wicked good! This beer is perfectly carbonated with a continuous bubbling from the bottom and a head that clings to the glass. It has a very nice finish that goes down smooth. Just a wee bit toasty. A joy to drink!
This beer has a deep brown color with a vanilla colored head sitting on top like frosting. A beautiful gingerbread aroma with caramel notes. Winterbraun is brewed with chocolate and caramel malts, but any chocolate flavor is virtually undetectable. The malty character of the beer is tamed by its brown ale base. Overall, this is a very tasty beer.
This is a deep, dark brown beer with a light, thin head. The nose is smoky and toasty. The beer has coffee notes with a bit of chocolate and a nice malt finish. There is a very good level of malts in this beer giving it a slight sweetness. This American beer with the German sounding name could never be brewed in Germany due to the Purity Law, but that is to the detriment of the German people as this is a great winter seasonal beer!
This dark amber beer has a creamy head that sticks to the glass as you drink it, leaving a frothy trail of where the delicious lager once resided. The nut flavor is fairly moderate, and there is a slightly hoppy finish. The body of this beer is just a bit heavier than normal, which makes it fairly easy to drink. As a result, this beer serves well as a heartier selection for the colder months, but it is not overwhelming or filling, so you can enjoy several in one sitting. This isn’t just a one-and-done winter seasonal.
Flying Fish Brewing Company Grand Cru Winter Reserve
Most of the winter seasonals are dark beers, but this bottle conditioned Belgian style ale has a pale color. This is a very pleasant version of a Belgian ale. There are no edges to this beer – it is well rounded and easy to drink. It lacks that sharpness many of the true Belgian beers possess. As a result, you can drink more of it! The beer continues to improve as it warms. This beer is brewed in the hometown of my wife’s family, so it must be good!
A malt-lover’s delight! The aroma and flavor of this beer is loaded with layers upon layers of malts. This reddish-brown ale has notes of mocha, toffee, and some hazelnut. At 8.3% ABV, this beer is sweet and filling. A nice evening beer on a cold winter’s night.
Great Divide Brewing Company Hibernation AleThis reddish-brown colored English Ale smells like baked brown bread. It has a high malt content, and a high alcohol content at 8.7%. Notes of molasses. This beer is typically held in high regard, but you have to enjoy the dry-hopped English Ale style in order to enjoy this beer. If you enjoy hops, like me, you may conclude that this beer is very good for its style, like a Shih-tzu is good for the style of a toy dog, but you prefer a Labrador.
“Black as night” is an accurate description! This is about as dark as a lager can get. Howl has a complex aroma which is loaded with spices and malts. The beer itself tastes like unsweetened chocolate with some notes of espresso. It leaves your throat a bit dry afterwards. It is a very heavy beer – like drinking a meal. However, the alcohol level is under 5%, so you are not well rewarded for consuming all of those calories!
This dark Belgian ale is rust colored with a shallow head. It comes in a 750ml corked bottle and is 8.5% ABV. The beer possesses caramel and toffee notes with some orange zest. The carbonation level is high on the fizz factor. A little tart.
This beer has a Grade A maple syrup look to it coming out of the bottle. There is a pine quality to the scent. The beer tastes toasty and woody, but has a eucalyptus character on the finish. The malts become more apparent as the beer warms. Shipyard hit a grand slam with its Pumpkinhead, but this is more of a ground rule double.
Heavy Seas Winter Storm Category 5 Ale
This imperial ESB has a nice amber color. The combination of malts and hops results in a good flavor which reaches all areas of the mouth. A good flavor….but not great. It just seems to be missing something. The generous use of both malts and hops resulted in a beer which lacks direction and character. This is a very filling beer, so it may be a selection you would include in a mixed 6-pack, but probably not something you would purchase on its own.
This amber beer has a thin head and a caramel nose. While Belgian sugar is used in the brewing process, the beer itself has no resemblance to a traditional Belgian ale. It is medium-bodied with a high carbonation level, toffee notes, and a sharp finish. Still waiting for Blue Moon to produce a seasonal beer of any significance.
This beer has a deep brown color with virtually no head. It is heavily malted with a dry finish. This is a slightly better product than their pumpkin ale, but considering how bad the pumpkin ale was, that’s not saying much.
Leinenkugel’s Fireside Nut Brown
The nose on this beer is ultra toasty and nutty, which serves to lure you in like an unsuspecting mouse. Then you taste the beer, and the trap is sprung, leaving you wounded and miserable. The nut flavoring is overwhelming, and becomes sickening after a while. It tastes artificial. This is the kind of winter seasonal beer Kool-Aid would make. The Grinch drinks this beer....which explains why he hates Christmas.
Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve
This is a double-hopped red ale with a wonderful aroma. Everything about this beer is wonderful….other than the absolutely bizarre finish. Once swallowed, there is an overpowering menthol aftertaste which leaves you searching for a chaser of anything just to get that flavor out of your mouth. Santa brings this beer to the people on the naughty list.
Depending where you live, you may find many other winter seasonal beers which do not appear on this list. Give them a try, then let me know your thoughts. May your heart and spirit be warmed throughout the winter season with a delicious seasonal brew!
Depending where you live, you may find many other winter seasonal beers which do not appear on this list. Give them a try, then let me know your thoughts. May your heart and spirit be warmed throughout the winter season with a delicious seasonal brew!
