Now that the holidays are past (man, I really wanted to keep sleeping in) - what beers did you enjoy during the holiday season?
I got the Falcons to do our first Advent Calendar and it worked like a charm. (I also had a ton of fun running around trying to think of “good shots” of all the beers)
I was actually pleasantly surprised by Aldi’s Holiday Ale — lots of caramel and balanced spiciness.
Maplewood’s Korn to be Wild at their brewhouse. Incredible hop flavor with a nice dry finish. Maplewood makes some really excellent beers. Crushinator is probably my favorite and is only brewed in the summer. If on the Chicagoland area you need to try their beers
We invested in stocking up on Samichlaus. We bought 4 4-packs of bottles and a 4 pack of cans we saw somewhere else on a whim. We have only drank 3, we will probably have a couple more this winter.
This was the 2023 batch and our intention is to buy some to cellar every year and sample the different years going back. If you are not familiar it is formerly the world’s strongest beer at 14%. It is only brewed on December 6 (St. Nicholas Day) every year then bottled 10 months later. December 6 is my wife’s birthday so it is a fun thing for us.
I believe it is referred to as a dopplebock. I like it because it’s a great fireside sipper with the sweet and toasty (not roasty) flavors balanced by the alcohol. I greatly prefer it to beers that are holiday beers because of spices.
Late to the topic, but the highlight of my holiday beer season was walking the dog on a cold morning in early January, and my cell phone rings.
Its the owner of my local tavern. “Hey, I called my distributor and chewed them out for not delivering the keg you requested over a month ago, but today they agreed to deliver their last keg of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale here this afternoon.”
So I got to drink SNCA throughout January. Unfortunately, too many IPA booze hounds know of it, and it was gone in 2 weeks. I wish it would lasted long enough for me to quaff a Celebration whilst celebrating my PHILADELPHIA EAGLES crushing the Kansas City Swifties in the Super Bowl. 
Fortunately Celebration has been more and more available in cans each year here. I just bought some last week and it still tastes fresh and great from the cans. Would love to find it on tap.