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.