The Twelve Beers of Christmas 2017

It is a festive time of year. What better way to celebrate than with the annual Twelve Beers of Christmas? This year marks the tenth anniversary of this revelry. That is a great deal of stellar beers and plenty of celebrating. To be included in the Twelve Beers of Christmas, it must be a beer not enjoyed before, either gifted, muled, hauled from travels, rare and coveted. The drinking of the dozen begins on Christmas day and follows the Twelve Days of Christmas. Follow along with the celebration on Instagram, Untappd, and Twitter.

1. Vintage Brewing Bock's O-Chocolates

Style: Chocolate Doppelbock

Life is like a box of chocolates. Christmas Day and chocolate goes together like peanut butter and jelly. I might drink this one pretty early, like when the kids are opening presents early. Chocolate beer for dessert (breakfast) indeed. Thank you PfoxyJohn for this bottle of candy.

"This rich and decadent true lager is brewed with generous additions of chocolate malt and organic cocoa powder then aged on fresh-toasted cacao nibs and Mexican vanilla beans. Bock's O-Chocolates has a rich malty sweetness and a serious chocolate flavor with a thick chewy body."

2. Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast 

Style: Oatmeal Stout (with coffee addition)

A breakfast beer? Yes. Oatmeal, coffee, dark chocolates all sound appealing for Boxing Day breakfast. Thank you Candace for this long time wish list beer. 

"An oatmeal stout with 25.0% oat-based ingredients and a nice touch of gourmet coffee. A beer that goes extremely well with breakfast! Good hints of coffee and smoke as well as dark chocolate and roasted malts. Ask any beer geek . . .  a hearty, complex stout is the tastiest way to begin the day. This unique mix of an oat and coffee stout creates an intense, full-bodied beer that is surprisingly balanced and full of new taste adventures with every sip."

3. Alewerks Lover's Greed

Style: American Wild Ale

Sour and wild ales, especially barrel aged variants, are at the top of the beer pyramid. Complex flavors, usually tart and exhibiting characteristics from the barrels, are extremely appealing to my taste buds. This one was acquired in Virginia during work travels.

"You hold a piece of the second iteration of Lover's Greed American Wild Ale. This batch waited 36 months in French Oak red Wine barrels before it was deemed worthy of release. This beer has moved beyond an exercise in the forgotten virtue of patience; it is a demonstration of an inclination for torment due to fascination with an elegant ale." 

4. Sierra Nevada Trip In The Woods Barrel-Aged Cocoa Coconut Narwhal

Style: Barrel-aged Imperial Stout (with toasted coconut and cocoa nibs)

I love coconut, and chocolate, and barrel-aged beers. This monster has it all. Seems like a very good nightcap on a cold December evening. Might better share this one with the better half...

"This very special version of our Narwhal Imperial Stout was brewed with toasted coconut and then left to mature in Kentucky Bourbon barrels for nearly a year. To the barrels, we added additional coconut and cocoa nibs to create a uniquely rich and decadent stout."

5. De Proef/New Glarus Abtsolution Dark Belgian Ale

Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Belgium's De Proef Brouwerij and Wisconsin's New Glarus Brewing are two of the world's top breweries. This collaboration marries these stalwarts yielding a rich, dark Belgian classic with a Wisconsin twist. Abtsolution should pair nicely with a rich holiday meal. Thank you for another gem Mr. Pfister. 

"We have created a beer based on the classic Belgian Abt style, with unique Wisconsin contributions including Santiam and Chinook hops. To further highlight the Dairy State we've added lactose for extra mouthfeel and richness. The result is a dark ale with fruity esters, a velvety smooth palate and balancing wood notes from our use of French and American oak along with spicy hop notes. This ale is designed to drink now, but we believe will evolve beautifully over the next 1-2 years. Enjoy Abtsolution with roasted meats, rich cheese and of course, friends. Cheers!"

6. Southern Tier Thick Mint

Style: Imperial Stout (with chocolate and mint)

Everyone loves Girl Scout cookies, especially Thin Mints. This beer is a take on those delicious cookies in stout form - an Imperial Stout brewed with chocolate and mint. Another dessert ale for my Twelve Beers of Christmas; life is good.

"Inspired by the legendary cookie, Thick Mint joins our world-class rated Blackwater Series of dessert beers alongside Crème Brûlée & Choklat in 2017. This imperial stout is a mouthful of perfectly balanced mint & chocolate. Roasty malts coalesce with notes of Belgian dark chocolate, sweet mint & just a touch of sweet caramel. So decadently delicious, you’ll wish you’d bought another box… er, bottle."

7. Sierra Nevada Alpha Hop Society Barrel-Aged Cherry Vanilla Stout

Style: Barrel-aged Imperial Stout (with cherries and vanilla)

Another Imperial Stout, this one bourbon barrel aged with cherries and vanilla added. Just call me a fat elf. Yes this list is heavy on Imperial Stouts, dessert beers, because it is my list and these are the beers I enjoy during the holidays. Thank you Matt R for letting this go out of your cellar. 

"An Imperial Stout aged in Bourbon barrels with cherries and vanilla added."

8. Yazoo Embrace the Funk Table Red

Style: Flanders Red Ale

Happy New Year to me! Brandon Jones, Wranger of Funk at Yazoo Brewing Company in Nashville, pilots the Embrace The Funk program, blending barrel aged beers with a wild and funky side. He is a genius. He is also humble and nice. Kudos to ETF and The Wrangler of Funk. I always thoroughly enjoy his concoctions. The Table Red is an uber rare small batch release that I picked up on one of my visits to The Music City in 2017.

"A light bodied Table Red ale aged for 16 months in French Oak barrels with our house souring and brettanomyces cultures. This delicious ale pairs well with plein air dinners and conversations between good friends."

9. Yazoo Embrace The Funk Funk Fest '17

Style: Flanders Oud Bruin (with boysenberries, raspberries and cherries)

Another blended ale from Brandon and Embrace the Funk, this one has a lot to offer. Richness, complexity, tartness, fruits while employing Brettanomyces and souring bacterias should make this one an enjoyable addition to the Twelve Beers of Christmas. 

"A blend of Brown and Dark sour ales aged in Rye Bourbon, Sherry and Port barrels with Boysenberries, Raspberries and Cherries."

10. Thomas Creek Driftwood Series Boys-en The Hood

Style: American Sour Ale (with boysenberries) 

"Petite Sour Ale with Boysenberry" - another sour/wild ale. Tingle my taste buds, please my palate; the love for these tart temptations continues. Picked this one up at the brewery in Greenville, SC.

"Mixed Culture Sour ale fermented in rum barrels with boysenberry added to the barrels for secondary fermentation."

11. Hardywood Cuvée Peach

Style: Belgian-style Tripel (with peaches)

Peaches are my favorite fruit. (Cherries are my second favorite.) Thus the Twelve Beers of Christmas include beers with these fruit additions. Hardywood is a highly regarded brewery in Richmond, VA. A white wine barrel aged peach Tripel ale should be amazingly delicious. This peachy Tripel comes to me via recent Appalachian Trail Hiker (all of it!), Jim aka Gravity, who knows how much I love peaches, and beer. 

"Hardywood Cuvée Peach is artfully blended by our barrel master from small batches of Peach Tripel aged in white wine barrels, at varying levels of maturation , from three months to more than a year. The resulting beer is beautifully complex with yeast-derived stone fruit esters that harmonize with juicy peach undertones. This sparkling refresher offers a pleasantly dry finish with the slightest hint of vanilla from the toasted French Oak barrels."

12. Idyll Hounds Capt'n Ferdinand 

Style: Barrel-aged Imperial Stout (with vanilla)

Another Imperial stout, this one aged in sherry barrels with a vanilla bean addition. This should be quite the sipper, full of flavor, to be paired with rich desserts. Thank you Jason for this big boy. 

The Twelve Beers of Christmas for 2017. Cheers to good friends, great beers, and enjoying family during the holiday season. I hope you enjoy your own Twelve Beers of Christmas and share with your family and friends. 

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays!

Twelve Beers of Christmas Past:

Twelve Beers of Christmas 2008
1. Anchor Our Special Ale (2008)
2. Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
3. Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel
4. Great Lakes Christmas Ale
5. Bison Winter Warmer
6. Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock
7. Delirium Tremens
8. New Glarus Apple Ale
9. Corsendonk Pater (Abbey Brown Ale)
10. Corsendonk Agnus (Abbey Pale Ale)
11. Thirsty Dog Siberian Night Imperial Stout
12. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale (2008)

Twelve Beers of Christmas 2009
1. Thirsty Dog 12 Dogs Christmas Ale
2. Goose Island Christmas Ale
3. Tommyknocker St. Nicks Cocoa Porter
4. Avery Old Jubilation Ale
5. Rinkuškiai Missing Elf
6. Fort Collins Double Chocolate Stout
7. Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter
8. Rochefort Trappistes 6
9. Rogue Santas Private Reserve Ale
10. Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza
11. Cantillon Iris
12. Lurgashall Christmas Mead

Twelve Beers of Christmas 2010
1. Spaten Optimator
2. Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine
3. Ass Kisser Double IPA
4. Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA
5. Terrapin Wake-n-Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout
6. Depot Street The Limited Maple Pecan Porter
7. AleSmith YuleSmith – Summer
8. a. Oskar Blues Gordon / b. Oskar Blues Gubna
9. Maredsous 10
10. Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock
11. Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Fritz & Ken Ale
12. Victory Old Horizontal

Twelve Beers of Christmas 2011
1. AleSmith Yulesmith – Winter
2. Brew Kettle White Rajah
3. Brooklyn Black Ops
4. Capital Eternal Flame
5. Dogfish Head Miles Davis' Bitches Brew
6. Founders Backwoods Bastard
7. Hoppin' Frog DORIS The Destroyer Double Imperial Stout
8. Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball Ale
9. Odell Mountain Standard '09
10. Olde Hickory Bourbon Barrel Aged Bardstown Ale
11. Ommegang Brasserie D'Achouffe Gnomegang
12. Three Floyds Dark Lord Imperial Stout

Twelve Beers of Christmas 2012
1. De Ranke Pere Noel
2. St. Bernardus Christmas Ale
3. Hopworks Organic Abominable Winter Ale
4. Lompoc C-Son's Greetings
5. Midnight Sun CoHoHo Imperial IPA
6. N'Ice Chouffe
7. Ninkasi Sleigh'r Dark Double Alt
8. Oakshire Ill-Tempered Gnome
9. Pelican Bad Santa
10. Port Brewing Santa's Little Helper
11. Samuel Adams Merry Mischief Gingerbread Stout
12. The Bruery 5 Golden Rings

Twelve Beers of Christmas 2013

Twelve Beers of Christmas 2014

Twelve Beers of Christmas 2015

Twelve Beers of Christmas 2016

The Twelve Beers of Christmas 2013

The holidays are a great time to select your best beers from your cellar or fridge to share with your family, friends, or savor by yourself by the fireplace.  For the past few years I have enjoyed assembling a "Twelve Beers of Christmas" to enhance my holiday beer experiences all while giving me another good reason to acquire rare and highly rated beers during the year to save for this event.  The 2013 lineup is no exception.  These beers are all offerings that I have not yet tried giving me yet another reason to enjoy the season.  The tastings start on Christmas day, one of these exquisite beers per day, and goes twelve days, following the Twelve Days of Christmas festive tradition.  I give you my Twelve Beers of Christmas for 2013:


1. The Bruery Oude Tart

 

"Oude Tart is a Flemish-Style Red Ale aged in red wine barrels for 18 months. Pleasantly sour with hints of leather, dark fruit and toasty oak."

I'm very fond of this style and this is a great brewery so I know this will be epic.  Thank you Matt R for acquiring this one for me.

2. Engelszell Gregorius Trappistenbier 

"The Trappist monastery of Stift Engelszell is located in Engelhartszell, in the northern part of Upper Austria, on the Danube, in a valley with wooded hills.  This monastery has been a member of the International Trappist Association (ITA) since 2008.  In 2009 the ITA granted Stift Engelszell the right to use the 'Authentic Trappist Product' label on its Trappist liqueurs.  The Trappist community have launched a dark Trappist beer, the 'Gregorius' (9.7% ABV). This name refers to Dom Gregorius Eisvogel who was the abbot of Stift Engelszell Abbey for 25 years (1925-1950)."

This is the only "Authentic Trappist" brewery from which I have not tried at least one of their ales.  One of my beer goals for 2013 was to track down one ale from the remaining Trappist Monasteries that I have not tasted.  Mission accomplished. 


3. Williamsburg AleWerks Brewmasters Reserve Café Royale

AleWerks Brewmasters Reserve Café Royale

"We age a stronger version of our CoffeeHouse Stout in Virginia Gentlemen Bourbon Barrels for 3 months. This aging adds layers of complexity including notes of vanilla and Bourbon to this big coffee beer." 

This beer is from a beer trade with BeerPal Melanie Wiscount who attended my annual  Hootenanny in 2013 by riding down on her Harley-Davidson from Washington, D.C. with FoamDome.  Aged in Bourbon barrels; what's not to like?


4. AleSmith Decadence 2012

"Decadence is the ongoing anniversary ale from the amazing AleSmith, unquestionably one of America's top five breweries, and this 2012 is a real show-stopper: a Belgian-style Quad that serves up a completely hedonistic richness and velvet-like creaminess that just tastes special; a beer obviously brewed with consummate skill and obsessive care. The lush fruits and boozy notes present themselves powerfully and the brawny 12% ABV is absolutely undetectable. This is a masterful ale from a world-class brewery and a perfectly delicious treat!
Raisins, milk chocolate, burnt sugar, molasses, treacle, yeast-driven spices, and rum fruitcake notes make this a titanic, memorable limited ale!"

Really looking forward to this one.  This will be my first in the annual Decadence series.



5. 3 Fonteinen Intense Red Oude Kriek

"Intense Red is an artisanal, unsweetened, unfiltered old kriek. It contains a higher amount of cherries, making it slightly less sour than a traditional 3 Fonteinen kriek. The new beer is the result of a collaboration between 3 Fonteinen’s Armand DeBelder and Manu De Cort of PuPil, a creative marketing company in Halle."

3 Fonteinen Intense Red Oude Kriek

I simply love most kriek ales I've tried, especially the higher quality Belgian offerings.


6. Scaldis Noël

"It is the custom in Belgium custom to brew a beer a bit bolder and stronger as a holiday gift to loyal patrons. At 12.5% ABV, the little Scaldis Noël bottle contains one giant beer. It has a burnished ruby-copper color and a spicy aroma with notes of caramel and marzipan and peach. The taste is round, with hints of anise leading to a long warming finish. If it is snowing and you have a Yule-tide log—fire it up and sip a Scaldis Noël—Pieter Breughel couldn’t paint a more Belgian scene!"

Merry Christmas to me!


7. Central Waters Brewer's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Barleywine (2011)

"A barleywine ale aged for a full year on used bourbon barrels, this beer has flavors of dark fruits and wood, winner of the Gold Medal at the 2008 Great American Beer Festival."
  
PfoxyJohn, aka Beer Santa, gifted me this beer in 2011.  It is time to enjoy this puppy.  Thank you Mr. Pfister.  You are indeed Beer Santa.


8. Bells Third Coast Ale (2012)

"Third Coast Old Ale focuses on malt, offering notes of burnt caramel & other earthy malt flavors. Designed with vintage aging in mind, the malt aspect is matched to a heavy complement of hops. Sharply bitter at first, this will fold into the malt character over time and balance out the maltiness."

Another top rated beer acquired in a beer trade, this one with BeerPal kinger.



9. The Abyss (2012)

"A deep, dark Imperial Stout, The Abyss has almost immeasurable depth and complexity. Hints of molasses, licorice and other alluring flavors make it something not just to quaff, but contemplate.  As for the great "drink it now or let it age" debate, we stand clearly on the fence. Distinct and delicious on release, the flavors meld and fuse into an entirely different pleasure a year on."

The Abyss Interview video 

Another gift from PfoxyJohn. Huge thank you. 



10. Struise Pannepot

"In the early 1900s, the village of De Panne, close to the French border, was famous for two things — the ‘Pannepot,’or fishing boats, that could be seen along the coast, and the unique dark ale enjoyed by the local fishermen. Our Old Fisherman’s Ale is a tribute to these hardy sailors and their rich, flavorful brew.
Pannepot is an unfiltered, unpasteurized, bottle-conditioned dark ale with an intense, complex chocolate malt aroma, roasted accents, and subtle hints of spice."

One of the top beers in the world.  Surprise find.


11.  Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout

"Big Bear is a big, black, stout you can really sink your teeth into. The bold, roasty, caramel malt flavor is balanced by Centennial and Cascade hops."

 

One of the best stouts in America. On my wish list for quite a while. 


12.  Dieu du Ciel Péché Mortel 

"Péché Mortel (French for "Mortal Sin") is an intensely black and dense beer with very pronounced roasted flavors. Fair trade coffee is infused during the brewing process, intensifying the bitterness of the beer and giving it a powerful coffee taste. Péché Mortel is brewed to be savored; we invite you to drink it in moderation."

This Canadian beer has also been on my wish list for quite a long time.  Purchased at Belmont Party Supply in Dayton, OH.  Ending my Twelve Beers of Christmas with this one because it has evaded me longer than any of the others.



These magnificent dozen are certain to greatly enhance my Christmas spirit.  No "Bah, humbug" from me.  I'm going to be like that Jolly Old Elf by the time my Twelve Beers of Christmas have been enjoyed.  Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Joyous New Year to you all.