Go ahead and pour those pumpkin-flavored beers down the drain.  Halloween and Thanksgiving have passed us by.  The big rage now has moved to Christmas Ales and Winter Ales.  You can't drink these in the summer heat, at least not in most places in the northern hemisphere, but now is the time of year that should help Christmas and Winter Ales shine. 

Rich thick ales, holiday spices, and a love of microbrews and craft brews... All that is missing is a fire and a good book.  We recently got to taste the new limited 2011 seasonal release from Belgium's Troubadour called the Troubadour Magma Special Edition 2011.  The large format bottle boldly states "Cascade Hop" on the front.  We measured it up against our Hops Appreciation Kit and sure enough, you could easily smell the Cascade Hops.  The beer offered much more as well.  It was more than a Duvel, yet nowhere as full in the mouth as a Chimay Blue nor as a Trappistes Rochefort 8 (or 10).  Some citrus, and a 9% ABV to get you through a cold winter evening. 

Other great Winter and Christmas Ales we have enjoyed to start off this holiday season:

Sierra Nevada Celebration, available at most stores outside of high-end and specialty beer, wine, and spirits shops.  6.8% ABV, West Coast Hops.  A routine favorite each year (and well past New Years).

St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, available at better grocery stores and many large format beer, wine, and spirit stores.  ABV about 10%.  Don't tell anyone, but we generally keep a few of these even for April.

Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale, only about 6% ABV but malty and floral.  For those who don't really want a hops explosion in their mouth, this is one for you.

And finally, an after-dinner enjoyment that is almost a substitute for port wine... Avery's THE BEAST GRAND CRU.  We could get a bit of a whiff of the Hallertau and Saaz hops from our hops appreciation kit, but there are multiple hops at work here that mask the primary hops.  It is also thick and dark and felt somewhere between a rum drink and port wine.  At 14.9% ABV, it helped to reinforce that we needed to take a cab home.

Avery's real Winter Ale is the seasonal Old Jubilation Ale, which we are looking forward to trying out.  Avery uses Bullion hops and specialty hops for a normalized 8.3% ABV. 

Enjoy your seasonal ales, even if the hops and malts are out of the norm for the rest of the year from many brewers. 

For the perfect beer gift for those interested in learning more and more about beer, try out our Beer Tasting & Hops Appreciation Kit.

John & Costa