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Winter Beers Equal Holiday Cheers!

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Even though the streets of Kalamazoo are flooding due to the severe weather the entire Midwest has been subjected to in the past 24 hours, I can't help but continue to think about the magical blanket of thick and fluffy white snow that will soon cover the mitten state.


And let's be honest, every year I feel the same way about it.


I'm sorry, I adore Michigan. And not having snow on Christmas is sacrilege, but thinking about scraping off my car every morning and night, shoveling my driveway, turning up the heat, having to buy new boots because every year I choose price over quality and every year I end up with wet socks. 

Also, snow pants. I have come full circle and now appreciate them. There was a time in the middle where it was embarrassing, from about age 10 through relatively recently. But now I would rather go to the bar looking like a marshmallow then be cold. Sorry everyone that has to witness that.

But speaking of the bar, let's talk about the one great part about cold weather, and that's the type of beer you're about to see flood menus across Michigan.

BRING ON THE WINTER BEER. Because winter beer equals holiday cheer.

In no particular order, I present to you my list of the Top 10 Winter Beers I am most excited to drink this holiday season, and you should be excited too. 






10. Santa's Private Reserve Ale - Rogue (6% ABV)



Thank goodness Santa's not holding out on us anymore. You should probably treat yourself to this at some point, regardless as to whether you have been naughty or nice. You've got your basic hoppy red ale with additional notes of orange peel and holiday spices. A sweet and bitter treat.

9. 2XMAS - Southern Tier Brewing Company (8% ABV)



Taking in the aroma of this beer is like smelling a gingerbread/sugar cookie hybrid. This beer is full of figs, orange peel, and holiday baking spices, everything you need for a truly solid Christmas ale. Southern Tier always brews delicious, people pleasing beers, and this is certainly no exception.




8.  Bourbon Barrel Soaked Sustenance Black Beer - Short's Brewing Co. (6.5% ABV)



Ok, so this one doesn't directly reference the holidays in the title. But trust me, when the snow comes down and your socks are wet and you're too poor to turn the heat up, this is the beer you want. The old label actually used to have a turkey sitting on a barrel, which is pretty Thanksgiving-y if you ask me, but the new one isn't bad either. Kind of looks like my tiny family around the Thanksgiving table.

Feel free to point out that this beer is released in early spring. But trust me, there is nothing, nothing I tell you, that feels like sitting in front of a toasty fire in your favorite flannel pajamas than this beer. Probably because, as Short's so aptly describes it, this beer is bourbon barrel soaked. You've got a great oaky char in there, and certainly prominent vanilla notes which to me, allude to baking on Christmas eve, but the star player is the bourbon.


6. Ursus - Greenbush (8.9% ABV)



Greenbush actually has three winter beer options this year, including Mammoth (weizenbock) and Jadis (winter white). But I'm mot excited to try Ursus, an old winter ale. It boasts roasty chocolate malts and notes of dark fruit, along with a surprise addition of maple sap. I'm really looking forward to grabbing a glass this season. Label not pictured here, but it's got a very menacing looking bear on it. I'm a fan.


5. Plow Horse - Brewery Vivant (9.5% ABV)

                            

Winter is stout season, and this Belgian Imperial stout absolutely blew me away the first time I tried it. Its official release month is November, so now is the time people! This beer is just huge and robust, everything a great stout should be. Wonderfully balanced, delightfully complex, it's a Christmas miracle! But it's actually not, because I think we've all come to expect nothing less from Brewery Vivant.


9. Christmas Ale - Great Lakes (7.5% ABV)


Great Lakes Brewing Company has just celebrated their 25th Anniversary this year, and with options like this, it's no wonder they've been brewing strong for so long! This seasonal ale is a glorious offering to anyone looking to experience some serious holiday cheer in a pint. It's brewed with honey, ginger, and cinnamon, which gives this beer a great savory to sweet balance. Definitely don't wait until Christmas day to open up a bottle of this stuff.


4. Christmas Ale - Goose Island (7.5% ABV)



I look forward to this truly spectacular Christmas ale every single year. Distinctly sweet, like plums, brown sugar, vanilla, and orange zest. I know first hand that this stuff ages well, so if you grab yourself a six pack, consider cellaring a bottle or two to appease the you of Christmas future.

3. Noel de Calabaza - Jolly Pumpkin (9% ABV)



All I want for Christmas is a Jolly Pumpkin in Kalamazoo. I have an obsession. Some days, only a Jolly Pumpkin brew will do, and for those days that also happen to be around the holidays, there is Noel de Calabaza for your drinking pleasure. Its flavor is equally full of dark fruit and nuts as it is chocolate rum truffles. The only thing that keeps me from confidently stating that this is my favorite winter beer is that it's not nearly as readily available as I would like. So when you see it, snatch it up because Jolly Pumpkin beers have a habit of flying off the shelf like Santa's reindeer.

2. Three Philosophers - Brewery Ommegang (9.8% ABV)



This Belgian quad is one of the most outstanding beers I have ever had. It's fitting that it was created around the description of someone's dream beer in a contest. I will actually direct you to my review of this beer from a few months ago. But as far as why this gets ranked into a winter beer list, the sweet rum raisin, dark cherries and cloves you pull from this beer would pair perfectly with any holiday meal. Or it can certainly stand alone on a cold winter's night.



1. Breakfast Stout - Founder's Brewing (8.3% ABV)



Winter is stout season. Breakfast Stout is the perfect stout. It's basic math. There is truly nothing even mediocre about this beer. Beautiful layers of Kona and Sumatra coffee, bittersweet chocolate, and oats make up the foundational flavors of this cornerstone beer from one of Michigan's best breweries. Bonus! If you're reading this out of state, this beer is distributed nationally, so make sure to keep an eye out for it wherever you normally shop for your favorite craft beer.






14. Ommegang - Rare Vos

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Tonight is so beautiful.

I can't get over it. Every other year, I have dug my feet into the summer ground and refused to move into autumn, but this year I feel totally different. Maybe it has something to do with having graduated eight months ago, so I did not start school this week. I have all this extra money in my bank account from not buying books (except not really at all), I don't have to deal with lost people running around campus (except the theater I work at half the week is on campus), I don't have to worry about studying (except I have the GREs coming up), and I won't have to spend the entire week organizing the thousands of pages from syllabi I just crammed into my bag when I first received them (that one is true).

Despite the cruel fact that with the end of one of life's hardships comes another, totally different but equally difficult one, I can't help but feel somewhat accomplished as I see students running around like lost prairie dogs trying to collect what they need for the new year and hoping that they won't fail any of their classes. I totally don't have to do that this year, and it is actually pretty great.

Anyway, I broke open my beer fridge this evening and went straight for Ommegang, did not pass go, did not collect $200.

So this is my review of Rare Vos from Brewery Ommegang (6.5%), which is their amber ale.



Definitely getting a good, solid two to three finger head off the pour. Thick, frothy volume in golden white. Fades down to about a one finger head, but still, so thick and almost chunky.

There's some heavy haze in here, and the color is true amber through and through.

First off, there's a ton of candied orange peel in the aroma, as well as some apple and pear. Some very faint hoppiness at the end. There's good, solid butter caramel malts in there as well.

Right of the bat... cloves. Absolutely cloves. And coriander. This beer is super mild, more than I expected but I am pleasantly surprised. I was kind of cringing thinking it would be a very robustly sweet beer considering the aroma. No hops present whatsoever, but I licked my lips and got the slightest touch of bitterness. I am definitely tasting some apple peel, to me it is one of the strongest notes. Maybe a little bit of peppercorn as well. As it warms you get this really great, soothing bread-like quality that mixes perfectly with the mild, not-too-sweet fruit (again, like apple peel, or maybe underripe pear).




I really love this beer. As the weather transitions to fall and it gets a little cooler outside here in Michigan, this amber ale is really suiting my mood. It's not crisp and biting, it's not in-your-face refreshing or citrusy acidic. But you don't need that, because there's a really nice fall breeze coming in with the night, and it's wafting through my windows to create the most perfect temperature. It's exactly like this beer..... not too much, not too little. It's subtle, but only because it knows it's so elegant, it doesn't need to be all up in your face like that.

This beer is perfect for today.

07. Ommegang - Three Philosophers

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Looking through my fridge and boxes of beer, I actually had a hard time choosing what to review today. I obviously had an even harder time on Monday, because I really did plan on writing something but I blankly stared into the abyss that is my fridge as people often do and eventually started to feel like this cartoon and proceeded to walk away, giving up all hope of writing something decent because all I really wanted to do was find some silly Billy Blanks workout video on youtube and do just enough of it to exhaust me to the point of falling asleep so I could enjoy a full eight hours of rest.



I think I would change "What am I doing here?" to "Stop fucking up the electrical bill."

But today, while I almost fell into the same trap of staring at said fridge listlessly, I saw a shinning beacon of hope and inspiration in the back on the second shelf. 

I HAVE NEVER TRIED ANYTHING FROM  BREWERY OMMEGANG BEFORE.

It's a fault of mine, I know. I am well aware that I am behind on this. But I got lucky with this one, this was a lucky find at the very bottom of a pile of broken bottles (our company allows for employee sales of bottles at a discounted rate if a case is partially broken). Normally I am ravenous when I dig through these piles, never concerned of covering my work clothes in dust or broken glass to get the best I can find every Friday, but a few weeks ago I was particularly determined. This Ommegang was a gem, and there was only one. 

So tonight I'm going to be talking about Three Philosophers (9.7% abv)from Brewery Ommegang. This Belgium-style quad is brewed with cherries, so I'm really anticipating that in the flavor.



Despite not having the right glass for this beer, I'll do my best to overcome. 

Huge head at first but not a lot of retention there. The middle fades to an off white while the rest clings to the side of the glass and holds a slightly orange hue. Pours a murky brown with a really nice sienna orange glow. Really fragrant right out of the bottle, sweet like sun dried raisins or dates. There is also some cloves there and a touch of peppercorn. It actually smells exactly like these raisin tarts we always ate with my grandparents in the summer up in Canada. I never adored raisins but I have fond memories of the sweet, buttery taste.

They look like this! You know what I mean? You can find the recipe here


At first, the taste is fruity, possibly cherry but without knowing prior that the ale was brewed with cherries it could be mistaken for plum or fig. Much more juicy than the aroma, which would have led me to say prune or date. Then following there's some unsweetened chocolate to add a touch of bitter, a little brandy, and some roasty malts. The finish has just the tiniest bit of booziness that you can feel in your nose (and later in your legs).

It has great, lasting carbonation, but it doesn't overwhelm how deliciously buttery and smooth this beer is. This is superb work on Ommegang's part, I have great respect for this beer.

I guess I'll just have to find out the hard way whether whether all of their offerings live up to this one!



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