Right about now is when the heat becomes too much and we begin dreaming of a white Christmas to come and cool us all down. So what better way to mark that there are 23 shopping weeks left until Dec. 25 than with Peaks and Pints Christmas In July. It’s true. We’ve invited Boundary Bay Brewery to slide down our chimney and spread good will and great craft beer to all the good girls and boys, 21 and older of course, while we play holiday music and screen holiday classics on the big screen. Ugly Xmas attire is not recommended, as it’s hot AF. Our halls our decked right now, so stop by anytime for a flight of holiday cheer. We’ve tapped five winter seasonals to get you in the spirit for tonight’s festivities. Merry Christmas and happy Craft Beer Crosscut 7.25.18: A Flight of Christmas in July. Fa la la la la la la la!
Puyallup River Imperial Eggnog Mud Mountain Milk Stout
8.5% ABV, 20 IBU
Puyallup River Brewing Mud Mountain Milk Stout grabbed a silver medal at the 2015 Washington Beers Awards. It grabbed a bronze at the 2016 Washington Beer Awards. It grabs every drinker when they taste its smooth as chocolate silk self. Fresh vanilla beans, cocoa nibs, oats, and six different specialty malts, including Chocolate malt, make this milk stout one of the easiest drinking dark beers on the planet. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and other holiday spices and you have Imperial Eggnog Mud Mountain Milk Stout, with creamy flavors of eggnog, spice, coffee, roasted nuts and chocolate. Ends smooth and creamy.
Wingman Noel
9.2% ABV
Wingman Brewers takes Noble hops, imported Belgian candi sugar and Washington Pilsner and Pale malts and creates the gift that keeps on giving — the Belgian strong dark ale Noel. Dip your nose in for spicy breadiness, caramel, cola toffee and some dark pitted fruit. The tongue follows suit with sweet, dark fruit, holiday spices, cherry cola and light on the carbonation.
Schloss Eggenberg 2012 Samichlaus Classic
14% ABV
Samichlaus is a super-strong dark lager produced by Schloss Eggenberg in Austria. It was originally brewed by the Hürlimann Brewery in Zürich, Switzerland (the name means Santa Claus in Swiss-German). For decades, this holiday specialty has been brewed once a year, always on Dec. 6. It’s stored and matured for more than 10 months before being bottled. It went hiatus in 1997, but Schloss Eggenberg revived the tradition in 2000, using the original recipe — a variation on the full-bodied Bavarian doppelbock style. The first sips are almost sticky-sweet and cloying, but they mellow out with a long, warm, alcoholic finish. There’s no hop flavor or aroma whatsoever. Caramel, candy apple, maple syrup, coffee, raisin, and toffee aromas and flavors dominate. It’s definitely a sipping beer with complex malt character.
Boundary Bay Cabin Fever
8.5% ABV, 45 IBU
Brewed with CTZ, Simcoe, Willamette and Celeia hops and five malts — including Chocolate malt and oats — Boundary Bay Brewing’s winter seasonal Cabin Fever is rich, malty and deceptively strong. With an extended conditioning period, this winter warmer has a smooth mouthfeel. The aroma has a rich, nutty maltiness with some vanilla, raisins, caramel and bread. The flavor leans sweet nutty initially and then opens up for more of a balance with spicy hops that are not strong and end up creating a lovely lingering bready aftertaste. Nice balance.
Boundary Bay Old Bounder Reserve
9.7% ABV, 100+ IBU
Boundary Bay Brewery, a 23-year-old establishment based in Bellingham, brought home gold from the 2016 North American Brewers Association awards for its Old Bounder (2014 Vintage) in the English-Style Barley Wine category. Old Bounder is a rich, copper-colored, full-bodied barleywine with a smooth caramel sweetness, warming-alcohol content and balanced with Zeus and Willamette hops. As the story goes: a fisherman of yore, Old Bounder, sought strong ales with a vestige of the past. Upon discovering American barleywine, a goblet was required straightaway. Be like Old Bounder.
